This isn’t a Janathon exercise update because I thought I’d tell you some things I have been thinking about…they are relevant and interesting things I promise… not just musings about why dragons have such a bad reputation or why I only like the idea of a dog…

After all what’s the point of having an exercise blog if I can’t tell you all some stuff. Even if it might secretly be about dragons…

It isn’t about dragons I promise!

Anyway…

I have recently heard in real life and seen  on social media, a lot of questions about motivation. More specifically questions about finding and maintaining motivation to exercise. I have thought a lot about the answer and the basic answer is that relying on motivation is not going to work. Motivation for everyone comes and goes. It is a fleeting thing that is impossible to quantify and impossible to really define as it is different for everyone. I am not going to tell you how to become motivated, or give you any “tips and tricks” because 9 times out of 10 those types of posts prove to be either a rehash of the same old stuff or patronising. What I am going to do is tell you what worked for me.

As I said, For me, there no point in relying on motivation. I can’t imagine anyone, not even Usain Bolt or Serena Williams can be motivated to work out and train 100% of the time! Even the most dedicated sportsmen and women must have days where they just can’t be bothered. The real question is how do you make yourself work out anyway, on those days where you just want to stay indoors and eat blue cake, how do you make yourself get out there and run or lift or yoga or anything!

The answer for me is to find my why. The reason I am doing all of this. The thing that when I do it makes all the hard work and grumpy workouts worthwhile! This thing should be a positive thing. Negative whys never stick for the long term. Working out through fear of being fat/bad/whatever is not going to put you in a good frame of mind and will reinforce negative thought patterns and eventually behaviour patterns.

In case you didn’t already know, my why is dancing. I think the whole “Project Fit Enough to Dance in a Mask” title may have given that away…but I am telling you anyway :-p

I am telling you because by extension that means I am telling me. the more i exercise, the better I dance. When I do cardio, I dance better. When I run, I dance better. The better I dance the happier I am so why wouldn’t I work towards being better at it 😀

My other why, is that lifting heavy things makes me feel like a superhero. Feeling like a superhero is awesome and there is really no downside to feeling awesome! that and feeling like a superhero is one step closer to becoming a superhero, which is my ultimate goal. After all, why wait for some other superhero to come along and rescue you when you can be one yourself… that way there is always one around when you need one. 😀

So, if you think you want to do exercise then find a “why” that inspires you!! Whether it is “Because I want to run/swim/etc in the Olympics” or “because I want to be able to run about after my idea dog, or my dragon!”

This is my idea dog, he is great, he lives in my head and is always cute and I never have to pick up any poo!