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How to Stay Motivated & Keep Your Fitness Levels Up

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by guest author Sean Byrne

For many years now I have been involved in developing and maintaining my fitness levels.

Ever since I was a young teen, I was out playing all sorts of sports activities, my favorite one being soccer. I absolutely loved playing sports and it was difficult for me to train my academic side as sports really did take over my life. But as I have gotten older, I have to say that things have changed for me slightly in the sense that the desire to remain focused and motivated has been challenging for me as time has drifted by. Life changes and circumstances too, so it’s important you realize this.

Staying motivated to remain fit has its challenges and I know a lot of people struggle with this too. This is the reason I decided to write this article, as I know people want to learn how others remain motivated to stay in shape and maintain their fitness levels. So after the New Years Eve resolutions begin to slide out of focus, what can we do to strengthen our desires again? Let’s take a look at what I do these days to stay on track.

Picture Your Perfect Body

My first reason on how I stay motivated is picturing the perfect figure I would like to achieve. What do I want to ultimately look like? I go and view magazines, go online to check out images of the type of body I want to achieve. When I do find a body I want to own, I then cut out or print off these images and blow them up into an A1 size image so I can nail them to my wall with a caption that says, “Look At You come the 31 of May 2012!!”. What this caption does is it gives me a time frame to work on. So I could be starting at the beginning of December, allowing myself six months to achieve this look. This is one of the ways I stay motivated, as every time I jump on my treadmill, or workout with my weights, I visually see my end goal and it makes me want to achieve this goal. By taking action, I know I am chipping away at receiving my end goal.

For Reasons Of Heath

The next point on how I stay motivated is for the reason of health. Almost every day I appreciate the fact that I am not cursed with some chronic disease, or the fact that I don’t have any medical condition to worry about. I know that eating healthy and doing my exercises a few times a week will do wonders for maintaining my health and reduce any risk of developing a sickness of whatever sort. I have conditioned myself, through repetitional thought to be thankful for my good health. This in turn keeps me motivated to eat the right foods and exercise on a regular basis.

Maintaining A Positive Frame of Mind

Perhaps one of my favorite reasons for staying motivated is the notion that once I start running on the treadmill, or lifting those weights, I am alleviating stress from my body, building up my self confidence and self-esteem and working towards a calmer state of being. I am addicted to this calmer state of being and I know that if I exercise intensity for 30 minutes at the beginning of the day, I will be in a much stronger, calmer frame of mind for the rest of the day. The desire to achieve this state of being motivates me to maintain my fitness levels and I usually have no problems taking action!

About the Author: As explained in the article, Sean enjoys developing and maintaining his fitness levels and has a few reasons for staying motivated on achieving his fitness goals. When he is not actively fit, he is maintaining and promoting his treadmill website. His site offers reviews and ratings on some of the top treadmills you can purchase online. Take a look at some of the top products in the market today and see which popular treadmill you’d like to purchase next.

 

Value Versus Size

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Being bigger doesn’t mean being more valuable.

For example, the largest number with a name is the Googolplexian, a “1” followed by so many zeros that Carl Sagan said it would be physically impossible to write them all down because there simply isn’t enough room in the universe. Moreover, it’s said that if you filled the universe with dust particles, the number of different combinations in which you could arrange and number these particles would be far less than a googolplexian. (Why you want to do that is a completely different question.)

It makes one’s brain hurt just thinking about it.

On a more human scale of “bigness,” I recently visited the Spruce Goose, technically the “H-4 Hercules Flying Boat,” constructed by Howard Hughes after World War II. Among other facts, I learned that this ginormous plane (which only flew once) is made of Birch, not Spruce; has piles of beach balls in its wings and belly to keep it afloat should it spring a leak; and that although it was constructed over 60 years ago, no modern plane has a larger wingspan. (There are a few that are slightly longer.)

As a sullen teen, hardly inspired by anything, I visited the Grand Canyon. Yet, even in my perennial “no big deal” mood, the grandeur of this world wonder broke through, partially due to its vastness. Large structures like the Hoover Dam or Golden Gate Bridge still take away my breath.

“Big” is impressive; there’s no way around it.

Maybe it puts us in perspective; I don’t know. Nonetheless, we are drawn to it.

However, it’s essential to understand the difference between size and value.

[Read more…]

Pick your Battles and Go for it!

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We all have challenges in our lives and we all face obstacles that jump in our way.

For me personally, I was born with congenital Coloboma which resulted in low vision and an abnormal appearance to my right eye. I persevered through countless barriers and feelings of inadequacy.  I learned that the feeling of overcoming a challenge can give you a euphoric high.  I’ve discovered that we should pick our battles and focus on winning.  We don’t have to fight them all at once; one at a time will get you closer to winning the war.  On this particular day, my battle was The Barbarian Challenge, a grueling physical test of body and mind against obstacles at every turn.

As I opened my eyes on the morning of the “battle” I felt a tinge of intimidation or second thoughts.

I am, after all a fifty-one year old grandmother who is not in top physical shape. I consider myself average for my age and I have only been training for this obstacle course for two months. This will be my first experience with any type of athletic competition. My goal was to finish with pride, not to beat any timeframe.

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I ate a bagel and a banana about an hour before we started (I googled it beforehand to see what we should eat.) As my daughter and I watched some of the other participants come across the finish line from an earlier heat, they were covered in mud and looking pretty exhausted.  I wondered if I could do this, I had succeeded in losing forty pounds during the past year and this was a pact my daughter and I had made to keep us on track for her upcoming wedding.  As our ten o clock start time approached we were branded with our wristbands, time chips around our ankles and numbers written on our arms. It was an atmosphere filled with camaraderie and anticipation. We signed the waiver forms releasing the sponsors of any liability if we got hurt.

Two hundred runners were corralled into a gated area as the minutes counted down to race time. As we mingled and talked to others in our horde I met a few other first timers, I was beginning to get some of my confidence back. We took the barbarian oath and listened to some final instructions before heading out into the 4.3 mile course through the hills of Gadsden, Alabama.

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Feeling Healthy or Feeling Shame

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I attempt to be transparent.

It isn’t always easy because we all possess “secret places;” those spaces we don’t reveal; too embarrassed or ashamed to admit out loud. Like you, I have a firm moral center; therefore my “dark places” are not deep black, more appropriately they are shades of grey. Who knows, if I let them loose to be washed in open sunlight, I might learn they’re simply “off-white.”

That belies the issue: I’m not proud of them.

That’s part of the human condition; none of us have achieved absolute self-acceptance. Sure, we don a strong veneer, and generally, we’re pretty good about keeping in place our mask. Yet, it’s still one foot in front of the other on the road to self-acceptance, occasionally stumbling in potholes.

Lately, I’ve been in a funk.

It originates when I wake up with foggy, upsetting recollections of distressing dreams. Although they evaporate with the morning light, an unsettling, discomforting residual coating on my psyche remains. The day commences with me drained, overwhelmed, and leery of what may come. In effect, my attitude “sucks,” which is unlike me.

We all go experience that, passing it off to “one of those days,” or a “rough patch.” But when does it become “normal,” and one realizes you’re no longer who you were, but rather who you have become?

One thing leads to another, and I end up attempting to enhance my outlook by falling back on an old habit — for me, that’s eating. Logically, will it help? No, of course not. But it has nothing to do with rationality when you’re stuffing granola bars in your pie hole at 11 PM. That is naked raw jagged emotion; I’m “medicating,” pure and simple.

Medications have side effects.

In this instance, it’s weight gain. When I gain weight — especially self-induced — I become depressed. When that happens, I seek more “treatment,” leading to more pounds, which…  Well, you see the cycle.

Should this be happening to someone seeking my counsel, I’d ask, “What precipitated this change in behavior? When did it start?”

My answer: October 25, the day I was hit by the car while riding my bike.

[Read more…]

How to Improve Your Communication: Slow Down & Regroup

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If you ever find yourself saying, “I told you 1,000 times…” that means YOU ARE not communicating.

It does NOT mean they are not listening.

Communication is not an exact science by any stretch of the imagination. There is a great deal of “noise” that can inhibit clear communication

“Noise” is anything that inhibits that communication.

It can be actual noise, or it can be

  • cultural differences
  • attitude
  • physical attributes
  • one’s past history
  • even one’s health can cause a breakdown in communication.

The next time you find yourself being frustrated that someone does not seem to “get what you’re saying,” don’t get mad.

Instead, realize that YOU need to try a different method to be heard.

Slow down, regroup, and try it differently.

[Read more…]

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Scott "Q" Marcus
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