This one shift can give you the drive to stay committed to your workouts.
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Ever feel like finding the motivation to get to the gym is a bigger task than the workout itself?
Time to dig up that anger from a past negative experience and use it as fuel for positive change in your body.
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Then you get annoyed at yourself because you won’t get the finger out. Become frustrated at how unfit you feel — and angry over the way you’ve been complaining about it.
Us guys are pretty hard on ourselves. All this emotional warfare going on in our heads over a visit to the gym.
Here’s a much better idea — get angry at others instead. Get angry to really get going.
“Anger is like gasoline. If you spray it around and somebody lights a match, you’ve got an inferno. But if we can put our anger inside an engine it can drive us forward.” – Scilla Elworthy, author and Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Anger is a bad emotion to hang on to for too long, so they say. And us men are experts at burying our emotions. Especially when something is said or done that hurts our feelings. We’re way too macho for that, obviously.
Time to dig up that anger from a past negative experience and use it as fuel for positive change in your body. It can fire up your motivation big time, give you the drive to stay committed to your workouts, and help you achieve way more in the gym than you expected.
Trust me, it’s what got me started doing weight training 17 years ago.
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I was aged 16, still at high school, and was out with my girlfriend and a group of our mates. My girlfriend’s best friend turned to me and said: “Look at how skinny your arms are!”
Said that right in front of my girlfriend, and six or seven other teenagers. I was so stunned I literally couldn’t even speak. I was so angry and hurt at the same time that I thought my head was going to explode.
My “skinny” arms and thin frame were my biggest insecurity. I hated my body and always did everything I could to hide how skinny I was. Baggy sweaters, oversized jackets that went over my butt because I basically didn’t have one. My ass had gone AWOL at some point in my teens.
We’ve all had our insecurities about how we look and just one nasty/stupid/thoughtless comment can hit your confidence hard, especially if you’re fairly young like I was.
I never responded angrily to her, but I held on to what she said. Then I put it to good use.
I used her comment, and the associated feelings it brought, as an emotional trigger for action. It became a simple mind trick technique to spur myself on.
Up until then I had only been dabbling with dumbbells. But now I was fired up to work out all day, every day if need be. I was never going to be put in that position again where I felt humiliated about my own body.
“Skinny arms”, she said.
We’ll see about that.
Seventeen years later I’m strong, healthy and weight training is my hobby/passion. I also quite like my arms these days.
Here’s how the simple mind trick for motivation can work for you too.
- Go somewhere quiet, where you won’t be bothered, and take 15-20 minutes to think back to a time when someone criticised you for your appearance. Something that was nasty, totally uncalled for, and it really got to you.
- Replay it in your mind and become more familiar with that scenario.
- Focus on the feelings. Your chest might tighten or your stomach might turn. It may be pretty uncomfortable at first, but the angry feelings are also pretty powerful and give you motivation.
- Go over the nasty comment and related angry feelings two or three times — but then choose to only bring it up in the gym. Nowhere else.
Now it is time to get strong physically, and mentally. Use the anger as motivation to better yourself and prove them wrong. They might have said you were “fat” or commented on your “skinny” arms, or laughed at how unfit you were.
How confident, accomplished, even smug, will you be when you have achieved what that person thought you couldn’t?
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No matter what it is, use the mind trick to bring it up again when you’re struggling for gym motivation. It’s time to prove them wrong and set about creating a stronger, healthier, more athletic physique.
Think of the pay-off at the end – how good will you feel when you have transformed your body and it’s clear for all (including THAT person) to see? How confident, accomplished, even smug, will you be when you have achieved what that person thought you couldn’t?
Anger can be the kick you need:
- Just to sign up for that gym induction you’ve been putting off forever.
- After months or years of letting things slip.
- When you’re struggling to do a couple more exercises, or those last couple of reps in your workout…the ones that are going to count.
Consider this scenario:
You use the anger mind trick for your workout and get a surprising sense of satisfaction afterwards from simply pushing yourself on. That naturally increases your motivation to get back in the gym.
Channelling that anger again, you train even harder in your next sessions and start seeing better performances. The need for motivation dwindles and training slowly becomes a habit. Now we have momentum.
Positive habits bring positive results and, because you keep showing up and doing the work, you begin to see small changes in your body.
Other people start noticing your progress and a compliment or two is thrown your way. This is like rocket fuel for achieving your end goal.
Your workouts keep getting better, your muscles get noticeably stronger, and when you walk out the gym door you’re already thinking about your next workout. There’s nothing left in the tank, but you have never felt stronger.
Your body’s pumped with blood rushing to your muscles. The feel good endorphins are busting out your ears…
Who needs motivation now?
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Photo: Getty Images