Wednesday, June 8, 2011

This Thing Called Excercise

I'm often asked by people, especially extended family and friends, how I manage to motivate myself to exercise in some form everyday. Well my dad once made me a deal...which offers great insight into motivation:

"Dave, I will do whatever takes to support you in your cycling goals on one condition, you have to wake up by yourself every morning, I will not and do not expect me to wake you up. However if you wake up under your own power, I will support you 100%"

What my dad is getting at here, is that I have to be motivated internally to get up/go out and exercise. I share this belief, if you do want to do it from deep within yourself chances are you are not going to do it, or if you do, do it your going to under-achieve.  However even I had mornings where I need a little a extra help not from dad but using little tricks I picked up along the way, to help me go out and train. So here are three of my favourite little tricks to help you get out and get moving:

  1. Get dressed to the point where you have your socks on - Ok this is a weird one, don't ask me how it works but it's success rate is amazingly high. I think it's because your at the point where you have all your gear on so you may as well just get out there and do it....
  2. Arrange to meet someone - This is a great one, you will be amazed how bad you will feel if you let someone else down, because you don't show up. It's not a fun feeling. This also means your accountable to others and not just yourself. Working out with other people is also a lot more enjoyable.
  3. Allow for snooze time - This is interesting if your usually one of those people who will hit snooze on an alarm clock, allow some time for this when setting your early exercise alarm. That way your normal habit is intact and you still get to work out. WIN
So there are just three little tricks to make it that little bit easier when that inner desire to train isn't burning as brightly. Feel free to shoot us an email, if you want some more tips or tricks on getting out of bed, or leave a comment with what you do to get yourself out of bed.

Stay Awesome, Safe and Cool
Dangerous Dave

2 comments:

  1. Rate this highly. #1 and #3 have done me well for a long time. Once I'm out of bed, I'm fine. It's the act of getting out that always undoes me however hahaha!

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  2. It undoes us all Jimmy, even me on the odd occasion, now that it's all a bit less serious

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