Q: I understand that working out is a lifestyle change which is difficult for me with such a busy schedule. But do you have any tips on staying motivated and consistent? I'd like to incorporate some form of exercise in my everyday life but lying in bed always seems so much better
A: The term "lifestyle change" gets misused. When it comes to fitness a lifestyle change doesn't have to be as dramatic as changing your religion.
A year ago, you couldn't have paid me to do 60 days of Insanity. I would've rather chosen a hand job from Freddy Krueger than a protein shake. But I do those things now, and they both take up about an hour of my day. People have a misconception of fitness because they mostly see bodybuilders and fitness models discuss healthy living. Remember that those people get PAID to keep their bodies in "perfect" shape, so yeah, of course they train ridiculously hard and micro-monitor every calorie and nutrient they consume. That is the world of PROFESSIONAL fitness. GENERAL fitness is entirely different because it allows you to actually be human. You can be sexy without six pack abs, you can drink a few beers if you want, and you don't have to avoid carbs like they're STD's. Most importantly, you only need to be at the gym for about an hour to have an effective workout.
Surely you can devote at least one hour to your health and well-being. We expend so much energy satisfying the needs of others that we neglect ourselves. We use our time and energy for bosses and corporations to profit, children and spouses to under-appreciate us, and educational institutions to prepare us for work with the corporations (while helping us accumulate debt in student loans). It's an on-going cycle of responsibility that makes us forget our own welfare. When we are actually "free" we use our time to sleep, hoping to regain some energy to continue the unhealthy cycle. Or we say "Y.O.L.O." and eat and drink ourselves further into oblivion. The point is, if you can find the hours, days, and years to devote yourself to those causes, surely you can spare a measly 60 minutes to the most important cause of all... yourself.
Think about it this way: you can't take care of others if you don't take care of yourself.
How do you stay consistent and motivated?
Let's begin with consistency. I've found that the best way to stay consistent is to look at fitness the same way I look at a job. If I want to get paid I must show up for work. But it doesn't stop there because any asshole can have perfect attendance at work. Think of fitness as a sales job. The more you sell (harder you exercise) the more commission (weight loss, lean muscle, etc.) you make. The fewer days a week you go to work, the smaller the paycheck. The less you sell, the fewer extra benefits you get to enjoy. The key to consistency is routine. Getting your ass to the gym must become as normal as going to work or brushing your teeth... regardless of whether you "feel like it".
Let's talk about motivation. People lose motivation for one of four reasons.
One, they experience long plateaus or slow progress. Two, they get bored. Three, they get little or no support. Four, they let others sabotage them.
This is how I stay motivated.
I EXPECT my progress to be slow. When I started exercising I fell for the same gimmicks most people fall for. I believed that the way to speed up my progress was with "new age" supplements and "revolutionary" new exercises. And though it can be argued that those things did help me they never made as significant an impact to my progress as simple hard work. When you look at those "before and after" transformation photos what they don't show you is the slow and steady progress those people made. The progress goes unnoticed for many months until one day you look in the mirror and notice definition in your shoulders and a missing double chin. We look at those transformation photos and forget that the "after" photo is the result of months and sometimes years of work.
Here's an example.
I perform Improv Comedy with a troupe once a week and I suck at it... royally. I'm basically the Gomer Pyle of improv because I constantly fuck up. As a result I get nervous every time I rehearse or perform, and I NEVER feel this way while performing regular theatre. Every time I step on that stage there's a little voice in my head telling me to give up, that it's not worth it. This is made worse when I observe the other members of the troupe, who all seem as if they were born with an improvisation gene. But I don't give up because I know that I'm better off today than I was last week. I know that I've made some kind of progress even if I don't yet know what that progress is. I also know that there was a point in time where my friends were also amateurs and had the same problems. I've even tried reading books and online forums about improv techniques and though they've been informative, they haven't been nearly as helpful as getting on that stage and performing.
I approach my health and fitness with ferocious conviction, which protects me from others sabotaging me. They don’t sabotage me negatively, but I constantly hear people say:
“You can stop losing the weight now. You look pretty good.”
“I think guys look cute with beer guts.”
“Here, have a slice. You exercise every day, its fine.”
My friends aren’t TRYING to sabotage me; they just want me to know that they’ll accept me no matter what I look like. But I have a specific goal in mind and I refuse to let anyone deviate me from that mission.
If I feel myself getting bored, I switch it up. Sometimes I try new exercises or tweak the intensity or try new foods. Whatever I do I make sure I’m never bored, because boredom is the first step to trouble.
My greatest asset to staying fit is my network of friends who help keep me accountable. If you truly want to get in shape, let the world know. Your friends will constantly ask you about your progress, they’ll also know if you’re relapsing. The best thing you can do for yourself in create a network of individuals who only want to see you succeed.
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