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Staying Motivated
by preist943, Mod @ www.IronLife.com & Team IronLife.com Writer
If you could think of one thing that is most important in bodybuilding what would it be? There could be many answers to this question, but I believe it motivation!
Its no secret that its motivation that fuels your workouts and keeps you progressing at a steady rate. Take a look at over weight people, do you think for one second they want to be that way. Who would look in the mirror and say wow that’s a nice fat ass needs a little more size on that right cheek. Its motivation that’s keeps them from joining a gym and making their body look they way they would like.
When your motivation is high your workouts take on amazing new dimension you can almost guarantee progress, when your motivation is low your training takes a dive. So what exactly is motivation and how do we boost it? Even though this whole concept might sound silly there is nothing silly about adding 25 lbs to your bench or in to your calves. How motivated you are is a key factor to how much you will grow.
Sometimes we tap into it after watching a movie, who doesn’t feel charged to the max after watching pumping iron or Dorian's video blood and guts. If you have a bad workout after watching one of those then maybe you should start bowling. Taking cues from this approach many people focus their motivational efforts on images. Others are in a quest to win a contest or simply just to have the biggest arms in the gym. There is much more to this story.
One study I read showed where research psychologist developed a theory of motivation that looked at the two primary types of goals people try to achieve. One type is ego oriented, which means things like winning or beating a certain person. It’s the typical action movie Hollywood approach. The second type is task oriented which means things related to actually going threw the motions. For example taking a task oriented approach to your training means focusing on your form, your progress and so forth. It puts a spotlight on what you’re doing at the moment without comparing it to another person. When researchers looked deeper into it they found as children we generally all start off leaning towards task-oriented goals. As we get older we tend to shift towards ego-oriented goals. Exact orientation is for most part what our parents, teachers and coaches have emphasized. If a coach is tough on mistakes and pits one athlete against another and plays up the stars of the team, he or she then creates an ego-oriented environment. Now if the coach was to emphasize effort over results, values all athletes and encouraged everyone to improve, he or she would build a task-oriented environment.
I know about this time people are saying WTF does this have to do with me or my training right? Well and ego oriented approach can in fact be very effective, but there is also a downside and it’s a big one. Research has shown that people who overemphasize ego goals can have a very tough time dealing with defeat. People who are strongly motivated by ego oriented goals tend to quit when they are not doing well and, in general seem to derive less long term satisfaction from what they are doing compared to people who have more balanced goals.
Now lets look at the task-oriented approach. These people have a stable base to continue hammering away day after day. They seem to be more adapt for sustaining long-term effort. So the way for maximum motivation consists of several parts task oriented goals to each part ego oriented goals. On a day to day basis enjoy your training. Try to coax progress do more this workout than the last. Take satisfaction in that type of progress. Try to keep goals simple like adding 10pounds to your bench press or 20 to your best squat The main thing to remember is keep goals within reach. When a goal is reached it will give you increased motivation to reach another.
* Article by preist943, Mod @ www.IronLife.com & Team IronLife.com Writer.
* Back to This Issue's Frontpage
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