Gym Monotony and Motivation

Ah yes, you've gotten past that initial hype you felt when you first started a diet and/or workout routine. You killed it your first couple of days in the gym and are feeling good about how this is going to be an every day thing for the rest of your life as you finally transform yourself into that sexy beast that all of your friends will admire and respect. And you make sure that you let all of them know that on Facebook.

SO MUCH FOCUS!!!

Source: trainbodyandmind.com

 

But then it hits you harder than the bass at a dubstep convention. That feeling of blandness. That feeling of mediocrity. That overwhelming mental mountain suddenly put forth in front of you as you realize that it might actually be REALLY difficult to do something that in the moment does not feel enjoyable at all...over....and over....and over again. And on top of that, the intense emotion, excitement, and hype that you felt originally getting into the fitness game start to fade away into nothingness.

Your body is very good at outsmarting you. It knows what it has to do to make you stop doing anything that conflicts with one of its main goals in life: storing energy and spending as little of that energy as possible. Once it starts to realize that you're trying to get rid of its energy stores (fat), eat less to attain more energy, and/or use energy to build muscle......it's going to try to shut you down and use every trick in the book to make you think that not eating that cookie in front of you will be the death of you. Any excuse you give yourself will be good enough to justify eating that bag of M&Ms (until it becomes 2 bags of M&Ms, a Coke, 3 popsicles, and a Chipotle burrito) or missing just one day of going to the gym (until it eventually becomes you not going anymore). You are very much a slave to yourself, and what control you think you have over your actions and desires often times translates to no control at all.

 

 

"I'll go to the gym...right after this nap...and after this show is over...and after I finish this bag of chips"

Source: hackcollege.com

 

 

And so after stating all that, we come to the main point of this post. It was so easy to go into the gym for the first time because it was new and exciting to you, and whatever motivated you to do so was in the moment more important to you than being lazy. But those feelings are fleeting, especially when it comes to doing a task you don't enjoy. How many times have you been excited that you finally got a job and were going to get paid, only to tell your friends a month later how much you hate your job when you realize that it interferes with your desire to do the things you love?

It's the same with bodybuildng and going to the gym. You're taking a task that conflicts with everything your body wants you to do, and adding prolonged monotony to it. And the results are anything but instantaneous.

I wish I had an actual answer for how to make your routine enjoyable all the time. But fitness and bodybuilding especially involve doing the same unenjoyable things day in and day out in a way that makes you feel like some kind of android. You almost have to be a certain type of crazy to get yourself in the mindset of being so automated. I've never been a fan of jumping to different workout programs every couple weeks as I see a lot of people do just because they're bored, but there are some tips I can give to get yourself more motivated and excited to get into the gym:

• Mix up the order in which you do your exercises and/or change the days that you work out specific muscle groups / cardio routines: After working out for a while, you start to realize that you've been doing the same order of certain exercises. It's good in my opinion to stay consistent with the exercises you do, but the order to which you do them can be changed. Sometimes I'll go into the gym and get the exercises I like the least out of the way first, before going on to the ones I like to make the end of the workouts feel easier and keep my intensity and excitement up. This is also good in my opinion because sometimes it will lead you to be fatigued from isolation exercises before going into more compound exercises and possibly have more stimulation in the muscle than you would if you started with the compound exercise. I usually start out with a certain muscle group on two muscle group days, but sometimes I'll mix it up and do the other muscle group first. This change of pace will sometimes get me excited and intrigued enough to want to go into the gym and try it out.

• Mix up how you train: I'm not saying change the routine, but rather change the way you go about your exercises. What I mean is that maybe on some days you'll try to lift heavier weights at lower repetitions, and on some days you'll lift lighter weights at higher repetitions. If you're more cardio-focused, maybe some days you can try running for a longer amount of time and on other days focus more on high intensity interval style running. Also, consider incorporating new ideas into your workout routines such as drop sets, super sets, and trying to always advance the way you lift (such as line of drive, holding pumps, negatives....etc).
 
• Find a workout partner(s): Let me first say that you should not tie your willingness to go to the gym with someone you're going with or invest in them to the point where them suddenly deciding not to go anymore will make you not want to go too. Workout partners come and go, and it's good not to be too attached. With all that said though, it's really good to have someone around who will keep your mind off of the sets you have to do, or how terrible you feel, while at the same time motivating you.

• Find the thing that motivates you the most. You WILL want to quit. It's going to happen. I don't care how motivated you think you are. There will come a time, and many times after, where you will feel an overwhelming need to just quit. That is why it's important for you to constantly remind yourself why you got into this in the first place. For me, I like to watch videos of bodybuilders like Kai Greene and feed off of their intensity and dedication. While some might consider this weird and negative, I also like to look up people in my life (like on Facebook) who I look up to and respect or heavily dislike for whatever reason and tell myself that I will acheive their kind of success or become better at something than them. I ask myself if those people I dislike or my worst enemy would come in to the gym and lift for 2 hours today on top of eating like a robot and, if the answer is no, make sure that I do what they were mentally incapable of and too lazy to do.

• Take each day at a time: If you look ahead to the future and all the work you need to get done to accomplish your fitness goals, the magnitude of it will scare you into quitting. Just try to conquer each day. Take it each day at a time and only worry about what is in front of you. Make goals for your future self, but concern yourself with finishing all of what you need to get done today.

 It takes more than most people think to become successful at bodybuilding and achieving fitness goals because it involves doing a lot of things that your body has not evolved to do. We are still the same organisms that existed many years ago who survived because we developed the biological mentality of eating all the food that was in front of us. But now in an age where it's readily available, and overeating is a very easy thing to do, it's important to take control of your mind and will yourself to not fall into your own mentality.

Decide what's important to you. Ask yourself if personal growth, respect from others, increased self esteem, and a more positive life is worth throwing away for 10 seconds of instant gratification. If you want it, you have to want it more than you want to do anything else in life. You can do it...you just have to be strong enough.

So take control of yourself. Attack each day. Find purpose, and do everything you need to do to succeed.

-Jtrain

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