LIBRARY ⊕ PSYCHOLOGY

Exercise and Motivation

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Building a positive and consistent exercise habit is one of the best things you will ever do to yourself.
​Anyone can do it, but I understand how hard it can be to start and maintain. No one is born knowing how to work out. It’s something that must be learned, and that type of commitment is, a personal investment that pays itself back handsomely.
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By Jess Eddy, jesseddy
⎯ 11 JUNE 2018

Building a positive and consistent exercise habit is one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself. Anyone can do it, but I understand how hard it can be to start and maintain. No one is born knowing how to work out. It’s something that must be learned, and that type of commitment is, a personal investment that pays itself back handsomely.

Two of the most significant factors hindering people from exercising are a lack of motivation and other, essential demands on their time.

“People are either unmotivated (or amotivated), having no intention to be more physically active, or are insufficiently motivated in the face of other interests or demands on their time.” — NCBI


You Don’t Need Motivation to Start

I can tell you from personal experience that you don’t have to be motivated to start working out and motivation can be developed through your exercise journey and as you begin to see the outcomes of your efforts. Many people start working out but give up sooner than the benefits and rewards have enough time to reveal themselves.


You may need time to see the process work and to build motivation.

You can probably find 100 articles on Medium alone about how long it takes to build a habit. Forget them because it doesn’t answer the question: how long will it take you to cement your habit. Solidifying a habit is a personal process, and it’s something you only figure out by trying. What’s going to help you in this process is structure. Specifically:

1. Know what you’re going to do when you get to the gym. Get your workout plan sorted ahead of time! No plan is a showstopper. You cannot go to the gym without a plan.
2. Know when you’re going to go to the gym. Pick the days (three is fine to start with), pick the time and set it up as events in your calendar.

Getting StartedIf you’re having trouble devising a workout plan, consider hiring a trainer to design a plan for you. Additionally, you can read and do research. Use this site I made to browse the world’s top 10 fitness blogs, and Julian Shapiro has written an excellent, comprehensive guide to building muscle.

Whether it’s time or money that you’re investing in acquiring the knowledge you need to help you start, it’s the type of investment that has the potential to be a huge multiplier for your success.


Understanding Motivation

There are two main types of motivation; they are both useful but when it comes to building an exercise routine, but one is more beneficial in solidifying the habit. Here they are.

1. Extrinsic Motivation
External factors that drive a person to exercise such as social rewards or a desire to avoid disapproval (put in more human terms: you want that beach body, or you want to look good for your girlfriend or boyfriend)can be motivating; this is called extrinsic motivation. This type of motivation is often short-lived though and doesn’t necessarily correlate to enjoyment — as in your enjoy exercise. Enjoyment is a crucial trait to maintaining a workout habit over the long haul. Many people are successful at starting an exercise routine based on an extrinsically motivating factor but are at risk of fizzling out — like many beginning of the year resolutions do.

2. Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation means that your actions are driven by internal rewards, interest, enjoyment or by something you value. The long-term success of a habit hinges on intrinsic motivation. Meaning acutely, the motivation for your habit, in this case — exercise, is driven from within you, it takes little effort to do because you enjoy and crave it. It’s harder not to do it than to do it. Studies show that intrinsic motivation is more potent than extrinsic when it comes to adoption and continuity of an exercise routine.

Extrinsic Motivation as a Building Block
Extrinsic motivation is not wrong and often is a building block for intrinsic motivation for many people. Most public service announcements and advertisements focus on extrinsic factors such as weight loss, body image, and health because it’s more relatable than “exercise is fun and makes you feel good” — which is what a person who is intrinsically motivated believes.

One Risk With Extrinsic Motivation
If you’re motivating factor for exercise is an extrinsic one, and the habit fails to form, you might transfer and correlate that “failure” with the idea that you’ll never be able to do what you attempted to do. This idea is just not accurate.

Case in point, when I was intrinsically motivated to exercise over a year ago, the habit formed quickly without me forcing it. In contrast, years ago I started going to the gym because my partner at the time persuaded me to go. After weeks of trying it still hadn’t stuck. The motivation was extrinsic.

Intrinsic Motivation & Self-Determination
If you can create intrinsic motivation, you will find the time to work out no matter what demands you have on your time because exercise will become so important to you. A shift like this occurs when your mindset changes from “should do” and “have to” to “want to.” When this happens, you are self-determined. You can make your own decisions and perform actions with ease and without any outside influence.


Becoming Self-Determined
Getting to the self-determined end of the spectrum is something that is hard to make instructional. I only have my personal experience to reference but I know if I can do it, anyone can. When I began training in earnest, over a year ago, I forced myself to go in the beginning, but through consistency, I quickly got results. I was all of the sudden strong, and I felt different. I got hooked on this feeling, on the outcome of my efforts and it was through this experience that my self-identity changed. I now identified as this new person. Once that happened, the habit cemented. This year I’ll be competing for the first time in powerlifting!


Not feeling motivated?
If you’re on the amotivated part of this scale, it’s worth taking a hard look at why so you can understand what’s stopping you. Maybe you: have no interest in being physically fit; lack competence (don’t feel like you can do the task, don’t know how to work out or what to do, not feeling secure in a gym environment) or just don’t perceive that you have time. These might seem like big blockers to you, but they are all surmountable. We can look at some basic psychological needs to help us understand how to get over the hump.

This study highlights the three basic psychological needs that self-determination theory is built upon and must be met to sustain a workout commitment: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

1. Autonomy
Autonomy is freedom of choice. In an exercise context, autonomy is high when individuals feel they are engaging in exercise because they choose to do so, not because they feel pressured by other people or external factors.

Autonomy in Practice
Think about the type of exercises you find enjoyable, the ones you’re not quite sure about and exercises you do not like. Use this to think about what kind of exercise program might be right for you. I also highly recommend that you engage the help of a personal trainer as creating your workout routine is still a high barrier for some. Personal note, have an open mind; I never in a million years thought I’d enjoy strength training, but after discovering it, I can’t imagine life without it.

2. Competence
Competence is an individual’s belief in their ability to perform well in an activity. I would add feeling comfortable in a gym environment to this as I’ve heard many people state how they do not feel comfortable working out around many other seemingly competent people.

Competence in Practice
Competence is built from practice and exposure, it comes with doing. Being competent at the gym means having a plan, knowing how to use equipment and knowing how to do specific exercises using proper form. Women, in particular, can be very put off by the more competent bodybuilders in a gym. This feeling goes away once you become more skilled. Personally, I can workout next to some guy that looks like a Spartan and feel comfortable because, like him, I know my stuff — I am competent. It’s not about how big your muscles are; it’s about experience and knowledge.

3. Relatedness
Relatedness is the sense of a shared experience or the desire to interact with or be connected to people and experience caring for others.

Relatedness in Practice
Some people desire a social connection when working out; this is one of the reasons classes at the gym — and programs like CrossFit are a popular. The group dynamic can make it easier for some people to exercise and the interpersonal interaction is fulfilling. Some people (like me) prefer to workout alone and see this time as a great way to connect with oneself. Either way, feeling comfortable and secure at the gym is helpful in fostering relatedness.


In Summary

If you haven’t created a consistent exercise routine but want to, understand that it’s possible. Don’t chock not being motivated up to never being able to achieve your goals. Sometimes it happens in fits and spurts, and sometimes it’s more effortless. Your exercise goals are well within reach.