Must be the gambler in me. But I really need a workout where it’s a bit of a dice roll.
I.e. 531. How many reps will get on my main set. I know how many will be good. Sometimes I beat it and it’s amazing. Sometimes I dont quite get there and in gutted.
Same with rowing. I have a target to hit. Beating it is a bonus. Missing sucks.
Really gets the pleasure seeking parts of the brain firing.
If you look at most of the successful lifting routines that take off online. They all have variable reward.
Edit. Anything where I’m just showing up to get through a workout. I just cant get excited by it.
I’m not sure if I actually enjoy lifting but I feel it needs to be a part of my way of life moving forward.
There are several things that I do, like tradition wise throughout the year that I don’t want to see get denigrated by falling out of shape. Like I got back from a camping trip where I did some kneeboarding with the family and friends. It doesn’t sound like much but kneeboarding actually puts a lot of strain on your arms, upper back, and grip strength along with mobility if you’re trying to do anything fancy off of a wake. Those camping and skiing trips is something that I hope to partake in ad long as possible. That silly reason, amongst other things that are easier in your youth is one of the motivations for me to lift.
Yeah, that’s where I’m at. Nevertheless, I’m convinced that there is probably a program out there that I would enjoy (or at least not hate). So I think it’s a solvable problem or at least (improvable) if I took a more thoughtful approach to programming. But I just can’t get arsed up to do that.
Last 2 months for the first time in my life really I’ve had a consistent workout routine almost every day and I feel fucking great emotionally. Sure I’m healthier and am gaining muscle and that was my original goal but the results for my mental health have been incredible.
Yeah, and after a while you start to reach the conclusion, at least for me, that you don’t want to go back to what you were before that. Lifting kind of becomes a fight to keep yourself in this “better place.”
I would agree that lifting is not something I look forward to, when the alternative is to watch another tv show and eat another ice cream cone, but I’ve succeeded in forcing myself to do it, whether I want to or not. It’s usually not that bad once I get started. And the benefits of keeping the routine far outweigh the momentary satisfaction of doing something more fun instead.
I found that my motivation to lift and my consistency from a habit perspective both improved when I went back to tracking my workouts in a simple phone app. Seeing one or two lifts creep up 5 or 10 pounds each session helped. Perhaps similar to Rugby’s variable reward idea, where I might not know which lift I’d “PR” (more like a local maximum rather than absolute but same idea) on a given day.
That + listening to something enjoyable (music or podcast, usually less serious is better for me) + supersetting everything so I was always on the move and didn’t get bored sitting around.
Typing this out makes me miss it tbh. I haven’t lifted in a couple months after a back injury (lifting-related) and then a foot injury (not lifting-related), trying to rest and rehab and do yoga and shit.
This is kind of related to the motivation topic, but a little different. What do you guys think about when you’re in the process of doing a set? I find myself often thinking of a person I don’t like or someone I want to prove something to. Like the football coach who yanked me from a game for no reason, or the ex-boss who didn’t like me much no matter how hard I worked. Is this weird? Or do other people do this? It seems like I do better sets when I’m mentally trying to show somebody else I can do it.
Hey sounds good to me. Seems like if I’m ever feeling down I know a quick pick me up is available after my next workout.
But yeah as someone who is relatively fit but small and never actually been able to workout consistently, the last few months have been a miracle.
Bought dumbbells during the pandemic to workout and never used them, got a gym membership but rarely went, got an app workout program and did the easiest workouts once a week, and now I’m doing all of that consistently and trying to get better each time.
One thing that really helped my consistency was starting a stretching routine and seeing the results from that, and if I couldn’t workout that day at least I could stretch and do something to make myself feel good. I had bad pain in my hips, legs, and feet after working all day and as it turns out stretching really helped take that pain away.
For some reason, I regularly skip 4 on my sets. No clue why, but I seem to just go from 3 to 5 in my head. Doesn’t happen with any other numbers, just 4. I think now sometimes I over-adjust and do an extra rep since I can’t remember if I skipped 4 or not.
This is great. Yeah. I do stretching and mobility for about 30 minutes before every workout. I dont think I could work out without it. Mainly because I seem to be broken and non functional from head to toe.
Ditto on the stretching. Always been flexible but as the years pile on, gotta work at it to maintain it. I stretch religiously every morning. What started as about a quick five minute stretch has since morphed into about a 30-minute routine that includes a full body stretch, bodyweight squats, pushups, pull-ups, and kettlebell swings.
This little morning routine keeps me in minimal viable shape even if I don’t do anything else. Throw in daily walks and about three gym sessions per week (lifting & cardio), and I’m feeling fitter than I have in years.
a year ago, i was sober, but 280lbs and still getting used to being off depression meds. i remember trying to do a push-up… couldn’t. literally 1 push-up.
did cardio (walking, bike, a lot of swimming) 6/7 days a week from june to november and lost 75 lbs. then i started lifting 5x a week, gained 20 lbs of muscle since then. did 3 two-minutes rounds sparring and only breathed through my mouth the last 30 seconds or so. jump rope 20 minutes daily. feelin’ like i wish a motherfucker would
