Home :: Motivation

To people who want to exercise, but can't seem to find the motivation...

When you haul yourself out of bed to jog around the park, do you curse the dark mornings and think about your aches and pains? Or do you slip into the sunrise and feel good about cranking your body into gear?

Although researchers know that 5 out of every 10 people starting an exercise program quit during the first six months, they're not sure exactly why. Now, a recent study has shown that your belief about the benefits of regular exercise have a big impact on whether or not you'll still be visiting the gym in six months time.

Joanne Schneider, Ph.D., questioned 364 women over 55 after they finished exercising. She found that those who believed in the health benefits of working out tended to exercise more often, more intensely or for longer periods than those with negative beliefs.

"It appears that if you can interpret your experience positively, you will want to exercise more," Schneider says.

Scouring shopping malls and senior centers in Kansas City and Wichita, Schneider found 364 women between the ages of 55 and 90 who attended an exercise session of their choice. She gave each woman several questionnaires to complete after the exercise session was over.

One set of questionnaires measured exercise behavior — the number of times the women had exercised during a seven-day period, how hard they had worked and for how long. They were also asked to provide information about their beliefs in the benefits of exercise.

Exercise benefits

When Schneider analyzed the responses, she found that those who believed in the physical or psychological benefits of exercise were those who exercised more often, more intensely or for longer periods.

So, to make exercise a habit, you have to literally sell yourself on the benefits. Think about it for a moment. Everything that you and I do, we do for one of two reasons.

• Not doing it will make you feel bad.

• Doing it will make you feel good.

If you've ever started an exercise and diet program, then quit before you achieved what you set out to, there's really only one reason why. At some level, your brain associated some kind of emotional pain to the idea of exercise. And this pain was greater than the pleasure you derived from the experience.

Of course, when I use the term "pain", I'm not referring to physical pain. Maybe it was just the pain of taking time out of your busy schedule.

Time

Of course, most people don't like to admit this. They'll try to rationalize (a rational lie) that they don't have the time to exercise. But the fact is, there are always TWO reasons behind any decision — the real reason, and the one that sounds good! When people say they don't have the time, they're often hiding the fact that their expectations were not met. The time and effort they invested in their exercise and nutrition program were not matched by any kind of tangible benefit.

And if you don't perceive any benefit in what you're doing, you won't do it anymore! If you associate exercise with a lot of "bad feelings" — which is often the case for people who hated exercise at school — then trying to stick with an exercise program for any length of time is going to be almost impossible.

Here's what to do.

Come up with as many reasons why sticking to a regular exercise and nutrition program is an absolute MUST. Not a should, or a might, but a MUST. Create a vivid picture in your mind of how you're going to look and feel 12 months from now after working out and eating right each and every day.

• How will you feel hearing compliments from friends and family about how great you look?

• Ask yourself how great it would feel to wake up one morning, step on the scales, and see that you've achieved your target weight?

• Imagine what it would be like to reveal a six-pack stomach that has complete strangers desperate to know, "what do I do to get a body like yours?"

Then, consider what it's going to cost you over the next 5, 10 or 20 years if you DON'T exercise. Think in terms of your health. Your energy levels. Your physical appearance. Don't just think these things. Write them down. Once you commit an idea or thought to paper, it takes on a life of its own. You make it permanent.

Whatever you do, don't put this off and decide that you're going to "start fresh" next week... or next month... or next year. After all, if you wait for the river to run out before you cross, you'll be waiting for a LONG time.

Reference
Schneider, J.K. (1997). Self-regulation and exercise behavior in older women. Journals of Gerontology, 52, 235-241