Motivational Tips

[vanessamays]

Hey girls! Would love to hear some of your best motivational tips when you are struggling and tired of all this hard work.

Here's one for me: this forum! Last night we had a ice/snowstorm blow through our area and needless to say I will be stuck at home today. It's one of those days you just want to lay around and not do anything. Plus reading on Facebook about how all my friends are at home baking cookies, etc. does not help! I was feeling pretty blah, but I fixed my regular breakfast and spent a few minutes reading through some posts and now I am feeling pumped about the day! Gonna do my Tae-Bo video here at home, get some housework done, and just be thankful to God I have the willpower to do what I do! It's overcoming those moments of weakness that make us different! Rock on girls!

[pinkeraserwm]

"Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win."
I can't remember who has this in their signature line but it inspires me everytime.

[babytatten]

Flipping through bb and fitness magazines helps me stay motivated. I look at the contest coverage and analyze the physiques of the winners. That motivates me to keep pushing hard, especially when I'm struggling with cardio.

I also post up motivational quotes at home and work. Here are a bunch from Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Arnold's Words of Wisdom

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."

"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent."


"The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character."

"The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That's what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they'll go through the pain no matter what happens."

"Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body."

"What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn't think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know."

"It's simple, if it jiggles, it's fat."

"Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach."

"For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer."

[SanDgroovy]

Great thread!!

I had a rough week with junk food, and when I think about all the hard work I've put in & changes I've made so far, eating junk isn't worth it. Reading fitness mags that feature fitness competitors also motivate me! I also saw that quote "when you're not training, your competitor is" and that always comes to mind when I am feeling lazy or when I want to cheat.

I love reading motivation quotes. Here a few from athletes:

"It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself."- Muhammed Ali

"In the end, it's extra effort that separates a winner from second place. But winning takes a lot more that that, too. It starts with complete command of the fundamentals. Then it takes desire, determination, discipline, and self-sacrifice. And finally, it takes a great deal of love, fairness and respect for your fellow man. Put all these together, and even if you don't win, how can you lose?"- Jesse Owens

"It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up."-Vince Lombardi

"The only one who can tell you 'you can't ' is you. And you don't have to listen."- Nike

[sassy69]

A very simple one is "You either do it, or don't bother."

This always manages to set my priorities when I dont' feel like going to the gym, want to eat something not on the diet, want to sleep in, whatever....

Kinda keeps things in perspective.


Another one is "Lean feels better than fat any day of the week."

[Bronwyn]

Well what motivated me again was paradoxly meeting one of my clients - or woman who wanted to hire me. And when we talked about her goals - she has also stopped metabolism and not eating regullary and want to get rid of smoking and drinking too much cofee - she always found a reason why she can not do that .... finally she told me that she have to eat sweets because she can not get rid of cigarettes, cofee and sweets at the same time. And she can not eat regullary from day to day because she can not cook at home, because she is too tired in the evenings........
And in this I really said - sorry, here is no help. But the same moment I realized my coaches words were true always - HERE IS NO "I CAN NOT" - JUST "I DONT WANT TO" BECAUSE WHEN YOU WANT, YOU WILL FIND THE WAY HOW TO DO IT. IT IS ONLY A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES. IS YOUR PRIORITY TO ENJOY YOUR FOOD? TO BE LAZY? TO ENJOY SHOPPING AND LAYING ON THE BED AND SO?? OK, BUT THAN YOU CAN NOT LOOK GOOD. THE ONLY ONE EXCEPTION, WHEN YOU CAN NOT IS WHEN YOUR HEALTH IS NOT GOOD... AND THAN YOU HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING YOU MAY TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND THAN CONTINUE!!!
So now I am trying to rule myself by this words... I am ill now, but today got zero carbs, because have no physicall activity and want to start changes NOW! not tomorrow, not next week - NOW!

[Suzanne]

Got this off Erik Ledin's site

"The Grind

The Grind is that time in your physique transformation where you just put your head down and grind it out.
It’s often the time between the initial fast “newbie” results and the final results. Changes are occurring in your body, but you may not see them from week to week.

Mentally, The Grind is also where some of that new program and new diet enthusiasm wears off and it all becomes routine, even boring. There’s nothing left to do or say really; you just work the plan, day to day to day.
But toward the end of The Grind, what’ll happen is that you’ll glance back at your “befores” and realize you’ve made some major changes. Other people will begin to notice. And that positive feedback will reignite the enthusiasm. And that will cause you to kick the training up a notch, leading to more results.

I think The Grind applies to life in general too, not just to losing fat and gaining muscle. There are simply times when we have to put aside all distractions (even the good ones), put our heads down, grit our teeth, and grind it out. At the end of The Grind lies an achievement, something great, or some reward or pay-off. But The Grind always comes first.

Thing is, most people won’t make this sacrifice; they won’t even begin The Grind, much less finish it. And that’s why most people don’t succeed. The Grind is often what separates the great from the average.

It’s as simple as that sometimes."

[shena]

I have these little motivational quotes in various places. If at home I'll pop in Pumping Iron, Rocky, or some other movie that makes me want to get up and train. If I'm doing cardio I'll sometimes pull up random youtube videos of fitness routines.

[ibarramedia]

I hope I can contribute a little bit from a guys's perspective for motivation and goal setting..... At least from my point of view. Here are a few clips.

[ibarramedia]

Works for me every time. kicks my butt when I don't feel like working out.


Similar threads that everyone can use:


http://www.siouxcountry.com/showthre...ght=motivation

http://www.siouxcountry.com/showthre...ght=motivation

http://www.siouxcountry.com/showthre...ght=motivation

http://www.siouxcountry.com/showthre...ght=motivation

[Crystol88]

My "tell you what you need not what you want Coach" is a master at helping us get through our inner barriers. And believe me, there are no external barriers to success greater than those you create within yourself. (See Blocks to Mental Clarity: http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html)

His blogs are a huge source of motivation. There's a lot of manna in these writings.

Nothing external can make up for a lack of internal motivation. Find that joy, that child-like pleasure in whatever it is that you do each day, and you'll find that your motivation is as much as part of you as your eye color. You don't think about it, but it's there every time you look in the mirror!

Some things I know to be true: Do I ever regret a workout, no matter how crappy I'm feeling?? No. Do I ever regret missing workouts? Absolutely. Do I ever regret eating clean? Never. Do I ever regret unplanned binges or cheats? Absolutely. I NEVER regret staying on my path and being true to myself. And I like living without regret... that's how I realize joy in life. Stray from that path, start regreting my choices and bingo! Motivation drops, joy disappears. It's a pretty simple cause/effect relationship.

I know there's a lot of reading here, but this is great stuff from a man who has worked in our industry for over three decades. He has seen it all, Coached 'em all, seen friends and clients reach the pinnacles of success in the fitness world and seen others crash to unbelievable, heartbreaking depths. His wisdom and experience are well worth a look.

Being a Champion: Accomplishing Greatness
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html
(read this blog and continuing scrolling to the Diet Psychology blog as well.)

Commitment: Is It in You?
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

Pure Motivation: Do You Have It?
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html

Dealing with Your Infantile Ego
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

Winners and Losers
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html
(there's a part 2 to this one...)

Believing vs. Expecting
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html

[ibarramedia]

Originally Posted by Crystol88

My "tell you what you need not what you want Coach" is a master at helping us get through our inner barriers. And believe me, there are no external barriers to success greater than those you create within yourself. (See Blocks to Mental Clarity: http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html)

His blogs are a huge source of motivation. There's a lot of manna in these writings.

Nothing external can make up for a lack of internal motivation. Find that joy, that child-like pleasure in whatever it is that you do each day, and you'll find that your motivation is as much as part of you as your eye color. You don't think about it, but it's there every time you look in the mirror!

Some things I know to be true: Do I ever regret a workout, no matter how crappy I'm feeling?? No. Do I ever regret missing workouts? Absolutely. Do I ever regret eating clean? Never. Do I ever regret unplanned binges or cheats? Absolutely. I NEVER regret staying on my path and being true to myself. And I like living without regret... that's how I realize joy in life. Stray from that path, start regreting my choices and bingo! Motivation drops, joy disappears. It's a pretty simple cause/effect relationship.

I know there's a lot of reading here, but this is great stuff from a man who has worked in our industry for over three decades. He has seen it all, Coached 'em all, seen friends and clients reach the pinnacles of success in the fitness world and seen others crash to unbelievable, heartbreaking depths. His wisdom and experience are well worth a look.

Being a Champion: Accomplishing Greatness
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html
(read this blog and continuing scrolling to the Diet Psychology blog as well.)

Commitment: Is It in You?
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

Pure Motivation: Do You Have It?
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html

Dealing with Your Infantile Ego
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

Winners and Losers
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html
(there's a part 2 to this one...)

Believing vs. Expecting
http://scottabel.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html

Why don't you invite Scott Abel here since you speak so highly of your coach? Our Brothers and sisters of Iron can benefit from his tenets and methods. I'm sure Sioux won't mind adding another set of eyes to his already stellar coaching pool.

[Crystol88]

Originally Posted by ibarramedia

Why don't you invite Scott Abel here since you speak so highly of your coach? Our Brothers and sisters of Iron can benefit from his tenets and methods. I'm sure Sioux won't mind adding another set of eyes to his already stellar coaching pool.

You know what? That would be great, but he simply can't. He has a full client roster with many competitors and a wait-list as well as numerous other projects in the fire including another book and the current video library on YouTube. He's now also scheduled a three-day workshop in Kelowna (BC, Canada) for the weekend of July 9-11. My big lug and I will be there with bells on, BTW! Being a client, it baffles me how much the guy accomplishes in any given day and still has time for all of us Coaching clients.

For simplicity's sake, the only forum he posts in is his own. I try to spread the word as much as I can...

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, not to mention understating the obvious, I'm pretty happy with my choice of Coach! LOL. But at the same time, I know he's not the only expert out there... there's definitely some awesome folks posting training advice on this site....

[amamo]

Originally Posted by Suzanne

Got this off Erik Ledin's site

"The Grind

The Grind is that time in your physique transformation where you just put your head down and grind it out.
It’s often the time between the initial fast “newbie” results and the final results. Changes are occurring in your body, but you may not see them from week to week.

Mentally, The Grind is also where some of that new program and new diet enthusiasm wears off and it all becomes routine, even boring. There’s nothing left to do or say really; you just work the plan, day to day to day.
But toward the end of The Grind, what’ll happen is that you’ll glance back at your “befores” and realize you’ve made some major changes. Other people will begin to notice. And that positive feedback will reignite the enthusiasm. And that will cause you to kick the training up a notch, leading to more results.

I think The Grind applies to life in general too, not just to losing fat and gaining muscle. There are simply times when we have to put aside all distractions (even the good ones), put our heads down, grit our teeth, and grind it out. At the end of The Grind lies an achievement, something great, or some reward or pay-off. But The Grind always comes first.

Thing is, most people won’t make this sacrifice; they won’t even begin The Grind, much less finish it. And that’s why most people don’t succeed. The Grind is often what separates the great from the average.

It’s as simple as that sometimes."

LOVE THIS!

[ibarramedia]

Originally Posted by Crystol88

You know what? That would be great, but he simply can't. He has a full client roster with many competitors and a wait-list as well as numerous other projects in the fire including another book and the current video library on YouTube. He's now also scheduled a three-day workshop in Kelowna (BC, Canada) for the weekend of July 9-11. My big lug and I will be there with bells on, BTW! Being a client, it baffles me how much the guy accomplishes in any given day and still has time for all of us Coaching clients.

For simplicity's sake, the only forum he posts in is his own. I try to spread the word as much as I can...
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, not to mention understating the obvious, I'm pretty happy with my choice of Coach! LOL. But at the same time, I know he's not the only expert out there... there's definitely some awesome folks posting training advice on this site....

Ah, gotcha. Once you sign with a board then another and yet another, it will never end.

[heather913]

I have three:

If you want to look better than 90% of the population, you have to do what 90% of the population doesn't. (I think that's it....I saw it on a post by Ali Swanson)

Do or do not, there is no try. Yoda

I am a bad ass. (My personal fave when I'm struggling with the last few reps or seconds of HIIT)

Those and thinking of how hard I know all the women on this site work out.....it pushes me to keep going when I want to wimp out.