Sports Motivation

Alfredo Valdés 13 min. of reading Fitness Leave a comment

From my point of view, the key to evolving is none other than sports motivation

Personal motivation

What little I know I’ve learned on my own, reading a lot, trying even more, and messing up again and again, but never giving up, and that’s thanks to my stubbornness, or better said, the motivation driven by wanting to challenge myself.

My knowledge of nutrition and training is beginner level compared to the beasts who write on this blog

Many times you’ve probably heard it wrong that fitness is 70% diet and 30% training, or no, it’s 100% diet and 100% training. Well, I believe fitness, and any sport, is 100% motivation, because without motivation neither diet nor training will be as they should, and at the slightest slip we’ll inevitably fail.

A person without personal motivation won’t achieve any results

In fact, as a rule, these people quit sports (or anything) quickly.

They quickly see the downside of things, everything has its problem, no time, too hard, too crowded, too expensive, too complicated, this and that

They have all kinds of excuses and the pros of doing any activity, especially sports, weigh much less than the cons, so at the slightest thing they quit

An exceptional case

However, anyone if they find something that truly motivates them will change drastically, and what once seemed only for a few will look 100% doable.

That was the case of my friend Samu, whom I met a few years ago when we were selected to do the endurance challenge for Men’s Health magazine. It involved preparing for and completing an Ironman triathlon, which is 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling, and 42 km running.

At that time Samu, 33 years old, weighed 79 kg but the surprising thing is that less than 2 years earlier he had topped 150 kg.

His life was that of a normal guy who loved food, like everyone else, what can I say. And he was finding it harder and harder to do sports, he tried to go for a run one day but got out of breath, until one day he looked at his scale and realized at that pace he wouldn’t be able to live a normal life.

It turns out he saw a triathlon on TV and it caught his attention so much that his motivation to get in shape grew exponentially

He started taking care of himself, enjoying the effort, stopping snacking between meals, choosing his foods better, and started doing sports.

At first it was tough, but he was 100% motivated and nothing and no one was going to stop him from fulfilling his dreams

He biked, ran, swam, went hiking… what he once saw as excessive suffering was now pure pleasure, and the only thing that had changed was his motivation.

He didn’t go to any dietitian, no guru, nor did he do any miracle diet, he was so motivated by the desire to do an Ironman that he jumped out of his comfort zone in one leap

The comfort zone

We can simply sum it up as our way of living, that mode or place where we feel comfortable, without too many problems, without big efforts.

I imagine most of you are familiar with the concept of comfort zone

For sedentary people, the comfort zone is that world where there’s no physical effort, where sweating is limited to sunbathing on the beach, or having some fried calamari in Seville at noon in August.

Others have a comfort zone where running 20 km a day is no problem, where trying to break the Guinness record for weighted pull-ups is daily bread, where muscle failure is the highlight of the day

Finding sports motivation

It’s clear that finding motivation like my friend Samuel did to do a sport, whatever it is, is no easy task.

However, we can draw a clear conclusion from what Samu did. He didn’t change because the doctor told him to, nor because his mother-in-law told him how fat he was, nor did he do it for his health.

So he didn’t hesitate and fought to change his comfort zone

Samu got in shape by himself, to challenge himself, to fulfill his dreams

Intrinsic motivation

This is very important, there are many people motivated but not by themselves but by an external circumstance and if that circumstance changes their motivation will inevitably crumble.

For example, if we start lifting weights because our partner likes it, we can keep that motivation as long as we keep that partner, but if the relationship ends, usually the motivation ends too (I say usually because sometimes you catch the lifting bug and then no one can stop you)

That’s why, ideally, sports motivation should focus, whenever possible, on oneself, that is, motivating yourself to do something that challenges you, that’s a personal challenge.

My challenge, My motivation

Personally, I always base my motivation on taking on a challenge that’s hard for me to achieve

Whether it’s doing an endurance trail, getting in my best shape at 40 to prove age is no excuse, participating in an extreme reality show, preparing an Ironman in 9 months, running 10 km in under 40 minutes, trying to finish a 7+ route in a climbing gym, or whatever else I come up with.

We all have thousands of sports challenges to face

Willpower to motivate myself

The willpower I need comes from the motivation to surpass myself in a sport, it’s my sports motivation.

I don’t care if the guy next to me has more muscle, is faster, or can run longer, I don’t care if my partner, my cousin from Albacete, or my best friend asks me, I do it for me, to surpass myself, to challenge myself.

If I did it for something or someone other than me, it wouldn’t depend exclusively on me and therefore the motivation wouldn’t be as high. Also, any setback in that external motivation could make me fail in my attempt.

In the end, the challenge may or may not be achieved, that’s not 100% certain, but what’s clear is that you’ll fight with all your might to get it, because you do it for yourself, because you want to, you want to surpass yourself and prove to yourself alone what you’re made of

Example of motivation

Heads up! I’m not saying any other motivation isn’t good, just remember the video I shared where a man over 60 does an Ironman because his tetraplegic son had always dreamed of doing one, and the man, without hesitation, manages to do it with his son on his back, first tied in a canoe while swimming, then carrying him on the front of the bike, and finishing by pushing a stroller with his son inside while running the marathon.

This man does all that because of the motivation love for his son gives him

That motivation moves mountains for him and makes him achieve unimaginable things for the rest of us, I can’t even imagine the training this man did to pull off such a feat

It’s not always as easy as it seems

But sometimes things get out of control. For example, my challenge a while ago was to do the Spartan Race.

It wasn’t a very demanding challenge, but after a couple of years focused exclusively on weights, I would improve my cardiovascular fitness, my endurance. But once again my shoulder said enough.

When I trained for the Ironman they diagnosed me with a SLAP tear in my left shoulder. Something like a tendon detachment, some doctors told me to operate and others said no, so once I finished that challenge I stopped swimming so many hours (mainly because I was diagnosed with pericarditis) and the pain went away, almost completely.

The problem is that since July last year the pain has come back much stronger, now it hurts without doing anything, just sitting in a car for more than an hour hurts, so as you can imagine I had to stop lifting weights, and my Spartan Race goal might not happen, but that hasn’t made my motivation drop, I’ve just changed my goals.

Look for solutions, not excuses

I have a shoulder problem, fine, accepted, and since this stops me from lifting weights with my upper body, and even bothers me in many lower body exercises, I look for another challenge, for example running.

All I had to do was change my goals

Now I focus exclusively on running, with some days of lower body weight training

The goal is to be faster than my past self, I’ve always wanted to break 40 minutes in 10 km, an easy time for many of you, but since I’m not you my goal is quite demanding for me, but as you can imagine my motivation is back at 100%.

As you see, if a person has such well-developed sports motivation and approaches sports as a personal challenge (although it can perfectly be approached as a way to pass the time), it’s easy to change challenges

Talking and promising is easy, doing it not so much

Talking about motivation is very easy, I’m sure many times you’ve told someone what they should do, saying it is so easy, but doing it yourself is usually hard work.

Who doesn’t know someone who on January 1 promises to get in shape this year, go to the gym every day, get stronger than vinegar, and so many other things, but when the moment of truth comes, nothing happens.

Ephemeral promises

They usually sign up for the gym in January and cancel in February, that’s the best case.

Because some stay signed up all year, paying but not going to train, gyms live off these people, not people like you who always go, wear out the equipment and facilities, use water and electricity, and some complain about the equipment or machines, but the good clients don’t even step foot in the gym.

We should thank these people a lot because thanks to them there are better gyms, more offers, more activities, and more affordable prices

Those people at the moment they decide to change are very motivated, but it’s an unreal motivation, in reality most aren’t ready for that change, more so, they haven’t even thought about everything they have to change to do it, they think that since the year changes they can change too without effort.

That’s not real motivation but an ephemeral motivation that lasts as long as Christmas, a sigh

Mechanisms to find motivation

But there are many mechanisms to find motivation, although I have to tell you right now that without changing yourself it’s hard to find it.

The best way to find motivation is rewarding yourself with small prizes that motivate you to keep training or follow a stricter diet.

Something like if I reach this body fat percentage I buy a new technical shirt, or if I’m strict 5 days a week on the diet I give myself a little treat (we call it cheat day and it’s actually ideal for our body and mind)

Motivation will be less necessary as we get closer to the set goal.

The hardest part is the preamble, that split second when we have to leave the comfort zone

That’s where we need the most motivation, especially when the initial euphoria fades

There’s an initial euphoria from the novelty of change, but after a few weeks that motivation may fade, either because there’s no reward for the effort, because things aren’t done properly, or for any other reason, which in short is just lack of motivation.

So if we really want to achieve our goal we have to keep motivation all year round to train, eat, and rest properly, even in those less appealing moments where the key to success lies

Different motivations

Something very interesting about motivation is knowing the difference between basic motivation and daily motivation:

Basic motivation

Let’s say basic motivation drives us to train to achieve social prestige, reach a personal challenge, some kind of financial reward, or win a championship.

That is, basic motivation is the stable foundation of motivation

It determines commitment to the sport practiced, and is related to victories, satisfaction, self-fulfillment.

It happens when the athlete thinks about the competition they want to do, being valued by friends, family, the photo of their dream body, or surpassing their own limits (Where is the limit is so trendy)

Daily motivation

This motivation is essential and happens day to day, simply for the interest in the sport practiced providing immediate gratification.

It has to do with the training environment, the enjoyment of what’s done, whether lifting weights or running, achieving small goals…

With this motivation we manage to perform adequately

Combine to win

To get proper motivation you have to combine both motivations so that you have a good commitment to the sport chosen and daily stimulation that allows you to do the right tasks in each training.

If the person has a stable basic motivation, with a clear goal they want to achieve and enjoys the day to day, even if it means suffering and effort, they will be always ready to train properly and take care of their diet adequately, overcoming all obstacles.

But if one of the two aspects fails, training won’t be intense enough, nor will the diet be strict, or they’ll even quit sports, finding excuses to skip training, diets, rest…

Maintaining motivation

To keep basic motivation high you have to have a very clear goal, and it must be stimulating enough to have that necessary commitment but without being a crazy goal.

I know people who have never run more than 10 minutes and go buy running shoes (pronator ones without even knowing their foot strike) and set the goal to run their city’s marathon that same year. You can imagine how that story ends

On the other hand, to keep daily motivation high you have to make daily training “fun” (as much as possible), with new routines, training partners who motivate you, mini challenges, high intensity, music, instant rewards for quality training (like a spa massage session).

Choose what keeps you motivated

Surely you know many who sign up for the gym almost out of obligation and do weights, machines, or cardio but don’t like doing that sport, so in a short time they quit.

It’s normal, because even if they had a clear goal, getting in shape, losing weight, gaining muscle, or whatever, just doing that activity they don’t like makes them lose interest and in the end everything falls apart.

Being motivated is as important as knowing how to choose your favorite sport, for some it will be spinning, for others running, and for most of us our beloved dumbbells

You have to enjoy what you do so daily motivation stays high

What we understand by motivation

So, after this long rant I’ve given you, we’re all able to reach a simple conclusion about what motivation is

Motivation is nothing more than “persistent and intense effort to achieve something”, the greater the interest in achieving it, the more willing we’ll be to do actions that within our comfort zone would be hard, like training, meals, trips, finding time, early mornings…

Motivation is, for me, the most important aspect of any sport we practice, since it influences our ability to control food, rest, training intensity, discipline, and consistency

And what do you think about motivation?