Motivation

[tompaynter]

Hi coach,

How do your trainees with crazy work schedules (i.e. 70+ hours per week) find the motivation to get to the gym on a regular basis and to train hard when at the gym?

The only way I've found some regularity is joining a Crossfit gym because of the coach, having to attend the group class, etc. However this is not getting me big and strong, which would be my goal. For your information, there are no strength gyms in my area (they are all an hour drive or more which would be ridiculous given my work schedule!).

Thank you for your time!

Ross

I won't pretend to give you advice on motivation--personally I am not motivated enough to work 70-hour weeks let alone train on top of it.

But I wonder if lack of motivation isn't your problem so much as bad logistics. From what you describe above your only options are 1) drive an hour to a strength gym (hard for anyone let alone someone working so much), or 2) train at a crossfit gym that presumably won't let you go in alone and do a strength program. Can you solve this, either with a home gym or by finding a non-strength/commercial gym where it is possible to do a strength workout? I've never set up a home gym but if you could even get a bar, weights, and a chinup bar (i.e. no rack or bench press setup) you could deadlift, press, do chins, clean, and front squat. Not ideal, but might allow you to do at least half your workouts at home.

Years ago before I found starting strength, I used to train martial arts, then walk across the street to a gym to do cardio and lift weights (yes, too much/unfocused/blah blah). I was having trouble making myself do it, dragging unhappily through my workouts. I had to think why: I was hungry, and I was cold (I'd do cardio, get sweaty, then do my workout in a clammy T-shirt). Simply bringing a dry T-shirt to change into after cardio, and a snack to eat between martial arts and the gym, helped a great deal. The problem wasn't motivation, it was external factors that I could fix with a little thought and preparation.

[Greg Ruhl]

When something becomes a priority to you then all of a sudden there is plenty of time for that activity. You've decided that long work hours is more important than training so that's what takes your time. At some point you may prioritize scraping together $1k, building a functional home gym, and training at home.

[Ross]

Thanks all for the advice. It is certainly appreciated.

I won't pretend to give you advice on motivation--personally I am not motivated enough to work 70-hour weeks let alone train on top of it.

But I wonder if lack of motivation isn't your problem so much as bad logistics. From what you describe above your only options are 1) drive an hour to a strength gym (hard for anyone let alone someone working so much), or 2) train at a crossfit gym that presumably won't let you go in alone and do a strength program. Can you solve this, either with a home gym or by finding a non-strength/commercial gym where it is possible to do a strength workout? I've never set up a home gym but if you could even get a bar, weights, and a chinup bar (i.e. no rack or bench press setup) you could deadlift, press, do chins, clean, and front squat. Not ideal, but might allow you to do at least half your workouts at home.

Years ago before I found starting strength, I used to train martial arts, then walk across the street to a gym to do cardio and lift weights (yes, too much/unfocused/blah blah). I was having trouble making myself do it, dragging unhappily through my workouts. I had to think why: I was hungry, and I was cold (I'd do cardio, get sweaty, then do my workout in a clammy T-shirt). Simply bringing a dry T-shirt to change into after cardio, and a snack to eat between martial arts and the gym, helped a great deal. The problem wasn't motivation, it was external factors that I could fix with a little thought and preparation.

Thanks for the advice. It is obvious that I am not limited to the Crossfit gym or strength gym to train. I was simply underscoring the fact that group classes help with motivation in my case but that I wanted to strength train (which I don't do at the Crossfit gym). Strength gyms offering group trainings are too far from where I live to be considered.

When something becomes a priority to you then all of a sudden there is plenty of time for that activity. You've decided that long work hours is more important than training so that's what takes your time. At some point you may prioritize scraping together $1k, building a functional home gym, and training at home.

If I lived in a house, there is absolutely no doubt I'd build a home gym! I live in an apartment and although it is a fairly big space, I'll not bring a rack in there...

[George Christiansen]

I was not motivated to drive to and from a gym where I would likely hear people bitch about me "dropping" deadlifts and try to correct me for squatting wrong, so I spent some money and got a rack and plates. I'd imagine that most people working 70hrs a week have the money to do so. Otherwise I'd love to hear their motivation to work so much.

As far as making it to the garage goes: I don't ask myself how I feel about it or if I want to. I ust schedule it and do it. The barbell has never been either offended or impressed with my level of interest in any particular training session. It was almost as if it could care less.

Now my schedule is more flexible than most people, but the principle still applies.

[bjvinson]

Most people work and have responsibilities other than training so your situation is not special but there is no magic potion or silver bullet that makes scheduling or deciding to train when you are tired easy. You just have to figure out how to get it done. Lots of people do.

I think the way we look at training is important. Do you look forward to training as a challenge? or as a chore?

In my case I was reminded of this when I had just completed my first training session 3 weeks post chemo and radiation treatment. My son asked, "What wrong?" I replied, "I can't believe how weak I am." His response was, "What did you expect? You've been poisoned for the last 5 months
and microwaved for the last 2." I said, "Well I wasn't quite thinking about it like that but you do make a good point. Tomorrow I have to squat..."

His insightful reply was, "You don't have to squat. You get to squat and those are two very different things."

You can do this. Lots of folks do.

Barry

[wal]

The hardest thing for me as I have gotten old has been to recover from injuries and illness and come back from it. Between some back and foot problems and a glancing blow from the flu that turned into a really nasty case of bronchitis, the first few months of this year involved a lot of down time and workarounds. Not an ideal way to train or try to get better, but maintaining what you can through those tribulations and getting back at it as hard as you can is the key.

Especially as you get older. Because, rust never sleeps and it'll get your ass and drag you down if you don't keep it at bay.

Mark were you not supposed to get a flu shot last year?

[Mark E. Hurling]

Mark were you not supposed to get a flu shot last year?

I did get one. But thanks of our Center for Disease Control, who orders up what they think is the broad shotgun approach to hit the bulk of the various mutations and strains of the flu, apparently the hog and duck population in Asia outsmarted them in my case. Within a couple of weeks of having gotten the shot, I came down with a mild case of it. I thought it might have been allergies in the early stages. But no. Then it turned into a much worse case of bronchitis. It's only in the last two weeks that I don't wheeze too much any more.

[Mark Leavy]

Motivation is a tough one. Sorry for coming late to the party.

I really don't believe in motivation. That is a prescription for failure.

I divide my day into two halves. The first half of the day I stumble awake, drink some coffee, read the news and take a shit. Then I work off of my checklist. I'm too dumb and stupid to make any decisions that early, so if my checklist says do workout A before having steak and eggs, then that is what I do.

Later in the day, I feel somewhat more in control of my destiny and I figure everything out and put something or other on my checklist for the next day.

No motivation required. In the first half of the day, I am a mindless Czech robot - following the dictums of my masters. In the second half of the day, I am the all knowing, all seeing, universal intelligentsia - dictating what my roboton self will execute in the morrow.

[wal]

I did get one. But thanks of our Center for Disease Control, who orders up what they think is the broad shotgun approach to hit the bulk of the various mutations and strains of the flu, apparently the hog and duck population in Asia outsmarted them in my case. Within a couple of weeks of having gotten the shot, I came down with a mild case of it. I thought it might have been allergies in the early stages. But no. Then it turned into a much worse case of bronchitis. It's only in the last two weeks that I don't wheeze too much any more.

Correct me if I am wrong but California has a lot of pine growing around the state, yes? Here where pine has never grown over the years due to the high demand for framing timber huge pine plantations have sprung up. In the late winter early spring you can see in some areas yellow dust blowing out from these plantations. Pine pollen irritates certain folk, we now have the highest instance of seasonal asthma then anywhere in Australia, may not be the cause, but it is curious.

In regard to flu shots here they have run out due to the high demand, over 65 and the injection is free, a broad spectrum type, however it will not cover all strains. All the hospitals, old folks homes, Dr surgeries have at the front doors anti viral hand wash.

When I was a kid we ate dirt played with all the sick kids at school and we caught all the regular diseases, but now parents try to keep kids in a germ free environment and wipe their hands with Dettol all the time and try to make the home germ free and then they wonder why the kids have no immunity. The hospitals are battling golden staph because we keep pumping antibiotics into everybody for such things as a cold, its crazy.

Hope you get well soon.

[Danny Yarbrough]

I live in an apartment and although it is a fairly big space, I'll not bring a rack in there...

I brought a rack in my 25m² apartment.
This was the best decision regarding training. I can't stand (commercial) gyms. I went to one for a few months because a friend wanted to train with me. To be honest, I lost motivation over time, and now I'm back in my home gym. Which means:

The rack and bench is always available, the plates are always where I expect them to be, the equipment is exactly how I need it to be, no one's annoying me, I dont have to drive back and forth all the time, no shitty music, no packing my gym back, etc.

Make the 70+ hours of work useful and get a home gym.