Fitness motivation: What moves you to move?
Finding inside motivation is the key to sticking to your exercise programme.
You know you should be physically active almost every day to stay healthy. But you have probably also noticed that knowing what you should do and actually doing it are two different things. Fitting fitness into your everyday life can be a challenge. How do you find the motivation to be active when time and energy feel like they are in short supply?
Making the decision to become more active
Motivation often evolves from a decision to begin an exercise programme, or to increase your level of activity. Sometimes people decide that now is the time to start but often they will spend more time thinking about the costs and benefits of starting. Behaviour change can be difficult, so sometimes people resist change until they become uncomfortable with the way things are. Sometimes people will begin exercising only when they are faced with a medical diagnosis, such as type 2 diabetes, or high blood pressure, that requires physical activity as a component of treatment. Others are motivated by a concern for family or friends. They want to be a good self-care role model for their children, or start walking with a friend or spouse who needs support to get out the door.
What motivates people to exercise?
Making the decision to exercise is not nearly as hard as sustaining a commitment to be more active. Remind yourself daily of the important reasons you decided to become more active, and use these reasons to keep the desire to be fitter, healthier, less stressed or whatever got you started.
Positive vs negative reasons for exercise
Sometimes positive and negative reasons are two sides of the same coin. A person who needs to lose weight may be more motivated by deciding to exercise to feel healthier, rather than simply focusing on weight loss. Weight loss is often considered a negative reason not because it is a "bad" reason, but because weight loss occurs fairly slowly and exercisers may get frustrated that results take too long.
Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation means you exercise for reasons connected to the exercise experience itself. You may love a competitive tennis match, need to walk to work, or look forward to the break from work provided by a workout at the gym. Extrinsic motivation occurs when you exercise because the doctor or someone else told you to, or you want to earn points for a free T-shirt. Most people have a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for exercise.
