For beginners who first come to a fitness club, the issue of motivation is not relevant. They are literally “bursting” with the desire to quickly make the figure of their dreams, so the question of regular training and nutrition at the initial stage does not arise.
But time passes and the desire to engage begins to decline. Or even worse, it disappears completely.
Today we will figure out how to maintain motivation for a long period of time. After all, the achievement of any goal in the gym depends on the level of your motivation.
Motivation for Beginners
The desire to train overflows in beginners. Many from excess energy and enthusiasm try to train in all areas of fitness and bodybuilding at once. Naturally, from a noble goal, quickly make the figure ideal.
But from the outside, such training is reminiscent of throwing a ship at sea without a compass and a clear understanding of where to move.
As a result, they seem to be engaged regularly and selflessly, but the result is meager. And sometimes it just doesn’t exist at all.
The logical result is that training and dieting are thrown halfway. This is a typical gym situation for many beginners (especially snowdrops).
In order not to encounter this, it is necessary to clearly understand the goals of your workouts, as well as set realistic deadlines for achieving them.
We set clear goals and deadlines – expectations and reality
For the first time in a fitness club, many do not really understand why they came there.
To keep motivation at a high level, first of all, you need to decide on specific training goals:
- Decrease in body weight and body fat levels
- Increase in muscle mass and strength
- Rehabilitation after injuries and operations
- Wellness training to improve health
A big mistake for beginners is to want everything at once.
For example, the standard desire of male beginners: “Pump up pecs and biceps, lose excess fat (be sure to have abs cubes), and become stronger. And of course, so that training does not harm health! And the control in the head of the coach: “Tell me, can we do it in a month? I’m flying to Egypt in a month.”
But the reality is much more complicated.
To sculpt the perfect figure, you first need to choose only one goal (the most relevant). And only after reaching it, move on to the next one.
For example, if you are overweight, your primary goal is to lose weight. The next is a set of muscle mass. Next comes the growth of strength indicators, and so on.
After you decide on the direction of training, you need to adequately estimate the timing. After all, motivation often disappears just because of a misconception about the period that will be needed to achieve the goal. So to speak, expectation and reality.
If you take as a role model the figure of a professional athlete (or female athlete), it is foolish to hope that you will reach his form in a few months of training.
As a rule, top athletes have been involved in sports all their lives, since early childhood.
At first, they try different sports, laying a powerful foundation for their future victories. Well, in adolescence or youth, they begin to engage in bodybuilding.
If we calculate the total training experience of sports stars (together with other sports), we get a solid 10-15 years of regular training!
Most beginners are not psychologically ready to go to the gym in order to sculpt a dream figure in ten years.
To stay motivated, set realistic, achievable goals.
And most importantly – correctly determine the timing of their achievement.
To do this, seek the help of a personal trainer. He will assess your genetic potential, help you adjust your goals, and determine how long it will take to realize your plans.
Motivation for the intermediate “gym-goer”
The average level of physical fitness assumes a training experience of 2-3 years.
During this period of time, as a rule, most of the global goals are solved – losing weight, gaining muscle mass, or increasing strength. But there are still “minor” flaws in the figure.
At the intermediate level, motivation helps to maintain the setting of new goals in further physical development. Smaller, but helping to “polish” the already accumulated result.
For example, the initial training goal is to gain a total muscle mass of 15-20 kg.
As a result, a lean figure at the start gradually transformed into an athletic physique, but at the same time, the deltoid “lagged behind” in comparison with other muscle groups.
In this case, the priority in training is shifted from gaining muscle mass to enhanced training of the shoulders (the so-called specialization).
The situation is similar with weight loss. For example, a girl lost weight by a certain number of kilograms, but problem areas became noticeable. This is usually excess fat on the sides or thighs. At the same time, the total body weight is already satisfactory.
In this case, the emphasis in training shifts from general weight loss to the enhanced study of “problem areas”.
The principle of eclectic training
After a few years of regular training, two things happen:
- Workouts become monotonous, which greatly reduces the desire to continue regular, but routine training.
- Experience and understanding of the training process are accumulated, as well as the ability to feel and correctly interpret body signals to the training load
To maintain motivation for further regular workouts, you need to use your training experience. And for this, the principle of eclectic training is perfect. It involves a creative approach to each training session.
During a separate training session, various methods, and principles of strength training should be organically combined (sometimes mutually opposite).
For example, in one workout, elements of training for increasing strength, increasing muscle mass, and shaping are used.
The sequence and set of exercises, the number of sets and repetitions, the weight of weights, and rest pauses between sets – all these indicators of the training load, according to the principle of eclecticism, change every workout.
This approach allows you to diversify classes and maintain interest in each workout.
But once again I repeat, it is suitable only for the average level and is not recommended for beginners.
Indeed, in order to benefit from this principle, it is necessary to be able to correctly combine all the parameters of the training load on an intuitive level. And this ability comes only with experience.
Motivation for the advanced
It’s a paradox, but it’s hardest to maintain motivation for regular workout sessions for people with extensive training experience.
On the one hand, there are years, even decades of constant studies behind them. It has become such a habit that it becomes as obligatory as brushing your teeth.
On the other hand, skipping 1-2 workouts does not worsen the “ideal” figure and level of physical fitness.
Well, when you skip a couple of workouts and this does not lead to serious negative consequences in terms of the figure, there is a temptation to take a break. And you need to do this periodically. But only often such a break from workouts with the “advanced” can drag on for months, and sometimes years.
But people with many years of training experience do not care too much about the loss of a beautiful figure. After all, they have a “trump card in the sleeve” – this is muscle memory. As soon as you start exercising again, the muscles and body will instantly “come to life”.
It has been noticed that people with extensive training experience, even after several years of inactivity, quickly restore their former shape.
Where it takes years of training for beginners and intermediates, 2-3 months of training is enough for advanced ones. Therefore, many “experienced” lose motivation for regular training.
Of course, this is the wrong approach to training, which leads to annoying injuries out of the blue. Yes, and the figure with this attitude will gradually deteriorate. And this is also the truth of life.
Therefore, whatever one may say, regular training is also necessary for advanced athletes. And here the problem of maintaining motivation for the longest possible period of time (ideally, for a lifetime) comes to the fore.
Stay motivated for the rest of your life
And who said that only workouts in the gym and cardio are suitable for maintaining a good figure and health?
If you’ve been lifting weights for decades, you don’t have to carry iron for the rest of your days.
To keep the figure at the achieved level, 1-2 toning classes per week in the gym are enough. The rest of the free time can be used for other types of physical activity.
Here the list of options is endless. Try new sports that interest you but never had the time, energy, or finances to do. Your time has come!
Over the years, areas related to the development of flexibility have become relevant. For example, yoga or stretching.
To raise the psycho-emotional background, playing sports are great – football, basketball, tennis, and the like.
The main thing is that new forms of physical activity bring as much positivity as possible. Then the motivation to engage will go off the scale, like for beginners.
And another aspect that beginners and intermediates think little about, but which is extremely important for people with a long training experience, is maintaining a healthy level of activity.
It cannot be touched like a muscle, or seen in a mirror-like one’s own figure, but when it deteriorates, everyone notices. And sometimes it takes a lot of effort to get it back.
Therefore, the main motivation to engage in physical activity all your life is, of course, the health benefits!
It is not necessary to “plow” for this in the hall up to a sweat. But regular maintenance training is just what the doctor ordered!
To practice for a long period of time, you need to have high motivation. But the approaches to maintaining it at different levels of physical fitness differ. Use our tips to solve this issue, and train with pleasure for many years to come! Good luck!