What Motivates You?

[XSanguinus]

When you're out running and you need one last sprint...

When you're lifting and you struggle with that last rep...

When you're crossfitting and one more circuit seems impossible...

When those candybars at the supermarket checkout are calling your name...

 

Who or what keeps you on the right track?

[I-Jo]

Me.

 

I don't rely on outside sources- I want to be the BEST I can be.

 

Period.  I always push for that extra bit. Always. 

 

It doesn't come from anywhere but inside. 

[CombatBoot]

Remembering the times I wished I was stronger, fitter and more agile, and knowing that if I deviate from my plans, I'm not doing the best I can to be the best I can be. 

 

*edit* Damn, I-Jo beat me to it! Seems like we have the same motivation!

[rendiana-jones]

The candy bars, and motivation to actually start are a bit harder, but once a workout is in progress motivation is basically my drive to win at things. 

 

I just refuse to let the weights or the run or whatever beat me. I insist on kicking it's ass.

 

Maybe a little less positively I also tend to compare myself to people, and strive to do as well as they would. My boss and I have an ongoing strength competition in my mind.

[I-Jo]

no shame in that game. I love the fact I push harder than tons of people at the gym.  Nothing more satisfying than having someone walk up to you and go "you know you work harder than anyone in here"

 

that shit feels amazing. regardless of if it is true or not... it still feels amazing. 

[CombatBoot]

Humans are always comparing themselves to others, for example: every competition ever.

[XSanguinus]

I hope one day to be able to do it just for me.  For now I need to do it for someone besides myself.

 

For me its the look of awe in the faces of my sons when I lift something heavy.

 

And when that doesn't work, it's the humbling scowl of the Bull Moose himself, Theodore Roosevelt.

[rendiana-jones]

So it's a "make ------- proud" sort of motivation for you? 

[XSanguinus]

Yes. Although I'm slowly transitioning to the sort of motivation I-Jo described above.

[SuperToga]

I'm with I-Jo. I just love to feel good. I love to move and to use my body. Even when I'm having a blahblah day, I'll at least do one of my warmups because I always feel better afterwards. Food's easy for me, too. I'm a snob when it comes to crappy food. I like my high quality, home made snacks and meals. The food snob mentality has definitely saved me from candy bars and crummy deserts. Oh... you eat Oreos? Omigawd! *I* eat home made fudge and whipped cream with a pinch of cinnamon. 

[XSanguinus]

Don't get me wrong, I love feeling and being fit.  I was just curious how many people use the same method I do to "push past" so-to-speak.

[Alectau]

All of the things I want to do that I haven't been able to do as of yet. The biggest example I have right now is that my sister just suffered a pulmonary embolism from a blood clot in her lung (she is 21 years old). As a runner, it has been driving her nuts to have to basically start at the very beginning again. So I want to take her to the half marathon at Disneyland in January and run it with her. I have never been a long distance runner, but I want to do this with my sister. The other aspect of that is that I want to have stamina and feel great for myself, and I love Disney theme parks so that is a nice bonus. I basically like to set up things like this to encourage my personal drive to achieve all of my specific goals. It helps me to have that sort of reward built around my inner drive.

[Hero]

I like to imagine that some day there will be a chance for me to be a hero. I'm always afraid that when that time comes I'll be one second too slow, one pound too weak. That fear drives me, the fear I won't be good enough to achieve what I want or need to pushes me to try harder than the time before.

[Good Row G]

New favorite quote:

 

You're just one hard workout away from a better mood.

 

That gets me to the gym, trail or pool when I'm wavering.  Once there, if I'm on my own, I find it really hard to push past a certain point.  i can set goals, but to push harder is tough.  I try to tell myself to test my body out.  See how a sprint would feel here, or a hard 30 seconds, etc.  But intervals and pushing past my limits?  I'm not so good.

 

And the chocolate bar?  If it's an inferior bar, I'm too good for that.  If it's one of my pricey organic dark slivers of heaven.  Well, ask someone else about that one. 

[EmJeko]

I think about how it will affect me if I do or do not go ahead with the obstacle. 

If I see candy, I think about how close I am to my desired body fat/weight, and think about how well I have done so far. 

If I'm exercising, I think about how "every squat counts" if I'm going to continue, I need to do more than I previously have done to become a better me. A lot of what is wrote in the NerdFitness blog helps motivate me, but I rely on myself, even though others do try to give me support. (Having others compliment you on your changes really helps too!)

[El Exorcisto]

What motivates me is that someday I will rip twice my bodyweight off the floor. I will bench what I weigh. I will be able to climb the mountain to my deer blind in November and not heave up a pile of bacon and eggs. This is what motivates me. Never willing to be the out-of-shape, pathetic weakling I was such a short time ago. Every missed rep and skipped workout somehow sabotages that plan, and that just cannot be tolerated.

[iatetheyeti]

Me, mostly, which is kind of a new thing for me. I've always had very low self esteem and confidence and never once thought I could do anything. Then I started doing things. I started being good at things, and it felt brilliant. I focus on that feeling and that I am capable of achieving it and more. Most of the time it works, and when it doesn't work (when I'm lagging behind in morning runs, for example) I just tell myself that every bit I press forward is one step further away from what I used to be.

[Guest asdf]

It's the little things like incidentally running up a hill small hill I used to become slightly winded walking up and then realizing afterward that my heart rate didn't even noticeably change like it did before, or looking in the mirror and witnessing from a small but noticeable physical change in the right direction that I am slowly but surely achieving a level of fitness I have always longed for but never felt like I could achieve. Its the small positive comments my parents, sister, best friend and girlfriend make every now and then that subtly let me know I'm doing something right in this endeavor. But most of all it is my vision of a physical version of myself I am determined to achieve and experience. It never leaves my head.

[puddletheduck]

Wanting to beat myself, whether that means lifting more weight than last time or mirroring the speed and exertion of my aerobics instructor's movements more closely than last time.

 

Also wanting to "beat" other people (even if, like rendiana jones said, they don't always know it!). I'm now at the point where I'm one of the best in my cardio classes and (haha, this is so petty but true!) when a new person turns up looking like they might be quite fit and capable it tends to make me push me harder ("This is MY class; don't think you can just turn up and do better than ME on your first try!" - haha, like I say - I'm an idiot). Example: yesterday at spinning four guys turned up who looked very young and fit. I pushed myself really hard (despite it being crazily hot and despite still being drained from my first farmer's walks the day before). By the end of the class I was a sodden, dripping mess but I'd done some bits of the class better than I'd ever done them before.

 

But mostly, wanting to sustain the amazing feeling I have (for the first time ever) that the sky's the limit - I'm pushing my body to do things I never dreamed would be possible. When I'm flagging in a workout or I'm tempted by food I don't normally eat, I remember how each little decision I make and every time I push myself harder will add up to making me better and better over time.

[dpwdash]

My mantra"the only person you have to beat is your self from yesterday" 

[Jittersthe.Clown]

I do it for my wife and kids.  My father passed away last Sept at the age of 59.  My wife's father just turned 71 and goes square dancing every weekend.  <--- Every weekend.  At least once, some weekends it's both nights.  I feel better knowing I can be around for my family in the long run. 

[RedircSiuol]

Achievement drives me forward. I always look to improve, and know that I won't forgive myself if I let that temptation control me.

[pro§pect]

There is someone i use to know, he was sort of a role model of mine, He taught me the basics of weight lifting. He told me "No matter what you face, never give in, never give up...always fight until your last breath." 

 

What he said is my motivation, he helped me to become the man i am today.

[SkyeRose]

I have really weak upper body strength and it is always part of family jokes or people won't let me left things because I am too weak and might hurt myself.

I had always believed this however now I know I can be strong and I will be stronger than they imagined. The desire to prove myself and others wrong helps me do one more push up each day.

[Duck Dropping]

The idea of becoming a Hero motivates me.  I think of how much I will be able to help people if I am in shape and fit, not only in showing them how to also become healthier but ultimately happier.  Showing my friends, who all saw me as the biggest guy they knew, that I can lose the weight has motivated them.  The idea of showing others how much better their life can be keeps me going.