Motivation

First, a reminder… drink plenty of water! Yes, it’s a little goofy, but I took the picture to prove to Woobie that I was drinking my water today.

 

 

Things I didn’t want to do today:

• Wake up on time
• Go to work
• Go to the gym

Things I did today:

• Got out of bed mostly on time
• Went to work (was actually a pretty good day)
• Went to the gym

After dealing with mild stomach cramps, a long day at work, and allergies, I really didn’t want to go to the gym after work today… especially since I was there until 5pm. I considered going for a walk down by the creek but it was just too hot out there. I was going to claim ‘Gotta clean, can’t hit gym’ but just before leaving work I found my sansa cases and armbands had come. That was all I needed to get my butt to the gym. New toy time! So, was the trip to the gym worth it? Sure was. Did some elliptical, then weights and stretching. I may have overdone a little on the stomach twisty thing I did, back popped quite a bit, which felt good but the stress might not have been that great for my already taxed lower back.

 

Motivation can sometimes be something that is just outside out grasp, taunting us with its nearness. So, where does one find it? As I mentioned earlier, it was a new toy for me today. Sometimes it can be a buddy to go work out with. The problem with that, gotta find a buddy that is really into it and will motivate you. If you both blow it off, no one gets motivated, and that sort of defeats the purpose. So, what about a reward system? Have to be careful with this one. Most of us have the mindset of ‘I did good.. gimmie cookie!’ thanks to childhood. Sure, we also got gold stars, cute pencils, time with a special toy, but more often than not, it was an edible treat. New clothes are always a nice option, but when you’re working out, you sort of have to wait on needing smaller clothing. Pair of shoes? That can get dangerous and expensive. You could give yourself gold stars, to add up to something, but that kind of works better when someone else keeps track of it unless you have some killer determination. Then again, when you have killer determination, you tend to not really need a motivator. For some people, a combo of motivational tools is necessary. This blog post sets things out in a nice easy to follow pattern that is far better than my mind dump ramble.

 

As I’ve been writing this, I’ve been chuckling to myself. See, the whole reason I’m going through all of this, and pushing myself, etc, is because I’ve signed up for a 5k in August. If you read Leo’s post, number 22 is to sign up for a race. Even that knowledge wasn’t really enough to make me feel good about going to the gym today. I kept saying in my head, I’ve got plenty of time to train, no worries. I know better than that with the shape I’m in aerobically. I’ve never been all that great in that department. Weights, sure, aerobics, not so much.

Time to change that :D

 

In other news, my knees seem to be behaving after working out today. Yay!

 

This is a two picture post btw… here’s a post-workout picture.