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Motivation and Fitness?

I know some of you guys and girls are avid runners, so I thought this was the ideal place to throw this discussion out there.

How do you guys motivate yourselves?

About 7 months ago I was drinking a bit too much - living a bit of a stupid lifestyle by all accounts; I had nothing to do at work and was in charge of a team when I was the youngest. Needless to say many afternoons were sacked off for the pub, I was out nearly every evening to the point it was rare I'd make the last train - so I'd be hammered and getting taxis all over the shop. Being a smoker I was also smoking multiple packs on a night out, so I utterly abused my body, my bank account and.. well.. my dignity. (Some cracking stories though I guess.)

With this in mind I spent about a month going to the gym and sorting myself out. This was awesome, picked up my mood and pretty much enabled me to make the move to another office. Unfortunately, with that transition I lost the gym.. until this week. I've signed up for a package at Bromley and went yesterday.. and it kicked my ass. It's also my 15th day without a cigarette, so I've decided now is the time to capitalise on having my own schedule and making a few healthier choices.

Any tips regarding motivation and/or fitness in general?
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Comments

  • My motivation when running is knowing that it gets me to the pub quicker.

    The only time I used to run was from the pub to the off license, so I could stock up on cigarettes whilst a mate was getting a round in... :wink:
  • Set goals, they're your motivation.

    6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months are your dates.

    Assess where you are at the end of each period and work from there for your next goal.
  • Well done on going that long without smoking. Have you gon cold turkey or using a nicotine substitute?
  • I've always played football but struggled to do much else on a regular basis but started a proper regime about 18 months ago after a health scare. Whilst I love playing sport, I hate the gym and swimming bores me senseless. I find that not sitting down "for five minutes" when I get home from work helps, I just go straight up the gym. Also booking classes (I do spin a couple of times a week) means you actually have to go. My only real motivation is that I want to continue feeling better than I have done in about 10 years and not blowing out of my arse after 20 minutes of football. Good luck!
  • Dazzler21 said:

    Set goals, they're your motivation.

    6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months are your dates.

    Assess where you are at the end of each period and work from there for your next goal.

    Sounds like a solid plan actually, thanks for the tip!

    I may start using Fitocracy for logging again, I remember that was pretty convenient for logging workouts and also made it into a bit of a game.

    Well done on going that long without smoking. Have you gon cold turkey or using a nicotine substitute?

    Cheers mate! I went from 20-a-day (add 20 for nights out.) up until Jan, then tried vaping but it didn't really work out - it kinda felt like I was sucking The Tin Man off.

    Then one day a few weeks ago I got a cold, and couldn't be bothered dragging myself out to get cigarettes and fell back to the vapouriser and it just "clicked". So I've reduced the nicotine strength in the liquids I use, and I'm going to aim to be on 0% nicotine ones within a month or two - and stop using that too.

    The biggest challenge will be on a proper night out - but I've managed a few social gatherings so far and it seemed OK.
  • If it's for something like running then find a race a few weeks or months away and sign up for it, a 5k or something. Working towards something like that really helps.

    Other than that, setting goals in the gym, as Dazzler said, is a good idea.
  • I've always played football but struggled to do much else on a regular basis but started a proper regime about 18 months ago after a health scare. Whilst I love playing sport, I hate the gym and swimming bores me senseless. I find that not sitting down "for five minutes" when I get home from work helps, I just go straight up the gym. Also booking classes (I do spin a couple of times a week) means you actually have to go. My only real motivation is that I want to continue feeling better than I have done in about 10 years and not blowing out of my arse after 20 minutes of football. Good luck!

    You must have the whole gym to yourself if you have your bollocks hanging out whilst doing the spin classes!!

    http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/comment/2492864/#Comment_2492864
  • LuckyReds said:

    Dazzler21 said:

    Set goals, they're your motivation.

    6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months are your dates.

    Assess where you are at the end of each period and work from there for your next goal.

    Sounds like a solid plan actually, thanks for the tip!

    I may start using Fitocracy for logging again, I remember that was pretty convenient for logging workouts and also made it into a bit of a game.

    Well done on going that long without smoking. Have you gon cold turkey or using a nicotine substitute?

    Cheers mate! I went from 20-a-day (add 20 for nights out.) up until Jan, then tried vaping but it didn't really work out - it kinda felt like I was sucking The Tin Man off.

    Then one day a few weeks ago I got a cold, and couldn't be bothered dragging myself out to get cigarettes and fell back to the vapouriser and it just "clicked". So I've reduced the nicotine strength in the liquids I use, and I'm going to aim to be on 0% nicotine ones within a month or two - and stop using that too.

    The biggest challenge will be on a proper night out - but I've managed a few social gatherings so far and it seemed OK.
    I use the vape as well. Feel like a right bellend standing outside work doing it. I've managed to go about 18 months without a cigarette and hardly use the vape at all now. The challenge will be a night out. The important thing to remember is if you do end up having 1 or 2 it's not the end of the world, and you haven't failed. You just go again.
  • I thought this thread was going to be about Igor and Tony Watt...

    My advice to find something you like, and stick to a sensible level of exercise you can stick to. I go to the gym twice a week as it works for me. Any more than that, and it would become a chore and too time consuming, with the ultimate danger of me getting fed up and giving up.
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  • edited May 2016

    What Dazzler said and enter some sort of competition, triathlon, swim, 5k run, whatever sometime in the future and make that your target. Keep your focus on that, and put yourself outside your comfort zone when training. That works for me.

    *Edit if you can get to instructor led classes I find they are better than trying to motivate yourself.

  • I've always played football but struggled to do much else on a regular basis but started a proper regime about 18 months ago after a health scare. Whilst I love playing sport, I hate the gym and swimming bores me senseless. I find that not sitting down "for five minutes" when I get home from work helps, I just go straight up the gym. Also booking classes (I do spin a couple of times a week) means you actually have to go. My only real motivation is that I want to continue feeling better than I have done in about 10 years and not blowing out of my arse after 20 minutes of football. Good luck!

    You must have the whole gym to yourself if you have your bollocks hanging out whilst doing the spin classes!!

    http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/comment/2492864/#Comment_2492864
    It was only one bollock, Ricky. Don't exaggerate.
  • Try mixing with a different crowd. People who like fitness, travel and doing different things.
  • Try mixing with a different crowd. People who like fitness, travel and doing different things.

    You've done it now, he's going to be walking around latching on to randoms.
    Good point.
    Don't start talking to strange men in changing rooms, telling how fit they look. That sort if thing.
  • edited May 2016

    Try mixing with a different crowd. People who like fitness, travel and doing different things.

    You've done it now, he's going to be walking around latching on to randoms.
    Good point.
    Don't start talking to strange men in changing rooms, telling how fit they look. That sort if thing.
    Especially if it's the gym that Dave Mehmet goes to.
  • edited May 2016
    The best advice I ever got is to do varied exercise. It's much better because you end up working everything and you don't get bored. The variety is the motivation.

    There's so much stuff around to try and occasionally you find something you really love. And then if you ever got bored of it you do something else. At the moment I'm running twice a week and kickboxing once a week. Before that I was going to the gym and swimming. I've done normal boxing, played squash, used a kettlebell at home, done the Insanity workout, etc.

    I do really recommend taking up a high intensity sport like boxing or kickboxing, though, because they push you hard. Also exercise is far more interesting when you're learning a skill as you do it. And you see increases in your ability as well as your fitness which is really satisfying.
  • I use a Fitbit Charger HR and it really motivates me to keep improving. You can link in with other people you know if they have one. Set targets in steps, miles, calories and weight.
  • Try mixing with a different crowd. People who like fitness, travel and doing different things.

    You've done it now, he's going to be walking around latching on to randoms.
    Good point.
    Don't start talking to strange men in changing rooms, telling how fit they look. That sort if thing.
    Especially if it's the gym that Dave Mehmet goes to.
    Anyone calling me fit needs an optician not a gym.
  • I'd go the opposite of Chunes. Pick an exercise that you feel comfortable spending long periods doing it. Extend time working out. Low intensity but time sweating is time out of the pub. Suddenly after a few weeks increase intensity and you will be producing endorphins and it will suddenly become easy and you will want more.
  • Sponsored links:


  • Try mixing with a different crowd. People who like fitness, travel and doing different things.

    You've done it now, he's going to be walking around latching on to randoms.
    Good point.
    Don't start talking to strange men in changing rooms, telling how fit they look. That sort if thing.
    Especially if it's the gym that Dave Mehmet goes to.
    Anyone calling me fit needs an optician psychiatrist not a gym.
  • My personal advice is research the most local triathlon races.

    Training for that you get 3 different flavours of ice cream...and each exercise compliments and improves the others. Focusing on just the one might get boring mentality and physically.

    Swimming is a very praised excersise as you are working out alot of muscles in your body.

    Cycling is better then running IMO but it will improve your running too as you will build more muscle in your legs. Cycling is also generally fun and addictive. Low cost travel, efficient ... And will boost fitness and stamina without much impact damage to your body....depending how often you go out and your distance.

    Running is high impact and can stress various muscles and body parts but is the best source out the 3 to lose weight. Running will feel better if your doing the other 2 regularly also.

    Mix it all in with going the gym!
  • Also download dwanye "The Rock" Johnson's new app....
  • (As a 62 year old), I normally walk 10,000 steps and swim a mile 5 times a week. OK not killing myself - I’m hardly a natural tbh. The thing I have found though, is to keep the targets realistic. If you set the bar too high you are likely to fail and that in turn only discourages with the likely end result of doing nothing/giving up.

    I have also set my own gold, silver and bronze standards, to eliminate the excuse of doing nothing. Gold is a very good day - high achieving, Silver, is good, Bronze OK. Anything less than Bronze is a disaster, because I know that it is fairly easily achievable. A couple of gold days may be needed to make up the shortfall.

    Obviously, this is not a routine that’ll get an Olympic selection, but if you set your own achievable standards you’ll be more likely to stick at it and feel the benefit.

    P.S. I have on occasion awarded myself the Platinum, but hey I don’t like to brag.
  • LuckyReds, have you read the science behind Leicester City's success!? Amazing stuff and like the success of our cyclists, small improvements all add up.
    Mind you, not suggesting a -135 ice chamber to you!
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36189778
  • LuckyReds, have you read the science behind Leicester City's success!? Amazing stuff and like the success of our cyclists, small improvements all add up.
    Mind you, not suggesting a -135 ice chamber to you!
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36189778

    An aggregation of marginal gains, in the words of Dave Brailsford... and it worked.
  • edited May 2016

    LuckyReds, have you read the science behind Leicester City's success!? Amazing stuff and like the success of our cyclists, small improvements all add up.
    Mind you, not suggesting a -135 ice chamber to you!
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36189778

    An aggregation of marginal gains, in the words of Dave Brailsford... and it worked.
    Thank you, couldn't remember the quote exactly but how it worked for them!
  • I'm nearing 40 and like you @LuckyReds had a similar lifestyle, i'd stuck on nearly 3 stone since i was 30. Loved a beer. It was around last Christmas i went out with friends but i was off the booze as i had gout and they asked why i kept getting it, i said i don't drink much more than any of them... but they were surprised about how much i was drinking at home. We worked out I was essentially consuming 2.5 days worth of extra calories a week just on beer!

    Needed to do something about it, my brother in law got a fitbit and remember seeing him in January and he'd lost about 2 stone. So bought one myself, the competition between us just to walk more steps than another has seen me stop taking lifts, walking up escalators, and even just finding longer ways to walk to work (i get off 3 stops early on the tube and walk) having it on my wrist is just a reminder to move or do exercise... it's been all the motivation i need. Especially as now in competition with many work mates too. Also swapped out Beer for Wine at home (1/2 the calories!)

    Lost nearly 2 stone already. Amazing what a few minor changes to my lifestyle have made.
  • Good luck mate, sounds like you're on the right track. I stopped smoking a few years ago and signed up for a half marathon as something to work towards - not for everyone but I found choosing a charity and broadcasting it to friends and family gave me a massive incentive to stick to the training plan. I did a full marathon about 18 months after starting out which was absolutely unimaginable when I was wheezing round a 5-a-side pitch once a week.

    The issue with this 'big achievement' approach I've found is staying motivated after doing the big event - I quickly reverted to doing nothing a lot of the time once the box was ticked. Starting to build up activity again and finding the best way to keep at it is building stuff into the daily routine - running to/from work (or part of the way if the commute is too long) is a good one. Also getting into different sports (squash is a good one) is a good shout, way more fun than gym work/endless miles/lengths/etc.
  • LuckyReds, have you read the science behind Leicester City's success!? Amazing stuff and like the success of our cyclists, small improvements all add up.
    Mind you, not suggesting a -135 ice chamber to you!
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36189778

    Oldham away next season will be much the same
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