4 tips for finding resistance training motivation

mojo mojo where did you go go?

Whether it’s my overzealousnessment (technical term) or just happenstance—people associate me with an unflagging love of resistance training.

When conversation turns to exercise people invariably turn to me & lament a lack of resistance training motivation.

“I want to–I just cant seem to get myself to start.” is the typical refrain.

Or anything and everything along the lines of this comment from last week:

I cant pretend to relate to any of this.

There are myriad things Ive started & ceased (Im a big believer in QUITTING)–but not the weights.

Unlike cardio-mojo–which I never possess–my excitement simply doesnt wane when it comes to weights or bodyweighted-playouts.

Ive sat.

Ive thought.

Ive pondered why I love iron/bands/bod training.

Ive challenged myself to identify *what* keeps me happily motivated unlike cardio where I lament & make excuses daily.

do I have *any* tips to proffer?

Here’s what I realized:

Four tips for finding & maintaining resistance training mojo:

Plan.  Plan. Plan.  These days Im an intuitive exerciser—I was not when I started.  Whether you’re a pen & paper planner or an app-user—plan your workout.  Get specific (sets, reps, rest periods etc).  Next step? Create a Plan A & Plan B for each training session. Whether youre training at home, playground, or gym plan what you’ll do if machines are unavailable etc.  Planning sets you up for success & provides you far less opportunity for excuses.
More muscle = higher metabolism.  Of course Im not saying we *shouldnt* do cardio, but this DEFINITELY motivates me to resistance train (I had a client who hung this as a sign in her home!).  Im not willing to watch what I eat as I age. Im not willing to limit my portions & shift from mindful eating to calorie counting as I age.  Im *very* motivated to resistance train by higher metabolism it provides.It’s fast.  I am not training for competition.  My competition is LIFE.  My workouts are short (some of this is from pre-planning some is they need to fit into my life) and focused.  Twenty minutes.  I can always find (& motivate for) twenty minutes in my day especially when the pay-off is lower stress and higher metabolism.  Nothing would derail *my* mojo faster than and hours long training session.It empowers me.  When I finish cardio—I feel depleted.   When I finish resistance training (be it silly PLAYout with the Tornado or traditional lift) I feel empowered.  I feel strong.  Im reminded I AM MY OWN SUPERHERO.  Weight training helped my find my voice.  It gave me the confidence to demand to be heard & know Im worthy of taking up *space* in the world. Who wouldnt want to make time for something when it feels that amazing & extends into all realms of life?

Now you. 

What’s your best tip for finding or maintaining resistance training mojo?Do you have a fave workout planning/recording smart phone app to share?

Tags: fitness apps, mojo? where you gogo?, resistance training motivation

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Ask Roni: Movie Snacks, Paleo, Finding Time, Maintenance, My Inspiration.

Podcast time! I’m trying. Sorry for my babbles. :)

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Four tips for finding your resistance training mojo.

Ahhh. The empty hotel weights area.

About a week ago Ren Man and I ran away I went to see Joel McHale.

(If you dont know J.McH I highly suggest you check out The Soup.  If youre of a delicate ‘dont make innuendos around me’ nature I highly suggest you skip The Soup)

It was a fantastic evening and, to top it all off, we spent the night away from the Tornado & had the lovely opportunity to sleep past 530a on a Sunday morning.

That said, as anyone who’s a parent, nanny, aunt, uncle, babysitter etc. knows all too well, I was *still* wide awake by 6am.

I had coffee.  I checked my email.  I tried to figure out precisely which room in our hotel The McHale was staying. I skimmed through Twitter and Facebook.

It was 6:20a.

I glanced over at a snoring Ren Man, resisted the urge to wake him & headed to check out the gym and lift.

The hotel gym was crowded (impressive for a Sunday morning).

The hotel gym was fancy (see photo above & that’s only half!).

The hotel gym was filled with women & they were all using the cardio machines (not pictured. I dared not ask.  these women were sweating & serious.).

I happily lifted (enjoying both the empty weights area & being in no hurry) & when I finished four of the women approached me.

They were all exceedingly hungover friends in town for a wedding and, longstoryshort, wanted to know how I motivated myself to lift weights.  They all lamented the same thing:

I want to lift weights. I plan to lift weights. When it comes time to lift weights I bail 95% of the time & just do more cardio.

I hear this frequently from blog readers & friends.

The simple answer is I LOVE RESISTANCE TRAINING.  I enjoy the process of it.  I love the results of it. Who wouldnt look forward to that?

The more comprehensive answer became clear as I early-morning chatted with my four new good lord I felt old. I barely remember 25! friends.

Please to enjoy the fruits of our morning convo.

Four misfit tips for finding & maintaining your resistance training mojo:

Plan.  Plan. Plan.  This is something we all know (I literally saw one woman roll her eyes when I said it) yet few of us do.  Whether youre lifting at home while watching TV (dont knock it till youve BRAVOtried it!) or going to the gym—plan your workout.  Get specific (sets, reps, rest periods etc).  Have a Plan A & B.  Yes the marriage of mind & muscle is important, but sometimes so is the opportunity to NOT to have to think once you begin a workout.  PLAN.  It gives you less of an opportunity for excuses.More muscle = higher metabolism.  Now, I’m in no way saying we *shouldnt* do cardio, but this is DEFINITELY a way I keep myself motivated to hoist the iron.  Im not willing to watch what I eat as I age. Im not willing to limit my portions & shift from mindful eating to calorie counting as the years creep on.  Im *very* motivated to resistance train by the higher metabolism it gives me.It’s fast.  I am not training for an event.  My competition is LIFE.  My workouts are short (some of this is the result of pre-planning some is they need to fit into my life) and focused.  Twenty minutes.  I can always find (& motivate for) twenty minutes in my day especially when the pay-off is lower stress and higher metabolism.It empowers me.  When I finish cardio—I feel depleted.   When I finish resistance training (be it a silly PLAYout with the Tornado or a traditional lift) I feel empowered.  I feel strong.  Im reminded I AM MY OWN SUPERHERO.  Weight training helped my find my voice.  It gave me the confidence to speak up, demand to be heard & know Im worthy of taking up *space* in the world.Who wouldnt want to make time for something when it feels that amazing & extends into all realms of life?

I know.

I realize I can be a weight-training evangelist if  given the merest of opportunities & I do think there’s a small chance the poor dehydrated hungover foursome entirely regretted asking.

So now I throw it back to you (as the four are reading, ready and waiting for all your best tips too):

How do you motivate to resistance train when the call of the cardio is so easy to hear?

How do you track down D-List celebs when you KNOW they are staying at your hotel & you KNOW you must have a photo of you two together?

Please to hit us all up in the comments below.

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April Podcast: Finding Your Own Plan, Core Hurt Feelings, Helping a Family Member Lose, My Scale

This month’s podcast may be the last I do in this format. I’m hoping to shift to a "live show" in May! We’ll see I’m *this* close to figuring everything out.

That being said, this week I babble on as usual. There’s a doorbell, an echo in my empty office and a synching issue. By far not my best podcast. :(

Topics this month include…

Blogs I followFinding Your Own PlanCore Hurt FeelingsHelping a Family Member LoseMy Scale

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Links mentioned in video in order…

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January Podcast: Changing Diets, Organics, Snack Attack Advice, Body Image, Finding Time

It’s a new year and I’m setting a new Podcast Schedule! I realize they’ve been few and far between this past year and I’m sorry. Blame the baby. It’s his fault. ;)

My goal for 2012 is one podcast a month. I think it’s realistic and I don’t want to make any promises I can’t keep. That being said the podcasts themselves will be longer. I thought it would be hard to talk that long but apparently I’m a chatterbox. I think you already knew that.

Topics include…

Making the switch from Medifast to Weight WatchersWeight Watchers online, face-to-face or on my own?My take on organic foods, CSA, produce picks. Tips for college student living abroad. Advice for fellow snackers. Body image stuff <- the question that makes me cry. ugh. How did I get started? My motivated and how I find the time.

Links mentioned…

No interest in watching an hour video? Here’s a few other my other recent posts elsewhere….

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Finding Your Motivation to Get Healthy (guest post)

Hey all.

My name is Hank and I appreciate the opportunity to guest post here.

Allow myself to introduce myself.

You have most likely heard the I-have-always-been-over-weight story before. Well sorry to be cliche.

My weight is sort of like a historical stock market analysis. It’s was up a month ago. It was down the other day. But all the while it has been steadily climbing upwards. (You hope that is how your portfolio is anyway…) I have always been the “big one” in my group of friends.

Most of my friends in high school were actually soccer players, so compared to them I was huge.

I was the guy who would wear a shirt in the pool, like that hid anything. I was the guy who avoided doing anything  that might draw attention to my weight.

Fast forward to May of this year.

I started getting sick. Not swine flu or SARS or anything like that. I was sick of being the fat guy.  I was ill from my clothes getting tighter and tighter. But what would be different this time? I have been sick of being fat before. But never, it seemed, enough to do anything about it. I had made a few valiant efforts but ended up just giving up and slumping into a fatty funk of apathy.

This time I decided to do something different.  I needed some sort of motivation that would drive me to success. I needed to figure out how to keep my head in the game. So I decided treat my weight loss like I would my small business.

I have found success in business and I have discovered over the years that I have an unstoppable drive to succeed in business.  So why, oh why have I not been able to direct that drive towards losing weight?  Because I have never tried until now.

In the past I have failed at losing weight for a number of reasons, but the one that I figured killed me the most was that I tried to hide it.  I didn’t like talking about weight, especially my weight.  I did not want people to look at me or give attention to my weight.

I wanted to ignore it and have it be ignored. 

But that is a very poor way to deal with being fat and desiring to lose weight.  I realized that there is no business that would succeed if no one knew that the business existed.  So I need first and foremost to put myself out there.

I wrote up a marketing plan and went public with my business of losing weight.  Now that people had their eyes on me, I would not want to let them down.  I look to them as my stock holders and I need to be accountable to them in how I am running this business.

But I didn’t stop there.

I realized that no business is successful without having the principle invest him or herself (money, time, energy) back into the company.  So I decided to invest my own money back into my business of losing weight.  I teamed up with Louie’s Kids, a non-profit that treats childhood obesity.  I made a pledge to them that I would donate to them $5 for every pound that I lose.

Now I have children who need treatment relying on me.  How’s that for motivation!

Motivation is what drives us to get out of bed everyday and it is what compels us to do the things that we want to do.

Want to talk to that girl over there? The thought of getting her number (among other things, wink wink, nudge nudge) is what motivates you get up the nerve to go over and strike up a convo.

Want to buy a new iPad4 (it will be here before you know it…)? The image of flinging those angry birds into buildings to kill pigs is what motivates you to come in on Saturday to fill out TPS reports.

Getting fit and eating healthy IS NOT something that most of us are motivated to do.  So how do we force that motivation on ourselves?  I guess that not getting diabetes or not dying early isn’t enough of a here and now kind of motivation.

So what is it going to be for you?

Will you be motivated by not wanting to let people down? If so then start a blog and tell everyone you
know about it.

Are you motivated by money? Think about Jared from Subway.  He is (or was) banking it from a Subway endorsement.

Make it happen!

What ever it is that motivates you, figure it out and apply it to getting healthy. You may only be one more double-cheeseburger away from a heart attack and you don’t want to wait until it is too late.

I have been on my journey for 8 weeks now and I have lost 35 pounds of the over 100 that I want to lose.

I am feeling just as motivated right now as I was the day I started. I know that there will be days ahead where I don’t feel like continuing, but I have people relying on me now. So there is no backing down.  Failure is not an option.  I hope that you will find your motivation if you are seeking it.

In the meantime please feel free to support me with encouragement and inspiration. You are now a shareholder in my company and I expect you to hold me accountable.

Please feel free to read more about me and my journey at www.businessoflosingweight.com

And remember!

Put down the kettle corn and pick up the kettle bell.

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Ask Roni_v49: Finding a Diet Plan, Training and Calories, Starting to Weight Train, Partners with Bad Eating Habits

Phew! Is today Friday? I didn’t realize until about 4PM. Bad… I know.

Topics this week include…

Podcast/Audio Only Version
 

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Finding Your Adjectives

Last night, my mind was so cluttered and loud I knew there was no way I’d get to sleep without a bath. I was being slammed in all directions and feeling this way about this and that way about that and everything else about every other thing. Yikes! I had to sort it all out.

I lit candles, filled the bath with almost hot water, sunk in to my chin and thought. No iPod, no other distraction. Just me and my head.

I identified three things that wanted my attention the most: 1) Who am I? 2) What do I want? and 3) Will I ever be warm again?

The answer to #3 is probably not until spring and #1 is an ongoing process, so let’s move on to #2.

What do I want? Well, the bath helped me see that I want things that I really don’t want, but it was late and I let it be and fell asleep. Then riding the recumbent bike today, I read the latest column by Martha Beck in O Magazine, “Words to the Wise,” and I pursued the question further.

Beck writes that we can say, “I want to lose weight” or whatever other goal we think we want to pursue, but the real question is why? What’s behind that goal or dream?

She suggests we first identify a goal. A typical noun-verb one. (If you’re playing along, make sure you pick your most ambitious one.)

Second, create a fantasy about what your life would be like if you realize your goal.

Third, identify at least three adjectives that describe this fantasy. As Beck says (and she’s right), this is not easy. You can’t say, “Well, it’s hard to describe” or “It’s hard to explain.” List three adjectives that you think you think will define your accomplishment at the end of your journey. What would happen and how would we feel if we really achieved our goals?

“They don’t have to be eloquent,” says Beck. “Use simple words like energetic, focused, delighted and fine.”

Finally, drop the fantasy you imagined and concentrate on the adjectives.

“You might notice that these three words bring your stated goal into shaper focus. For instance, if your New Year’s resolution is to lose 10 pounds – a noun-verb goal – but your adjectives are “strong,” “confident” and “healthy,” you might realize that your actual aim is to get fit.”

Ah…that’s the kicker. My goals often aren’t the goals other people envision for me, and I need to take back ownership of what I want. That’s what this exercise showed me today.

When I was in the tub last night, I realized there are many things I think I should want to do or be. But today, when I stepped back and gave them a noun-verb identification, some of them just rubbed me wrong. They didn’t feel right to me.

As I moved on to the fantasy, I felt the reality in my gut. Then in step three – the adjectives – most of the “whys” of my goals became pretty clear.

“So if you find yourself longing for some idealized goal, take a moment to go fishing for adjectives. Then use them to identify the aspects of your life that are already drawing you toward your heart’s desires.”

When I reflected on my adjectives, I realized many of the things I do in my everyday life already fulfill many of the goals I’d set for myself. They just don’t necessarily reflect what others think I should want to do.

The bottom line is that I like the way my life is grooving right now. I like the way things are working out. I like feeling who I am from the inside out. Adding other people’s goals to my agenda doesn’t feel right. Does this ever happen to you?

What’s your idealized goal (and you don’t have to write it here…just think about it)? Is it really something you want or does someone else (or society) want it for you?

This time of year is about peace. I’m choosing to find it within myself. That is my wish for all of you, too. Do what you want to do because it’s what you want to do, not because someone else says you should.

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