WARNING: Tough Love Alert

 “Motivation? Here’s your motivation, GET YOUR BUTT IN THE DOOR!”

I was thinking earlier today about a lack of motivation. As it tends to happen, my mind wondered in different directions… from remembering students saying similar things, then to where this “lack of motivation” comes from.

See, for me in high school, being someone who was out of shape, the motivation was what you can imagine for most teenage boys… girls. No need to get into it, but the point is that it was about training to try to look better. That was even the prevailing thought going into college. Only recently did I realize that I wanted to train for more performance based reasons.

Here is the motivation that I think very few of us consider when we make our decision. We think too reactively, and not proactively. That has been one of the staples of western civilization compared to eastern for some time now, especially in terms of medicine. We typically don’t go to the doctor for regular checkups, we only go when something is wrong. We only start exercising when we start feeling lethargic or overweight. We only start eating right when we can’t stand what we see when we look in the mirror every morning. We take pills to get rid of symptoms of an underlying condition we could have prevented if we had just taken control earlier in our life. We don’t start worrying about our heart until we: A) have a heart attack or a scare, or B) we lose a friend or loved one to a heart attack.

This is a little bit of tough love for you, but it’s just that, love (yeah yeah yeah, corny, I know) because I care about you all. Motivation is NOT an excuse. If being healthy and living well so you don’t have to deal with major health problems isn’t enough, then find yourself a race or an event to train for (again, proactive, not reactive, see what I did there?). The fact is – guess what – the human body was made to move. It was made to run and jump and pick things up. It wasn’t made to sit in a cubicle answering calls or typing up reports. If you are having trouble getting in the door and it’s because you don’t know “why” you are training, or you are trying to figure out why you started training, or you need a reason to resume training… well, there it is, that’s the key. Maybe you don’t want to be Mr./Mrs. Olympia, maybe you aren’t an athlete or don’t plan on running a race or anything. But you are still meant to move. You’re meant to run, jump, and climb. There is your reason for coming to training. Yes, work is tough, and yes, life is tough. It’s true, but if you are using that to deter you from coming, then where are your priorities?

So start acting proactively. Don’t wait until you have a heart attack or can’t walk up a flight of stairs to get back in here. Get in here so you CAN walk up a flight of stairs and aim to NEVER have a heart attack. Or, here’s something for you from another angle. Don’t wait until you are rejected by that person you want to be with, or until you hear that offhanded comment from someone you know. Get your butt in here, work hard and keep it from EVER HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Both of those things have happened to me several times. It’s not fun and it’s not okay, but it happens. Here’s your motivation, here is what it comes down to – you can’t control everything, but what you can control is how you eat and how often and how hard you exercise. YOU have the power to look the way you want to look and live the way you want to live, so stop saying you don’t have the motivation or you don’t have a reason for training. There is always a motivating reason you can find. Stop letting the fact that it’s cold, or you don’t feel like getting out of bed, or you had a busy day at work outweigh that motivating factor. Maybe a few times that’s the case, but on the whole, your health is the one thing in this world you can actively control. If that’s not motivation enough, then I don’t know what is.

Make it happen!
-Coach Adam