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Motivation: Why You Should Keep On Keeping On

July 28, 2006 Print This ArticleShare

Author: Certified HyperStrike Trainers

More than half of the people who start an exercise program quit soon after. Why? Getting motivated is hard and staying motivated is even harder.

People know exercise is therapeutic, and those who exercise know it makes them feel good.  Their doctors say they need it, they know they need it, and they know that exercise makes them look good, too. Their intellect is fully engaged, yet something prevents them from initiating an exercise program, or it makes them stop soon after.

What are some of the reasons for this defeat? They are as varied as each individual. So, let’s talk about the reasons why you should exercise. 

Avoidance: 

A sedentary lifestyle invites all kinds of illnesses from obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes to a host of other medical conditions related to inactivity. Those things are in the headlines and the evening news every night. But there are other reasons you don’t often hear about. 

As we age, inactivity steals our functional capacity to live a normal, comfortable life.  Sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscles, is a serious problem for many older people and even in some who aren’t so old. As we lose muscles, even daily movements become challenged. Because this loss of muscles occurs slowly, we don’t notice the small loss of functions until it eventually accumulates to what we ultimately dismiss as a natural course of “getting older.” So we give into a less joyful and more-restricted life, when we might have continued to live a fuller and independent life with a regular exercise program.

There are also the inconveniences that accompany the variety of diseases that come from inactivity, like cardiovascular problems, diabetes, chronic pulmonary disease, and musculoskeletal disorders. The visits to the doctor’s office, the waiting room, the diagnosis, the prescriptions, and the follow ups are often uncomfortable, sometimes painful and are a burden to your life and those who love you. 

Then there is death itself. Death can be a drawn-out process that is painful, messy, laborious, indignant, and a heavy burden on you and those you love. Exercise has been shown to ward off dependency and many of the diseases associated with premature death, such as cardiovascular disease. Staying fit and healthy can offer more quality of life in your later years.

Exercise regularly to maximize your functional capacity, health and longevity.  And do it for the rest of your life, for a better quality of life.

Attraction:

The most common reason many people exercise is to improve the way their body looks. To many folks this improvement means building more muscles, to others melting away fat, and to some it means a combination of both. 

Everyone knows exercise changes the form of the body, but not many understand that it takes time – and lots of it. This is probably one of the main reasons more than half of the people stop their exercise routine soon after starting. 

If your entire motivation for exercising rests on the aesthetics of your physique, it is likely that motivation won’t last long enough to see actual changes. Exercise does not provide instant gratification. Many people expect to see changes over night, or over a period of a week, or a month or two. When they don’t, they simply give up. Immediate changes do, in fact, occur soon after initiating an exercise program. Instead of form, these changes are functional.  Within a few sessions of resistance training, a gain in strength will be measurable. Your muscles will start to adapt to the searing lactic acid that usually develops during exercising.

Within a few weeks of regular exercise your working heart rate should not be as high, and your resting heart rate might be lowered (both a good thing). Your perceived exertion should be less dramatic and your comfort level for many exercises will improve. Your daily living activities will become easier. 

Instead of closely keeping your eyes on the scale or the mirror, pay attention instead to these other positive changes. If you stay with the exercise program, these things continue to become a larger part of your life.

Continue to recognize and acknowledge these functional changes. Your thoughts and even subconscious will make room for more motivation. This ultimately helps you stick to the exercise program. Then, as form should always follow function, the form of your physique will follow the function of your body. You will see muscle development, fat loss, and a fitter body.

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