We say it all the time, “We don’t need motivation to workout, we need discipline”. First comes discipline. With discipline comes consistency. If we’re consistent comes results. Now with results we start to see motivation increase. Most people struggle with motivation. And Yes, we understand it is extremely hard to get ourselves going when we aren’t motivated.
Here’s a little secret, more often than not motivation will NOT be there. That’s why we have to develop discipline. Discipline is doing things we don’t want to do to get to the goals we want to achieve.
In the beginning of one’s fitness journey, of course we aren’t going to be motivated. We haven’t developed any routines. Training is hard and uncomfortable, we are usually self conscious, we don’t know what we are doing. We probably feel awkward and uncoordinated, and the soreness sucks.
But that goes for anything we do in life. In order to get good at something we must first be bad at it. Learning to walk, learning to read, learning to drive, starting a first job, all necessary skills to thrive in life but we were all bad at them first.
Same thing goes for working out and developing healthy habits.
TIPS TO DEVELOP DISCIPLINE:
START OUT EASY– Too often we see the all or nothing approach. Too hard, too much, too fast. This can lead to burnout or even injury. If we get burnt out or injured in the beginning of our fitness journey, we can say goodbye to discipline and definitely motivation.
Instead focus on consistency, not intensity or volume. We don’t need to lift heavy and move fast when we first start. We don’t need to train 5,6,7 days per week. We just need to get our ass to the gym 3-4 days per week, get the heart rate up just a bit and move. That’s it. If we can to this consistently, we will start to develop a routine.
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH LIKE MINDED PEOPLE-I’m going to be completely honest. Oftentimes when we embark on this journey, some people in our life (usually people we care about) will not agree or understand what we are doing. This will create a disconnect between us and them. But if people don’t align with our goals, vision, and plan to improve health, we might have to distance ourselves from them and find people that do align with what we’re trying to do.
Think about it, if we are constantly surrounded by people that don’t want to workout, that want to go out to eat and drink, that talk shit about people that eat chicken and brocoli, and just bring negative energy around, how in the hell will that help us succeed? It’s a waste of time and energy. But now, if we are around people that will call us when we miss a day at the gym, or give us a hard time when they see us eating that doughnut, pick us up when we are down, now we are on the right track.
PURE GRIT- What it really comes down to is developing Grit. Grit is just getting our asses out of bed at 5 in the morning even though we are tired and it’s cold. Grit is going straight to the gym after we just got off a 8,10,12 hr shift even though we would rather go home and watch netflix and eat chips. Grit is getting up earlier than we want to cook a good breakfast instead of a bowl of cereal. Grit is getting into bed at 9:30 at night while our friends are still at happy hour because we have to get up early to train.
That’s it! Grit is doing all the things most people won’t or don’t want to do, to better ourselves. This will carry over into all areas of our lives. Not just our health. We will start to seek out discomfort and challenges. We will get right back up when life knocks us down. Nothing will phase us. We will become more resilient human beings than ever.
So if you take away anything from this, stop waiting for motivation. It’s not coming. You have to go get it.
Coach <MM>
