The right motivation for sports
The thought that it would be nice to finally go in for sports has visited many of us more than once, especially after meticulously examining ourselves in the mirror. But what percentage of the total put on their sportswear and went to the treadmill, or to the tennis court, or to the skating rink?
It seems to me that it is very little. Because the most difficult thing is to overcome yourself and start playing sports. What do I need to do? Let's see what people who managed to overcome their laziness advise.
Tip 2. Keep a sports diary
Try on the image of a sports person. Dedicate a short note to each workout in which you describe your feelings, emotions and results. No desire to train? Read your previous class notes. Most likely, positive feedback and results will help you gather strength and go to training even on the worst day.
Sport is beautiful
It's no secret that clothing for sports should be, first of all, comfortable and safe, but this does not make it less attractive. Allow yourself the pleasure of shelling out for a good-quality set from any of the well-known sportswear brands that you will really like. Naturally, you will certainly have a desire to “walk” this outfit, and here is an excellent motivation for you to play sports. Add to this a good sports bag, a few accessories in the form of a shaker, gloves or wristbands, and the last doubts and hesitations will quickly leave you.
Tip 3: Remember why you are training
Before starting classes, determine for yourself specific goals and reasons why you need to regularly devote time to sports. Perhaps this is the desire to buy things you like, and not refuse them because your figure does not allow you to wear them.
Or your goal is to improve your well-being and gain vigor. Maybe you want to look stunning on the beach. Do not feel sorry for yourself and remember what inconveniences being overweight causes you. This will help you remember why you need to exercise.
How to get yourself ready for sports?
It's ahead. To begin with, I would like to share with you my experience and several psychological attitudes. I sincerely hope that they will help you build a mindset that will allow you to look at exercise in a new and more positive way. They must not only be read, but understood and felt. They have proven themselves well in practice and have been helping me do fitness with PLEASURE for almost 18 years.
- First: Feel respect for your body, for the fact that you have it, for the fact that thanks to it you breathe in cool air, swim in the sea, hug your loved ones, achieve some of your goals, and simply live. Believe me, it was not given to you to lie on the couch for hours in front of the TV! Feeling good in your body is YOUR feeling good! And for this you need to have the opportunity to sweat, get a little out of breath, and tense your muscles every day.
- Second: You can teach yourself to treat training as hygiene for your body. Let's say, like regular brushing of teeth or washing in the shower. Track the feeling that drives you in these already familiar actions, and try to transfer them to your attitude towards training, put them on the same page. If you don't take a shower, after a while you will feel discomfort and begin to look for the opportunity and time to rub yourself properly with a washcloth. It should be the same with exercises: if you take a long break, you will simply physically miss them!
- Third: Set aside 10-15 minutes a day, preferably before bed, for visualization (this will be useful to you in any area). This is not much, but you will notice results after just a week of regular practice. For those who are not familiar with the concept of visualization, in short, this is an idea or vision of yourself the way you want to be, and in the smallest detail: imagine your figure, parameters, ability to do the splits, internal charge of energy, how easy and joyful you are do, in general, anything that you consider important for yourself in order to start practicing, and feel in this image as if you have already become such a person.
Tip 4: Don't forget that you will regret it if you stop.
Playing sports is definitely a plus in your favor. You will get rid of excess weight, reduce the risks of possible diseases associated with obesity, gain harmony and attractiveness, and simply get a lot of positive emotions. If you stop studying, then everything you have achieved will be crossed out, and your goals will remain unachieved. You will definitely regret it after some time.
How are athletes similar to drug addicts?
Fitness enthusiasts and scientists often compare the love of working out to an addiction. And there is some truth in this. Physical activity does change the brain, and it affects the same neurotransmitter systems as cannabis and cocaine. Comparing themselves to drug addicts who need a fix, athletes talk about this particular buzz.
In addition, athletes and fitness addicts are characterized by certain oddities that are also characteristic of chemically dependent people. For example, the so-called attention capture phenomenon: if there is alcohol in the room, the alcoholic will think only about it; Likewise, people who regularly exercise show increased attention to everything related to fitness.
Even more obvious parallels can be drawn by examining the results of brain scans. For example, when people who call themselves “fitness freaks” see pictures of people exercising, the brain regions associated with desire “light up” in the same way that smokers do when they are shown pictures of cigarettes3.
A small percentage of athletes also show symptoms of true addiction, such as agreeing with the statements “training is the best thing in my life” and “I have had conflicts with my family/partner because I spend too much time training.”
One of the study participants, a 46-year-old long-distance runner, admitted to the scientists that after breaking her ankle, she continued to run for two years instead of allowing her bones to heal normally. When asked what would stop her from running, she replied: “I would stop if I were shackled.”4
These studies suggest that exercise activates the same addictive mechanism as most hard drugs. However, when comparing physical activity and dependence, some restrictions should still be set.
Most fitness enthusiasts do not suffer from addictions that negatively impact their health and ability to live a normal life. There is a real desire, need and consistency in their relationship with training. But when people talk about their love for exercise, the comparison with an alcoholic's love for a bottle is still not very appropriate.
Yes, people get hooked on exercise, but it's still not a classic story of addiction. Perhaps the most relevant comparison is between exercise and antidepressants.
Tip 5. Buy a gym membership
This is one of the most effective solutions on how to force yourself to exercise. More often than not, the realization that you'll be wasting money if you skip a workout is stronger than laziness. It is recommended to purchase a subscription for a long period. After all, in this case it will cost you more and it will be much more effective to motivate you to exercise.
Choose the right time to go to the gym
Agree, a crowded gym makes you want to run away from there in the first 5 minutes)) Crowds, queues at exercise machines, an abundance of smells, and other factors can quickly discourage you from exercising. As an option (I know it’s not for everyone) – early morning and/or weekends. I always thought that working out in the morning was harmful: the body didn’t wake up and so on – until I tried it and read a lot of research.
By the way, read why gyms don't want you to go to the gym in the article Shocking Gym Statistics You Didn't Know About.
Tip 6. Study in a group
Often people prefer individual lessons. And that's pretty reasonable. After all, during such a training, the trainer’s entire attention is focused only on you, which means that each training session brings more results. In addition, during an individual lesson, no one will distract you, examine you, look for mistakes, confuse you, etc.
But if you choose a good fitness club, then even during group classes you will not feel a shortage of professional attention. A competent trainer is able to simultaneously control a group of 15 people, devoting time to each student. Individual classes often relax you and make you feel tired and exhausted.
Group activities, on the contrary, make you try harder; the efforts of other group members give rise to the desire to keep up with others. Don't be afraid that other class participants will look at you while doing the exercises. They simply won't have time for this.
Second: Motivation must occupy the right place in the pyramid of needs.
Maslow's Pyramid of Needs
70 years ago, American psychologist Abraham Maslow created a universal model of human needs, which still remains very popular. This is the so-called “Maslow Pyramid”. At the base of this pyramid are the most basic human needs, and at the top are the sublime ones. Maslow explained the arrangement of needs in the form of a pyramid by the fact that a person cannot experience high-level needs while he needs more primitive things. If you are hungry or in danger, you will not think about achieving harmony with the world around you.
How is Maslow's pyramid related to motivation? It’s very simple - if you haven’t satisfied your basic needs, then in most cases the motivation at higher levels will be weak. That is, if you don’t have enough money to pay the next mortgage installment (second step – security), the motivation to earn this same money will be much higher than the motivation to learn a foreign language (fifth step – knowledge, skill).
Tip 7. Imagine that you are performing in front of an audience
Imagine yourself as a professional athlete in a performance showcasing your skills in front of an audience. This will prevent you from stopping your workouts early. This is a non-standard way to force yourself to exercise every day, but for people with developed imagination it is quite effective.
Where to start losing weight
How to force yourself to lose weight and exercise? The most difficult thing is to start, and just the right beginning is very important in the entire further process. First, determine your BMI (body mass index) to understand how many extra pounds you have from a medical point of view. Then soberly assess your own shortcomings and decide how you will get rid of them.
- Set yourself a goal of how many kilograms and by when you need to lose them. Please note that this goal must be realistic and achievable. Healthy weight loss involves losing up to 2-3 kg per month.
- Warn your loved ones that you are losing weight and ask them to support you so that they do not offer you harmful products and do not interfere with your loss of weight.
- Count the calories you eat per day . Keep a diary where you will write them down.
- Increase the amount of protein in your diet, but reduce fats and carbohydrates.
- Try to drink more clean water.
- Eat little by little (200-250 grams of food at a time) and often enough (5-6 times a day).
- Be sure to play sports (this point will be discussed in more detail below).
Reward yourself for small results, but not with food. Think of something else, for example, you can please yourself with a stylish new thing or another purchase.
Tip 8. Add motivation!
Buy bright stickers and turn them into motivational notes and posters. Set yourself up for success, encourage, motivate by dividing appropriate messages on stickers and posting them in prominent places. Such notes will help you maintain a positive attitude even in difficult times. On one of the notes you can indicate the desired parameters of weight or figure proportions that you are striving for, so as not to forget about your goal.
Motivation or incentive?
Let's start with the basics. In fact, there is no such thing as “lack of motivation.” Motivation is why we want to play sports. Being healthy, having a beautiful figure, muscles of steel - this is all motivation. This is our ultimate goal. It either exists (you need it) or it doesn’t (you don’t need it).
What we need when we say “lack of motivation” or “I want to increase motivation” is STIMULUS. Some kind of magic kick that will make us study.
Motivation is natural, what inspires us. For this we are ready to make certain efforts. This is our desire to achieve a goal.
An incentive is something artificial, something we resort to to spur sagging motivation. Certain measures, by taking which, we ensure more effective implementation of our plans. The word “stimulus” itself came to us from Ancient Rome, and initially it was the name of a stick that was used to drive animals.
It is the taskmaster's stick that we lack when we try to force ourselves to do something.
For example, you want to lose weight. Motivation - to be beautiful, slim, attractive. Wonderful motivation! But losing weight is a long-term goal, “it will be good, but later”, and we are not always ready to give up short-term pleasures “it will be good right now (and bad later).” Having started out optimistic, we gradually cool down and start looking for excuses not to exercise or eat healthy food.
And this is where incentives come to the rescue. A great incentive is to bet big money that you will lose a certain number of kilograms. There is no trace of motivation here, because... your goal is not to lose or save money. But the monetary incentive (and money easily affects our psychological mechanisms) makes us lose weight. Lose weight - otherwise you will lose!
Thus, external incentives are a good way to spur you on if motivation is weak. But ideally, you should motivate yourself to do things that you don't need any additional incentives to achieve.
How to determine such things?
Tip 9. Set goals for yourself
Initially, the tasks can be quite simple: walk to the store, run one lap at the stadium, then a couple of laps, after that run to the nearest park and run there, etc. You can set yourself goals of a different kind, for example, get rid of 7 kg of excess weight, cover 200 km on an exercise bike, learn to skate. Set goals and achieve them. Let this be your challenge to yourself. Remember your goal and work towards achieving it every day.
Always compete
Perhaps you have already started studying, or have even been studying for more than one month, but feel that interest is quickly fading? Is it getting harder and harder to find motivation with each workout? Then you definitely need an additional incentive: add a competitive effect. Your gym comrades can come to your aid, or you should choose those who have achieved some success in this matter as role models. Do not hesitate to set yourself a goal - to beat your opponents in certain parameters. You need to constantly whet your interest in the matter, and there is nothing better than feeling superior to others. Don’t set standards for yourself, remember: “There is no limit to perfection!”
Tip 12. Learn to enjoy healthy food
Physical activity is not enough to lose excess weight. The approach to losing weight should be comprehensive, including sports and healthy eating. At the very least, you will definitely have to give up such excesses as fast food, fried, salty, floury foods in order to achieve your goals.
It is best to replace all this with healthy protein foods, vegetables, fruits and foods containing slow carbohydrates. The best solution would be to consult with a nutrition coach. A specialist will be able to tell you what nutrition program to follow in order to get the result you are striving for.
Products that are included in almost all diets are white meat chicken, lean beef, vegetables, grains, cereals boiled in water, low-fat fish, grain bread, unsweetened fruits.
How to force yourself to exercise
Have you thought about the question: how to force yourself to train? In this article I give advice based on personal experience. How to train yourself to run regularly, exercise and the like.
Previously, when I “scraped” for training, I was tormented by conflicting feelings: I was reluctant to leave my comfort zone and, at the same time, after “truancy” I was overcome by a nasty feeling of guilt and annoyance with myself.
This is my son on the bars
You can, of course, isolate yourself from the problem and quietly become covered in fat in front of the monitor or TV. But this is not our way, is it? Since you are reading this blog, it means that the topics of wellness and (or) a healthy lifestyle are important to you.
Great! Let's go further and begin to figure out how you can force yourself to train.
Motivation for training and goal formulation
First of all, it is important to have a clear motivation for training. Be aware of what they give you and why you need it all.
For me, for example, a strong motivating factor is the awareness that without physical activity the function of cleansing the body is difficult, I have already written about this here. The saying “Movement is life” is not just a catchphrase. If you understand this issue, you will realize that without a daily hour of physical activity, a person clogs himself, brings on chronic diseases and brings death closer.
Think about your personal motivation. One is getting rid of illnesses, for another the goal is a beautiful figure, the third dreams of losing weight, the fourth is preparing for competitions, and so on.
Visualizing your goal helps a lot. Print out your goal sheet and hang it in a visible place. In the case of losing weight, for example, a phrase like “Give me a weight of 65 kg by August 1, 2020!” (insert your numbers). If you attach such a piece of paper to the refrigerator, it will also motivate you to eat less.
