I was reading the two miles in 16 minutes thread and some of the comments about a lot of it being in your head and just sucking it up and doing it made me think. I run on my own in the gym (treadmill) and my own motivation has always been pretty internal…basically I do it because in the longterm, it feels good and I’m paranoid about avoiding weight gain, and all that. Doing it for school (when we had to run a mile for those fitness tests) never motivated me to do a good job–then again, it was only one mile once a year, so I just blasted my way through it, not caring that I couldn’t do a mile in under twelve minutes (yeah, yeah, I sound out of shape, but I still look awesome).
I also recently noted that it seems my heart rate has gone down. I just checked it on a whim–I almost never keep track of it. I do vaguely remember my resting heart rate being a lot higher in high school but that was years ago. Generally, what I look at to see if I’m happy with results is how toned I look. So, clearly appearance is a greater motivator than “fitness.”
I only started exercising about a month ago, but I must say that its astounding how breaking up with a girlfriend and becoming single for the first time in years motivates one to get in better shape.
Alas, I have inherited the stomach of more forefathers. It would take a LOT more excercise on my part to get rid of that. I don’t excerciese at NEAR the level I used to, but I do enjoy a 14-16 mile mountain bike ride once or twice a week, and I really need to lift weights more than I do. But I can, and I’m in better shape than 80% of the folks out there, and it makes me feel good.
And I hope to god it doesn’t bite me in the ass in 15 years…I really hope I’m not using myself up.
I have a propensity for high cholesterol and a healthy diet and exercise keep it under control. Fringe benefits include: higher self-esteem, better sex life, more energy to run around after my kid and a calmer, more positive attitude. Plus, when I prioritize my time to exercise, that usually means I’m prioritizing all my other time better, too, so it helps with mental organization.
It’s hard to drag my sorry ass to the treadmill in the evening after putting in a full day at work, cooking and cleaning up dinner and wrestling my son to sleep, but it makes things better in the short term and long term. And I’m glad I’m doing it once I’ve gotten started and into the swing of things.
I’m having motivation problems right now so I’m going back to my old standby of embarrassing my self by being fat in public. I’m going to float the river with a bunch of girls this weekend and the combination of not impressing them with my body and getting a good mental image of what I’m working towards normally gets me motivated for about 6 months and then its shirt off in public time again.
Initially it was to get weight off, then it became to keep weight off. Then I got hooked on it, and it was because I liked it and it felt good. Once I finally got off my ass and started lifting weights, it was because I liked the way it made me look more toned.
Better health and primarily to keep my weight down. Just had some standard blood work done and my extra exercising in the last 6 months has yielded some great improvements in the lab results. This has given me more motivation to continue “the program”. Oh, I also have to admit that seeing people who are grossly out of shape has motivated me to not look like them!
A few years ago, the driver of tour bus tried to run me off the road. He almost succeeded in killing me. Despite chasing him at 90 down the highway, I didn’t think it was worth endangering the rest of my fellow drivers, so I eventually gave up pursuit.
My motivation? A gold bus with Vermont plates. I’m staying in road rage shape.
It makes me feel better if I go out and work up a good sweat every day. As I get older, the benefits get more obvious. In the last few years, I’ve learned that when my hip hurts, it helps to go walk a few miles; the pain subsides and my hip feels looser. My doctor has always encourage me to keep exercising and says that it’s helped me survive some of my health problems. I’d never kept track of it, but my cardiologist mentioned last month that my pulse rate was down to 63 and that 60 was normal, so I was actually rather pleased about that. I guess I’m running away (ok, actually just quickly walking) from the man with the scythe.
For me it started out with trying to lose weight. I’d been walking regularly but I wasn’t losing any weight and I got frustrated and said screw it - I’m going to run.
So I started running, and yes, I did slowly lose the 8 pounds. But the coolest stuff started happening in addition to shedding the weight! Everything I did seemed easier, from getting in and out of my car to climbing the stairs at work. I felt GREAT (well, except from the normal aches and pains that you have when you run regularly). And I started looking good, too. Not just thinner, but firmer. Even my arms got more muscular.
Plus, I could go around saying “I run three miles a day” and watch people get surprised looks on their faces that Gramma Woo is such a big-ass athlete.
I’ve been on forced sabbatical from running for a month, first with a knee problem and then a bad cold, but I’m starting up - gradually - again, and I’m really jazzed to be back on the track. Like Shodan, I do it because it feels good, and because it’s fun to come running up behind some guy less than half my age and pass him while breathing evenly and running (apparently) effortlessly. It’s brought back the childhood memory of just joyfully running across the schoolyard grass, or beating one of the big kids back to the Hide ‘N’ Go Seek base. I had forgotten how good it feels to propel my own body quickly and gracefully and feel the wind in my hair.
I’m also experiencing a motivation negative feedback cycle (I’m not exercising so I feel like shit and since I feel like shit, I can’t motivate myself to exercise).
But when I exercise, I feel better, pure and simple. I have more energy, fewer day-to-day aches and pains, and a massively improved mental outlook.
I walk for 40 minutes, four days a week. Reason #1, the reason I started five years ago, is to fend off osteoporosis. No dowager’s hump for me, thankyouverymuch.
Reason #2, for overall cardio.
Reason #3, for just a tad of weight control, because when I’m up to 130, I snore at night, and it’s embarrassing to wake myself and the Better Half with a volley of snorts and snurkles. Walking before breakfast four days a week keeps it down to 125.
