Today’s blog post was written by Daniel Woods, a friend of Complete Fitness and experienced Raising the Barr personal trainer in Mississippi.
What is it about certain songs, insane trainers, and competition that drives us to get those extra few repetitions in or run that extra mile even when we KNOW our bodies are on the verge of breaking down?
I’m sure we’d all like to believe that we’ve been given some sort of magical power for the time being that allows us to house super human strength to push through. But the reality of it is much more depressing and, in the long run, exciting.
We can go harder than we think we can.
Now if you’re like me, this is a bitter pill to swallow because it means that in those grueling workouts by myself where I can barely stand afterwards, I didn’t give 100% effort. BUT by being motivated by those certain things I can go WELL BEYOND what I thought I was capable of doing.
For example, two weeks ago Laura and I attempted a burpee challenge to see who could do the most “clean” reps as possible in 7 minutes. The first time I did the challenge by myself with no one else around. I did, what I thought at the time was good, 64 reps.
I was exhausted, couldn’t get off the floor, and nearly dry heaving I pushed so hard.
I felt very satisfied. Until I found out Laura had done 86 repetitions. She beat me by a full 22 reps. My ego was more than sufficiently bruised so we decided to have a redo, but this time we’d be in the same room as each other while Elizabeth kept count, informed us of how much time was left, and who had done how many repetitions.
So the clock started and my goal was to get back to 64 and pass it just by a few, and then the competitive monster took over. By the end of it, I was so exhausted I spent the last 30 seconds trying to jump high enough for the final burpee to count.
As I laid there in a heap of my own sweat trying to prevent my first ever asthma attack, I realized that I am completely different person under the right set of motivational cues. I went from 64 burpees to 101 burpees just from knowing that Laura could potentially beat me.
So why can’t I just be able to do 101 reps anytime?
It’s simple. We need to find what DRIVES us.
What pushes you to wake up in the morning and go to work instead of lying in bed all day? The motivation of not wanting to get fired for starters!
But what drives you to your goals in fitness?
What would it take to motivate you, even on your worst day and there’s no time to go to the gym and the kids are acting insane and you haven’t planned dinner, to still show up to work out?
You have to LEARN WHAT DRIVES YOU.
Until you understand how to flip that switch to go that extra yard, every time you run into a hurdle you’re going to give up. This week and next week I want you to see what motivates you in your workout. If you’re competitive natured like me, challenge yourself to keep up or even best some of the more advanced boot campers or even one of the trainers.
We love a friendly challenge. If you’re a “words” person, find out what kind of things you need to hear during your workouts that help you push.
For some people it’s negatives and for others its positives.
Everybody is different and there are hundreds of ways for you to motivate yourself. But until you do, YOU’RE NOT PUSHING HARD ENOUGH.
Now go get motivated.