8 minute read
Finding Your “Why” for Getting Fit to Help You Stay Motivated
Different things motivate people to accomplish what they want in life. But rarely does anything get accomplished if the “why” is not there. How many times have you started a fitness program only to quit after a few months or even a few weeks? Why did you quit? We’ll get to that in a moment. down burning desire that keeps you focused on accomplishing something that is important in your life. It is the driving force that when faced with a fork in the road, you go left for success instead of right to failure. But at times, even the strongest motivation can wane and take us off our path. Figuring out the “why” is sometimes tricky, but most experts agree that it has to be something YOU want to do; you can’t do it because others want you too, nor can you do it because it happens to be the “in” thing to do at the time. More times than not if that is the motivation, you will be doomed to failure. Why? Because it was not YOUR
To stay the course, there are some things that others before you have done that led them to success, like:
1) Journaling
Writing down thoughts, feeling and desires are actions that can help you stay on track and show you what went wrong if you happen to stray. For example, if losing weight is your goal, and you had a bad day of eating, why did that happen. What was different this day then in the past when you could stay on track. By identifying the cause, you can avoid the same thing happening in the future. The big thing is to not let it define you; get back on the horse and ride again!
2) Visualization
Photos of the success you are seeking can often be strong motivators in helping you stay on course. Post them on your refrigerator or in other conspicuous places. The refrigerator works because if your goal is losing weight and you are having a bad day thinking about eating, it can help you refrain from getting something out of the refrigerator - just by looking at the photo. The photo can be of you when you were younger, someone you aspire to be, a new exercise outfit – anything that will keep your motivation going.
3) Frequent Renewal
Sometimes during a weak moment, or really anytime, we need to give ourselves that “pep talk” as a way of renewing our motivation. It usually involves reviewing the “why” behind achieving this specific goal. It can be as simple as wanting to live a healthier lifestyle; or being around to see your grandkids grow; or … anything you want it to be. Just insure it is something YOU want and that you are not doing it for someone else, because they think you should do it.
Finally, expect there to be bumps in the road along the way; you may even hit a roadblock, but don’t let that keep you from constantly driving forward toward accomplishing your goal. Find a way around it and drive on. Success is for the taking. Use these tips for finding your “why” that helps you stay motivated all the way to goal.
D O W N L O A D T O D A Y
o n A m a z o n
The reality of exercise that most people aren’t aware of is that the physical changes you’re chasing do not happen as you exercise but rather during the time you’re recovering from a workout session. As you exercise, your muscle fibers experience small, microscopic tears that can create a feeling of sourness. During periods of inactivity, the affected muscles reconstruct through a cellular process where fibers fuse together to form stronger and bigger muscles.
Therefore, the only way to achieve desired results is to allow for adequate rest time. Failure to do so will result in what fitness buffs call workout burnout, which is one of the reasons why many people start an exercise routine strong only quit a few weeks later.
So, how many rest days do you need when starting a new exercise routine? Well, there are basically 2 main approaches when it comes to determining the ideal number of rest days you’ll need.
#1 The General Approach that muscle soreness usually subsides two days post exercise. Therefore, a minimum of 48 hours of rest is enough to allow optimal recovery that will prevent injury. Fitness experts say that this 48hour resting approach will work whether you’re a beginner, gym rat, or competitive athlete.
#2 The More Personalized Approach
Other experts argue that the 48-hour approach may not work for everyone since there are other factors to consider when it comes to determining adequate rest. For instance, older people experience a slower muscle recovery and will therefore need more than 2 days to fully recover from exercise. The same is the case for people who have large muscles, train at high intensities, or engage a large number of muscles during workouts. Other factors that affect how long it takes your muscles to recover include what you eat, how often you work out, and the duration of your exercises. So, the best way to determine how long to rest may be to simply listen to your body. If your muscles feel too sore to tackle everyday tasks like lifting things or climbing stairs, then you probably should not expose them to more strain. Rest until the soreness is gone or significantly reduced.
Whichever approach you choose to take, the trick is to avoid pushing your body too hard. Loss of appetite, severe fatigue, aches and pains, reduced performance, depression, slower healing, depressed immune system, and changes in mood all point to overtraining, which means you should slow down or take some time off from exercise.
A few other tricks to ensuring adequate recovery include cooling down after workouts, getting enough sleep (at least 8 hours), and eating right. Engaging in light physical activities such as swimming, yoga, Pilates, or jogging during rest days while on a weight training regimen is also advisable. It helps prevent your fitness progress from slowing down and increases muscle relaxation, which benefits recovery.
From Hitting Bottom to Bossing Up with Karissa Adkins
Today, we’re excited to share the motivation and energy explosion that is Karissa Adkins. Karissa is a master coach in health, life and fitness, a two-time bestselling author, and the host of “Beyond the Reps” with 2inspire.tv and “Boss Up Babes” with motivationandsuccess.tv. She’s also a cohost of “Living Real with Claire and Karissa.”
Dennis: Tell me the story of how you got started on this health and wellness journey.
Karissa: Eleven years ago, I was in a pretty dark space in my life. I was living in Germany with my family and struggling to find happiness and balance and self-love. My weight got out of control because of it all. I hated the way I looked. The reflection in the mirror disgusted me as did the thought of someone touching me or a camera focusing on me. I was just trying to hide. I played small in every way.
As a mom, I wanted to fit in with all the other moms. I was very depressed and on some medications for it. Everything else in my life was suffering because I wasn’t happy with who I was and what I looked like. Weighing in at 213 pounds, I felt pretty miserable. But I was also the biggest excusemaker out there. I played the starring role in the victim story like nobody’s business until I hit a rockbottom moment.
I was the heaviest I’d ever been, and I was sitting in a pediatrician’s office at an appointment for my then two-year-old daughter. My daughter was playing on the floor, and the doctor looked at me square in the eye and said, “Karissa, you’re five feet tall, you’re 213 pounds. You’re considered obese.”
She used the o-word on me. It was a punch straight to the gut. I was embarrassed, I was sad, I was angry. I thought, “Who is this woman to be so brutally honest? I’m not even here for me. Why are we talking about me?”
She went on to say, “You know, that little girl, she needs you, and if you don’t change your lifestyle today, you might not be around for her ten years from now.”
That was the moment.
I picked my jaw up off the table, and fighting tears, picked up my daughter and football carried her out of there as quick as I could. I bawled the whole way home in the car. I had one of those twoway yelling matches with myself like, “How dare she? I’m not fat,” just telling myself what I wanted to hear at the time.
Dennis: What happened next? I got home, smoked a pack of cigarettes, drank two bottles of wine, cried myself to sleep, and prayed that I would just wake up not feeling this bad again.
That was a rock-bottom moment that changed my life, but I wasn’t even prepared for the next moment.
The next day, I stopped by my friend’s house and drank a whole pot of coffee, crying and venting about how much my life sucked. When I got home, I saw a picture of my mom and for the first time in my entire life, I saw myself as her, a 320-pound mom.
I saw my obese mom who I’d never seen thin a day in my life. I saw her cancer. I saw myself cleaning up after her cancer. I saw her diabetes. I saw our trip to Paris when she couldn’t walk more than three blocks before we had to sit down and take a break, and I had an epiphany like a slap across the face.
That doctor was right. And if I wanted to be around my daughter, I’d better do something. I realized I needed to stop this crap and just boss up. And that’s what I did.
