“Quote-unquote” – Motivation

“A reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.”

I was surprised when I googled the definition of motivation that it actually doesn’t fit what we all perceive it to.

Motivation means a lot of things to a lot of people, but it is the scenarios in which we utilise it that varies massively. What I want to touch is how we use it as an excuse when it comes to exercise and nutrition.

It’s very common to hear that people are not motivated to train or have lost their “mojo” (and jus to clear things up, the term mojo actually has nothing to do with motivation).

Personally I feel a better way to view training and nutrition is to view it as part of a list of priorities or commitments. It’s simply unrealistic to expect yourself to be motivated every single day for the rest of your life, no matter how good it is. The likelihood in many forms of life are that the people who the most successful in their respective fields are the ones who simply do what need to they even when they want to the least. This may be a business owner working 12-16 hours when I’m pretty sure they don’t want to, or an elite athlete going into their 3rd session of the day for the 6th day in row when they are tired, feeling beat up and would much rather be doing anything else.

For someone not in these positions, think about work, or family and your general responsibilities.

Are you motivated to go to work everyday? Probably not, but there are very important reasons for doing so. You could choose to not go, but you’re either going to not get paid or eventually lose that job. For someone with a new born baby, while this isn’t something I can relate to personally I’m sure it doesn’t feel you with excitement when you are woken up every 2 hours for feeding time.

For those taking steps into the real world with education and job training, there are always going to be assignments and tasks that fail to meet the criteria of being motivating, but they are a means to an end, that end being your future.

Coming back to training, nutrition and health for good measure, it should simply be a priority. There will be times when it’s easier to turn up at the gym, your goals may be fresh in your mind or something or someone has inspired you to to turn up, train hard and eat well on regular basis, when those moments are present make the most of that wave.

At the same time there will be days, weeks even months or years when it’s not easy to get yourself going, maybe you’ve hit a plateau or you’re dealing with an injury. Sometimes there are just other things going on in your life that are just simply more important and that is fine. However that isn’t a reason to stop. Exercise and good food are an essential part of your life, you will always feel better for doing something and just like any other aspect of life, if you can get through this sticky patch and say that you didn’t give up or blame your lack of attendance on one word, you are going to be a lot better in general.

Coach Jamie Gabbidon