On Saturday, I made it to the gym for my yearly workout - the most expensive session in the world. Well, it isn't that bad, as it is a very cheap gym and my work covers most of the costs, but still, it is a waste to only make it there every year or so, especially since it is only about two klicks from home. As I have mentioned before, I have been struggling heavily with motivation and one of the many things affected is my desire to move, which is depressing, considering I used to be a person that would often enough do 6-7 workouts a week, sometimes two in a day.
Getting back into the groove is a challenge.
It all pretty much went downhill after my daughter was born, though I shouldn't use her as an excuse. The first year after her birth is what I would call "rough" and once out of that groove, I never really recovered to get back into it again. Twenty years of consistency, down the drain, because I wasn't getting enough sleep or time to myself to travel a few kilometers for a workout. It isn't that I couldn't get there of course, but it dropped down on my hierarchy of things to do very quickly and now, pushing it back up the list has proven difficult.
I am sure I am not the only one.
It is one of those force things I believe, where essentially, like it or not, I just have to get my ass up off the couch every day and drag myself there. Once there, it is pretty easy to actually do something, it is the getting out of the house that is the real challenge.
Getting older sucks in so many ways, as even though I am not in "that bad" shape, I am definitely finding it very hard to stay constant. I struggle with my diet as I have my entire life, and this has been further compounded since the stroke, as both my patience and impulse control are not as strong as they were earlier. It is hard to explain, but perhaps it is kind of like always being a bit drunk, where the guard is down and the walls of control are much thinner.
Try as I might, I am yet to find anything good to come from the stroke.
I often wonder why if we are part of some intelligent design, how come we haven't evolved to have habits that are more conducive to our own wellbeing. After all this time, we should be far better, but instead, we seem to very much be randomly put together and suffer the same issues that we have for millennia, with very little "personal" development, even though technologically we have advanced a lot.
I sometimes try to do the impossible math on what it would look like if we put our complete resources into wellbeing measures and discovering the best way to be human instead of all the useless stuff we currently spend our availability on. Similarly, I try to imagine the speed of development for something like clean energy, if we diverted our efforts in that direction, rather than for things like weapons and war. As said, it is an impossible task, partly because there is no history of this actually happening before - we are always far too preoccupied with beating each other at something, than discovering our best together.
And perhaps that is what I need - someone to workout with, even if we don't actually workout together, but just get each other to go. I have tried to get my wife to be my gym buddy, but she just isn't interested enough to see that I need it. Not to mention, it would likely be good for her anyway.
Motivation is one of those things that we don't know how much affect it has on us, until we don't actually have it within us and the things that we know need to be done, aren't getting done. Bit by bit and perhaps very rapidly too, we start to degrade across the spectrum of everything that is important to us and in short order, there really isn't much left to look forward toward. It becomes a spiral that kills the drive even more and if allowed to fester, becomes a series of nails in the proverbial coffin.
It seems so easy to just "change" behavior, but the thing with behavioral change is that it takes time in order to set in, both in the positive and negative. But, if we aren't patient or motivated enough to commit for a long enough period of time, the negative takes hold, because the negative is largely a passive process where nothing need be done to degrade, whilst the improvement is an opt-in frame that requires effort and attention.
It is easier to do nothing, than something.
But, baby steps, right? Start somewhere, start walking, or chewing, or whatever visual works for you. For me, I probably shouldn't chew any more than I currently do, so walking toward a better life seems more fitting to my predicament.
If only there was a pill to motivate me.
There may be, but unfortunately, I don't have any.
Flick a switch and want to move.
So, it is left to forcing myself to do, what I once loved doing. Weird.
Let's see what the next gym session costs.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Well worth the effort, I bet you felt good on the way out after the work out, the trick is to try and remember that feeling when you don’t want to go.
I have been trying this and telling myself - as long as I get there, it'll be fine. Perhaps I will make a trip after these comments :)
I found two buddies who would kick my ass to go to the gym. We managed to continue for two months.Let's hope we continue to exercise throughout the winter. Motivation is not easy.
That would be perfect. I think that as long as you don't take too long off, 2 months is enough to set the habit. Good luck!
I think you are one of the most regular hive blockchain users, you are posting content, giving upvotes and replying comments on daily basis here on hive
So what's motivate you to stay active on hive
Perhaps the habit is so strong here! Also, I can do it sitting down ;D
I actually cancelled my gym membership recently because life got busier - and opted for another company which offers a pay per visit, which I think is more suitable for me at the moment.
It is crazy expensive for pay per visit, I would only need to go once a month - which I haven't managed for about three years...
Hehe, it's all about the maths/lifestyle I guess!
That is the real challenge. Once we get out, it's easier to get moving, but in my case sometimes it's like I'm stuck on my couch.
I know I need to get moving for my health, but finding the motivation to get out is difficult and it certainly helps to have someone to help us get there. I hope you find it and I hope your wife, for her sake and yours, will go along with you.
Screens are the devil!
If my wife would come with me, it would be so, so much easier. She obviously doesn't care about me! :D
You have to motivate yourself, but the idea of finding a gym partner is useful, simply to encourage each other to go. Habits take some time to take root, it's also true that everything is simpler afterwards. I agree with you dear friend, getting old sucks! I hug you!
Driving the behavioral change takes repetition - having someone to support helps build it. I think we would all feel better if we got moving....
The intelligent human design is we are flexible and we can learn, but what we don’t use we lose to make capacity for what we use often
Gym - getting back to it slowly with lots of recovery days will be better than getting injured, like 2 to 3 times a week.
So much easier to learn the wrong than the right. And, so much easier to forget the right than the wrong.
My plan is for 3-4 times - every second day. Which means... today.
I don't think you have to sacrifice sleep for training. It may be better to find 40-60 minutes in the evening for a walk in the fresh air, a few hours before bedtime.
At the time the cycle started, I was getting about 2 hours of broken sleep spread out across the entire day, so it wasn't the best of times in many ways. Exercise lost attention.
More fire in Splinterlands for the New Year!) https://hive.blog/hive-13323/@urri2020/want-to-burn-gold-foil-in-splinterlands
I think motivation is a kind of energy for a worker to perform well.
I agree and when it is lacking, I notice it. Very little motivation to do anything at all at the moment -I hope it comes back.
On the days you are not feeling it, you can fill the gap with stretching and the 7 minute workout.
But what if someone comes up with a 6 minute workout?
You can do 1 minute workout too, do it 7 times or 14 times or whatever lol.
Just combination of different exercises. 6 or 7 or whatever 😂
I feel you on the lack of motivation to work out. I had gotten into pretty bad shape due to health issues a few years back, but the one thing that I did to get my health back was to buy a Tonal home gym. They are pretty pricey, but it is so easy to stay consistent with it and the workouts are amazing. My wife and I just hit one year with the machine and we are in the best shape of our lives. I hope that you can find the motivation and are able to get in shape. Our motivating factor was to be there for the future and to see our children and grandkids grow up. You can’t put a price on your health.
Thanks for the tip mate, I will check it out to see if we can afford and have space for it. We have a basement, but it is cold and when I say cold... I really mean it at this time of year :D
Are you feeling better for having made the commitment to get into shape?
I am feeling so much better. I had messed up my back and knees in the military, but after consistently doing workouts tailored for my injuries, I have pretty much repaired all the damage that was done and strengthened my bones and joints and increased my core strength. I’ve also been doing yoga in conjunction with the weight training and doing meditations and recovery stretches and mobility work. It is a time commitment, but one that I am sure your wife and kids would love to be involved in with you. We have turned getting our health back into a whole family affair and we have all seen tremendous benefits from it.
Lol. I know the feeling as we had to go so many times a month to qualify for the budget membership and always on the last day of the month I was having to do 2 sessions. I understand as with so much going on the last thing you need is a gym membership. You have renovated a house and have no free time except Hive time lol.
:D :D
I would fail at this. I think they are happy I don't go and take up space!
They must love you as you don't get your moneys worth and a dream client.
Gym buddies are essential. When I was playing recreational league sports like tennis and soccer, I would have no issues finding the time to get a little workout in as part of my weekly training sessions and game competition.
But now that I'm back in NYC and there is very little availability for me to play rec league sports, my training has also fallen off a cliff. I am blessed that my current partner seems to be more proactive than I to get our workouts in, so it is looking like 2023 might be my healthiest year in over a decade. I AM EXCITED to get back to playing a full 90, or a 3-set match.
I miss having people around me to go to the gym with - being single helped, but what's the bet that if I did that, my then ex-wife would start working out! :D
I should look into if they have any rec sports I can play. There is plenty of ice hockey here, but I can't skate.
Of all the things that motivated me to work out, it was definitely my most recent divorce that lit a candle under my butt back in 2018. I was older for the younger people I wanted to be with and realized I needed to tighten things up a bit to keep up with these younger fellas at the festivals/clubs. In a matter of 3 months I was in my best shape since primary school in 1999.
Oh hopefully you will find reason to motivate yourself to go to the gym always..
Hopefully!
Self motivation is the only medication I know. Tell yourself I can't stop here I have a better space ahead and I must get there.
Too much desire for self improvement and excellence is a sickness on its part be yourself and step by step do things you can really do and by daily effort move forward to seeing yourself becoming better. If I can do this myself without worrying then I have also attend perfection but I get kind of discouraged looking for a miracle 😂😂 this is life for us it doesn't really give us all we ask of it.
Unfortunately - there are no such things as miracles out there it seems...
Miracles on this note doesn't exist 🤣🤣.
Please I am Sorry, I am New in this platform I don't know how to vote. I went and Demvoted you instead of voting. Please It won't repeat it self again. A friend just teach me how to vote now.
No worries. I am sure I have had larger downvotes in my time ;)
Excercise helps you to maintain your body and health. I always boost my to do this work. I am also decided to going gym because of my belly fats. You can believe in your self you can do anything. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.