<![CDATA[I can become motivated and driven to do and learn a variety of things that pertain to my career, or day-to-day lifestyle. I'm extremely active in discussion forums, media-centric communities, and of course good ol' Facebook too. Learning and adapting my skills to shape the professional I'd like to become is something I spend quite a bit of time on, but unfortunately workout motivation, and adapting my life and health for shaping the person I'd like to become is sorta lagging behind.
I've found it extremely difficult to get motivated to do any physical activity that doesn't actually do something else at the same time. For example, running to catch a bus has the benefit of allowing me to get home much sooner. Playing basketball distracts my mind from the exercise part with shooting baskets and the bits of conversation that comes with playing with others.
In fact, really any activity that I can do to get out of the house, I'm finding more and more that I need another person (at least one) just to get the motivation to actually do it. It's kinda lame.
Now I don't consider myself a "boring" person by any means (although I'm a bit bias on that subject), but I will certainly say that I'm not very physically active anymore. That much is certainly true. Granted, I was never the most active guy in the world to begin with, but having basketball or soccer practice (and football and hockey before that) gave me a great team environment with others that would motivate me to do better for myself.
That's something I no longer have.
Today, I create interactive media for a variety of purposes. Using digital images and records audio, I work from home for 90% of my job, leaving only for meetings and to shoot additional footage for a video. Most of the work I do doesn't require me to ever leave the house though, and as a result, I'm far less active, and far less motivated to be active. After all, with so many things that I'm going to have to find the money to pay for in the next half year (wedding, and tickets for another wedding, then honeymoon, then married life, etc.... Why spend time doing anything else when I can work 60 hours per week and make bank?
Well, as it turns out. You can't just do that and keep sanity. You also can't stay healthy that way either.
Part of my lack of motivation for exercise is tied to my excessive motivation for online media and interaction. I simply have a mind with bad priorities... However, I believe I have a plan to change that, and I'm hoping you'll help me out. I want to use the power of the internet for workout motivation.
Workout Motivation
I’ve got a wedding on September 1. Starting June 1 (at which point I hope to have concluded the majority of my major accessory projects that demand my time), I’m going to begin a daily exercise routine that will hopefully change my health for the better. I’ll be running every day, and doing other various exercises with the resources I have available here. I’m not going to join a gym, or buy any free-weights, but I am going to run, jump rope, do push-ups, crunches, whatever I can think will work at the time.
I’m going to need help staying on top of this, because I’ve come to accept my lack of discipline for this stuff…. and that’s where you come in.. Kinda.
It’s not so much you, but rather, this blog. You see, I LOVE writing and sharing things with people. That’s something I can commit to. So I’m going to make updates on my progress here, including statistics from my runs and stuff from RunKeeper. My hope is that, by sharing on this blog, it becomes something I’m doing, with another activity attached to it. I need to write it down for the public, so they can see my progress, track me. I’ll do it for something else other than just for the sake of doing it.
Here’s where the potential is cool for this… How many of you would like to do this with me? Kinda like an online workout group? Add in some other people, and we can motivate each other. Keep each other on task. Just 30 minutes to an hour every day. This really shouldn’t be that hard to do, and it may provide me with the workout motivation and momentum I need to keep it going.
Anyways… That’s what I’m up to. My goal is to drop to 160lbs by my wedding day, all while adding a bit if muscle mass at the same time. I don’t really have a whole lot to start with, so there’s at least some potential for growth without a ton of intense workouts or anything
It’s a step in the right direction for a better me. I’ve always hated running, but I’m hoping that by sharing everything on the Internet for people to see, it’ll keep me motivated, If nothing else, to keep doing something that I can share. When I slack behind, people can message me or comment and give me the whole “what’s up, lazy?” kinda of treatment. Some people have personal trainers at a gym. Rather than spend that money, I’ll just have everyone who reads this be the motivators. Who knows… Maybe I’ll actually start to like it.
Of course, I’m not relying on anybody responding to keep me going.Workout motivation is something I’ll need to develop a bit of self discipline for. Since I’ve tried many-a-time to start this process alone already though, I figure trying something new will give me different results. Wish me luck or give me advice on how to improve this plan in the comments field below.
Also… whenever I post an update, feel free to comment then as well. Or really, just any time ever. Comments are never a bad thing. Private messages are all I seem to get anymore. 🙁
EDIT: The workouts have begun. You can see them by using the “Workouts” menu item at the top of the page, or by
clicking here.
[charliead]]]>