How To Find Your Fitness Motivation And Actually Keep It

Motivation is the cycle that starts, directs, and keeps up with goal-oriented practices. It is the thing that makes you act, regardless of whether it is getting a glass of water to quench your thirst or building muscle to compete. 

 

Motivation includes the biological, emotional, social, and intellectual skills that enact conduct. In simple terms, the expression “motivation” is mostly used to describe why an individual accomplishes something and it is the main thrust behind a person’s behavior. 

 

Not only does motivation refer to the factors that activate behaviors; it likewise involves the factors that direct and keep up with these goal-oriented activities.

 

How Motivation Works:

 

Any individual who has at any point had an objective like wanting to shed 30 pounds presumably understands that just “wanting” to achieve something isn’t sufficient. Accomplishing such a goal requires the capacity to persist through endurance and different obstacles to continue regardless of the difficulties that come along. There are three significant parts of inspiration: activation, persistence, and intensity.

 

Activation: Activation or enactment includes the choice to start a behavior, for example, enrolling in a gym. 

 

Persistence: Persistence is preceded by effort toward an objective even though obstacles might exist. An instance of persistence would be doing extensive research on what type of workout you may require to reach your goal even though it requires a huge amount of time and energy. 

 

Intensity: Intensity can be found in the attentiveness and spirit that goes into seeking after a goal. For instance, one person refuses to put extra effort into achieving his fitness goal while another person not only goes to the gym regularly but also is particular about his diet and other habits. The first person lacks intensity while the second pursues their fitness goals with greater intensity.

 

How Motivation Affects Us:

 

As human beings, it is our default setting to strive, struggle and achieve goals. When we achieve one goal, we start hustling for another. These goals are often driven by motivation. The two types of motivation that affect our behavior are often described as intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation: 

 

Intrinsic Motivation: Intrinsic motivation refers to the motivation that emerges from inside the individual. It is freely chosen according to a person’s own will, for example, solving a complicated mathematical equation only for the individual satisfaction of taking care of solving a problem. Intrinsic motivation is the ideal experience where the satisfaction received from the actual action or activity is the motivational factor. 

 

Intrinsic exercises are independent since performing them is a reward in itself. When the experience is inherently fulfilling, life is legitimized in the present and not attached to some speculative future gain. Intrinsic inspiration comes from the need to effectively interface and control our current circumstances and drives us to develop and foster competence. 

 

It has additionally been shown that intrinsic motivation has more prominent long-term results since it fulfills our psychological requirements for competence and autonomy, and therefore, creates states which build up the positive inputs and improve the probability of repetition of the desired behavior.

 

Extrinsic Motivation: Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that emerges from outside of the individual and frequently includes rewards like prizes, cash, social acknowledgment, or applause. Social groups are a significant source of impact due to the presence of considerations and rewards of expected outcomes. 

 

External motivations like rewards or praise in some cases have positive outcomes on motivation, yet on different occasions can be very inconvenient. The secret expense of particular sorts of rewards is that they sabotage natural motivation by diminishing the feeling of self-sufficiency and ability. Prizes should be held for exercises that are not intriguing and should be given when not anticipated. 

It is additionally possible to utilize incentives by urging individuals to relate to it and coordinate it into their ability to be self-aware.

 

What Demotivates you? 

 

 

To be demotivated means to have a lack of enthusiasm or interest in a task.

It is common for people to sometimes lose motivation and succumb to unhealthy ways. Following are some factors that may aid in losing workout motivation:

 

1. Setting the wrong goals: Sometimes people set goals that are not per their needs. Such goals might demotivate them. 

 

2. Lack of Clarity: Not having a clear picture of your requirements and what they might look like in the future and not knowing exactly what you want can lead to demotivation. 

 

3. Lack of Challenge: Challenges are crucial to motivation. Too big of a challenge can lead to demotivation by inducing fear in a person while too small of a challenge can lead to demotivation by inducing boredom. While setting challenges, be sure to opt for challenges that are neither too big nor too small and are beneficial in helping you stay motivated.

 

4. Exhaustion and Burnout: If you are an overachiever in the gym, you might be doing more harm than good. Exceeding a limit can lead to exhaustion and being exhausted is not only limited to being tired physically but it also means having a drained social battery. This can be a reason for demotivation.

 

Finding Workout Motivation:

 

 

Demotivation can be reversed and you can find motivation again. But is finding fitness motivation enough? 

 

Let’s say that you were motivated enough to enroll yourself in a gym but you find it difficult to stick to your workout regime and you keep skipping the gym. This does not mean that you are not motivated; it only means that you need the right kind of motivation to shed those extra 30 pounds. Following are some ways in which you can stay motivated to workout: 

 

1. Reward Yourself: For some people, vague goals like better health or weight control are effective and they find them enough to keep them going. But if you are not one of those people, you might require goals that are more tangible such as watching an extra episode of your favorite show or ten extra minutes of sleep. This will be classified as extrinsic motivation and this kind of motivation allows the brain to hook it to making the behavior worthwhile. If you use extrinsic motivation over extended periods, it becomes a routine habit and then a behavior, such as working out, is derived by intrinsic motivation.

 

2. Pay Penalties: Another effective way of staying committed to your workout goals is to pay penalties for skipping a workout. This can be best done if you make a commitment in front of your friends and agree to pay 30 dollars every time you skip a workout or do not show up to the gym. This way you change the cost of skipping a workout. This will result in a monetary penalty as well as the embarrassment of not living up to your word in front of your friends. The goal is to use extrinsic sources of motivation to form a habit so a behavior, such as a workout, is derived from intrinsic motivation. To do so, commit to paying penalties for longer periods so that you are motivated intrinsically. 

 

3. Positive Thinking: Motivation is a mind game after all. The best motivational strategy for positive thinking is to visualize the benefits of a certain behavior such as working out and keeping fit. If you cannot gather the motivation to get out of bed and put on your gym gear, try visualizing how satisfied you will be once you shed a few pounds or how your muscles will look afterward. If you are still not motivated, try identifying what is holding you back. An exercise, for example, that you find hard could be holding you back. Look for an alternate exercise. This should help you stay motivated and committed to your goal. 

 

4. Finding Competition: Working out at home might sound convenient but it may not be as helpful in keeping you motivated. Finding healthy competition at the gym can help you stay motivated and committed to your workout goals. When in a competitive environment, you will try to stay ahead or at least keep up with the others. Finding healthy competition can also help you stay motivated by cheering you up and encouraging you to do better. This will help you achieve your fitness goals more effectively. 

 

5. Set Realistic Goals: You might get overwhelmed thinking about having that ripped abs and set goals that are impossible to achieve. Not being able to achieve those unrealistic goals can demotivate you. Try setting goals that are achievable and realistic. Do not try starting with an hour of workout every day, instead, try starting with 15-20 minutes of workout and increase the time gradually. 

 

6. Break Down the Goal: Instead of aiming at one big goal, try breaking it down into smaller task-oriented goals. This will make the workout regime more manageable and less overwhelming. If your goal, for instance, is to complete 30 minutes of a full-body workout, try breaking it down into smaller portions by giving 10 minutes to your arms, 10 minutes to your leg workouts, and the remaining 10 minutes to your torso. This way you will accomplish the task more easily and you will be motivated to perform better. 

 

7. Tracking Progress: Try keeping track of your progress. Seeing progression and improvements in your body as a result of working out will help you stay motivated and will make you want to keep going. 

 

 

Remember that having motivation is within your reach. All you have to do is find it and keep it. Find whether you’re intrinsically motivated or extrinsically motivated, then set up goals and surrounding that. If you’re extrinsically motivated, you might need to line up some rewards or benchmarks. If you’re intrinsically motivated, remove the barriers towards achieving your goals and what makes you feel good. Bodybuilding is just as much mental as it is physical and anyone who says they wake up every day with the same motivation to go to the gym, isn’t telling the truth.