- by Steve Bergeron, co-founder and head coach
- 4 minute read
Motivation May Not Be The Key
“If only I had more motivation/self-discipline…”
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“I would be able to be consistent with my fitness practice.”
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“Changing my habits would be a piece of cake.”
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“I would be able to stick to my nutrition plan.”
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“Things would be different this time.”
How many times have you caught yourself saying one (or all) of these phrases?
We’re quick to blame motivation as the culprit but that may be missing the forest for the trees. We know what we must do to live our happiest, healthiest, best lives. If there was only one villain to defeat we could surely triumph. Right?
In fact, our biggest struggles often go much, much deeper. Past traumatic experiences, our long-held fitness beliefs, current lethargy, anxiety, and fear may all be part of the cast playing in our own inner monologue.
Fear not, dear reader, as this is a TOTALLY NORMAL part of the human experience. We are, in fact, pretty good at discipline when it is necessitates the beginning stages of habit change. We can, in fact, defeat that villain swiftly and with force (Hence January first…) but the challenge lies in the villains ahead.
But there IS hope.
The good news is that there is ONE KEY to many of humankind’s biggest fitness struggles and that is environment, NOT discipline.
Read in another way, the biggest obstacle you face is NOT your lack of motivation. It is your lack of managing your environment.
Your environment is the space you exist in. Both your physical space and your mental space. Your gym, your home, and your community. The content you read and the thoughts you think. Impacting one or all of these areas plays a huge role in your fitness and nutrition success.
Now that you have this great knowledge, what next?
Here are 3 tips to help you win at fitness if your motivation sucks.
1. Create your fitness space… or find one.
Part of the value of having a gym Membership (preferable to a place you enjoy going) is simply having a place to go. It’s unlikely you use that space for anything BUT working out or making positive healthy changes and working on your own self care.
It’s so easy to neglect exactly HOW important your gym’s environment is. We always find it helpful for it to be a space that is warm, welcoming, inclusive, and inspires action.
In the Boston area and looking for a place to work out that is welcome and inspires greatness? Check out our risk-free no-commitment new Member offer.
If you’re still a WFH ninja (as most are) the BEST thing you can do for yourself is to create a space that is highly conducive to working out. Have your mat laid out, any workout equipment you may have, a music source with pre-made playlists, and even a motivation poster that inspires your fitness glory.
2. Kitchen #Gainz
If nutrition is your sticking point (and even if it’s not) it’s uber important to create a kitchen flow that supports your goals. I CAN’T stress this enough for those who struggle here.
Investing a little bit of time and money here up front can trigger an entire lifetime of healthy choices. Think about that.
You’ll want to make sure you have whatever cooking equipment you need to prepare healthy meals, tupperware for leftovers and meal prep, and anything you need that will support YOUR vision of success.
Also make sure to shop for healthy foods you like or, better yet, have them delivered to you from a grocery or meal service. I will also strongly encourage NOT buying unhealthy temptations and saving those for special occasions.
General rule of thumb: What goes into your kitchen will eventually get eaten.
3. Your people matter. A lot.
Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said that we are the sum of the five people we spend the most time with. He’s not wrong.
We’re social creatures and have evolved to take cues and adapt to not only our environment but other humans.
If your closes friends sit around all day drinking beers, playing video games, and complaining about life there is a high probability you will be doing the same. Not only that, you may not even realize it’s happening.
On the flip side, if you spend a fair amount of time around people that are positive, value health and fitness, and have a growth mindset you’ll be impacted.
ProTip: Virtual communities like the one we created with HomeAF work too!
This is one of the main reasons behind our community-focused approach here at AMP. We want to help people both make positive change AND actually work out consistently. It’s part of the secret sauce.
So if you’re finding it difficult to start (or stay started) with your ultimate fitness dreams I implore you to apply one of these strategies to your approach.
You might just find that your fitness life gets the spark it needed to set off a chain reaction of awesomeness and success.
You Got This,
Steve
P.S. Want to come check out our fun fitness community and personal training Studio? Sign up for a risk-free personal training jumpstart HERE