How do you stay Motivated?

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 14:24:49 GMT

wow-did this topic come up at a great time for me! I got a nasty case of bronchitis last month, which stirred up my asthma and kept me from exercising for some time. Getting back into it has been really difficult! However, after reading all these posts over the weekend, I got my butt up this morning and was in the pool at 5:30, and it was just great. I smelled like chlorine all day. I have to remember how great I felt this morning when the alarm goes off tomorrow..

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

jswim — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:58:09 GMT

Thanks everyone for the great posts! I have learned much through reading these posts and finding bits and pieces of realities that I know I need to face in myself.. I "fool myself" all the time, that was a great post Guvnah, thanks! Also, Kae, I used to swim at the Norman Pool, but I commute to OKC from Noble everyday, so the hours the pool is open compared to the hours I can get there, are very limited. I've resigned to going to the downtown YMCA in OKC. There are quite a few swimmers there that I see regularly, and swimmers from my building as well.. I've noticed we all (here in the building), seem to have the same cyclical workout issues, buy I will see about trying to get some sort of workout group going as well as someone mentioned. :) I'll keep going and fight the urges to kid myself into excuses next time I feel it coming on. Also the ideas about just going and not doing a workout if I don't feel like it.. or doing a short workout just to get myself into the pool and link to the next workout are fabulous! Thanks again everyone for your input, it's greatly appreciated! Jeanette.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 11:10:18 GMT

Originally posted by SwiminONandON ... I also love how I feel after I swim, I'm addicted to the endorphins. ... Mmmmmmmmm! Endorphins!:D

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 06:59:39 GMT

Motivation is a tricky thing. True motivation must come from within. That being said ... The more workouts you miss the harder it is to come back. I know if I take three days off in a row I feel like poop. I haven't swam since Saturday afternoon and I was itching to get back into the water by Sunday afternoon. I think it's easier to keep motivated if you have people you swim with. There's the fun of seeing them, not wanting to let them down and all that. Also, I find I'm most successful when I schedule in my workouts like I schedule in an appointment. Swimming after work is my rouinte now. I don't like deviating from my routine either. If I miss a day no big, but then I KNOW I have to get there the next day. I also love how I feel after I swim, I'm addicted to the endorphins. Also, don't forget that it's ok to take breaks and rest every once in awhile. Good luck!

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:51:10 GMT

Was it Woody Allen that said 50% of being successful is simply showing up? I have always struggled with maintaining motivation. I wouldn't show up because everything seemed to be getting in the way of my workout time - job, health, family, etc. But in the last year or so, I have found a lot of inspiration in the idea of not letting perfect be the enemy of good. In the past, I have fallen off the workout wagon when I didn't feel perfect or didn't have the perfect amount of time or didn't have the perfect blah blah blah. So I just didn't show up. Now I try to show up and do something, anything. Often it turns out I have a better workout on those days than days when everything seems, well, perfect.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 16:30:41 GMT

To help with motivation, periodize your training. By that, I mean don't train the same way all the time. For example, I usually break up my year (macrocycle) into: 1) General build-up (November-March) 2) Sharpen (April-May/early June) 3) Racing (June-Sept, i.e. the open water season) 4) Recovery - October Within each of those larger periods, I break my training up into small periods of several weeks (mesocycles) of hard training/1 week easy training (usually 3-5 weeks hard, depending on volume, intensity, etc). Each of the weeks (a microcycle) has easy/hard days. (Typically: Monday & Friday: easy, Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun: hard, Weds: depends on how I feel). Each period (of all levels) has a realistic goal and the goals flow between the other periods that it is next to. Too often, I see people who do the same volume, intensity and type of work, week in and week out. Having constantly changing volumes/intensities/types of work helps keep the mind engaged and helps prevent the type of barrier-building that doing the same thing over and over can bring (to wit: "I did 10x100 on 1:30 last week; if I don't do 10X100 on 1:25 this week, I'm a failure. Oh my God, I'll never make it! I'm a failure.") Also, remember: Training does NOT improve your physical conditioning - it is the rest AFTER the training that does this. Adequate physical rest also helps the mental aspects of your training and the ability to keep going. Good luck, LBJ

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 16:25:36 GMT

Wow Guvnah! I was going to post but after reading that what I have to say means nothing. Well since I'm here I'll put my two cents in. I get motivated by doing meets. My goals are to always beat my fastest time. To get a personal best I know I have to workout and work hard. Another motivation is that swimming is my way of loosing weight. I am terrible at diets but I love to exercise so it works out. I have gotten to the point where almost nothing can get in the way of me swimming. I have my time to swim and I am going. That is my time away from the world and I need that time. Although I do bring my six year old when I swim but even she knows not to bother me when I am doing laps. Actually she has help me to keep going to the pool on those bad days that you have every excuse not to swim. Try telling a six year old that you are not going to the pool after all. It doesn't work. I learned not to bother, I just go.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:55:38 GMT

I can similarly attest to the "staying motivated" thing....but my story's a little different, and maybe it will help. I can agree with what you guys have all said on here. However, I have goals, very specific ones, I compete regularly, and I have teammates, but I still lose my drive after a small jolt of "take the world by storm" motivation. It would seem that not even those things are enough to keep me training hard. And so, to the author, I offer this simple, long-winded advice: Maybe it's more the idea of the training that unmotivates you. I've been a competitive swimmer since I was a small child. For me, the pool has always been about being a workout medium, a training spot. The little kids playing in the pool next to me while I work out have an entirely different perspective about the water than I do. I can't remember what it's like to play in a pool, or splash around with no real intent on doing anything, or to wear a suit that isn't supposed to be sucker tight. So the last time I got unmotivated, I went with it. I said "Self, you really don't want to train today." So I DIDN'T (shocked?). I went to the pool, anyway, in one suit (no drag suits), and I PLAYED. My version of playing anyway. I swam in little circles in the deep end, I floated, I dove clear to the bottom and came back up as slow as I could. I had no workout, no drive, no measurable distance (I really don't think I even made it up and back the lane ONCE)..... And I had a blast. And the next day, I played again, only I did a couple laps, because once I was in the water, I wanted to do a couple laps, in addition to play. So, for about three or four days, I would go, swim a little, abstractly, and I'd play a little. After a few days, I'm actually motivated to get something done, so I resume my workouts again. My point is this: Sometimes, it's a matter of taking a little time to have fun, and that makes you refocus, when you purposely get into the water and do nothing, instead of not going and then feeling bad for being unmotivated. BE UNMOTIVATED for a day, and ENJOY IT. Doesn't matter how old you are, if you get unmotivated, it may not be the goals, or the lack of teammates, or lack of competing, or WHATEVER. Maybe you just get tired of it. So take a break and play. You'll still be in the pool, working out more than you think, though without the structure, and that's fun. Life is too short to miss out on having fun. Especially in the water.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:23:46 GMT

Originally posted by 330man Ande, you should write a book. You always seem to have the right things to say in a no-nonsense kind of fashion. Most of it is elementary but sometimes people overlook the elementary in search of something that is much more complicated. It's also very lyrical :)

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 07:57:36 GMT

What a great post! "In fact, I swam on the morning of my mother's funeral, getting up at 4:00AM so that I could be back before anyone else in the house woke up. I knew some people wouldn't understand. And I believed my mother DID understand!" If you don't mind me saying, that doesn't seem odd to me, really...

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 07:51:32 GMT

Well said, Guvnah.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 07:27:00 GMT

My motivation is that I can't fool myself. Maybe I can fool others with excuses and explanations for why I didn't swim today, but I can't fool myself. (And it's time to start worrying when I find a way to fool myself!) Some days I can't get out of the locker room into the pool fast enough. I'm eager to fly. I'm convinced that today I will do the mightiest workout I have ever done. I'm hoping that the water temp will be extra crisp and cool so that I can work even harder. Would that every day could be like that! But that's not the day I need self motivation. It's the day that I got no sleep the night before. The day I have a headache or a hangover. The day after pulling a muscle in my neck. The day after a mighty workout that I'm still paying for. It's the day that I get into the pool and it feels extra cold -- even though it's the same temp as yesterday... "Maybe today I can "treat" myself to a shortened workout. I've earned it..." It's the day that the alarm clock seems to have gone off two hours early. "Damn, this bed feels warm and cozy. Maybe my body needs to sleep in..." It's the day that the car is caked in ice and I will have to stand out there and scrape in the bitter cold before I can drive to the pool. It's the day that I have to get into work early. Or work late. It's the day I wake up to find water leaking in the basement. Or the contents of my garbage cans strewn all over the yard by stray dogs. It's a day that my religious practices call for fasting. On any of these days, I could justify to someone else why I will not (or did not) swim, and to most other people it would seem reasonable. But I can't kid myself. I even swim on Thanksgiving Day and New Years Day because my local pool has limited hours on those days. In fact, I swam on the morning of my mother's funeral, getting up at 4:00AM so that I could be back before anyone else in the house woke up. I knew some people wouldn't understand. And I believed my mother DID understand! I eat every day because I know how it feels TO ME when I don't. I brush my teeth every day because I know how my mouth feels TO ME when I don't. I swim every day because I know how I feel (both physically and emotionally) when I don't. Once I start making excuses for any discipline (not just swimming), it gets easier and easier to make more excuses. That's what happens when I kid myself. I can't kid myself. I won't let myself kid myself.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:57:15 GMT

I know we posted at about the same time... but, "saying motivated" and "getting motivated" are two different things. Get motivated by making goals and attempting to achieve them. Stay motivated by achieving them. If you're not achieving your goals you will become unmotivated. My advise to 'take it easy' is intended for someone who's become unmotivated after months of effort. I think jswim has goals. I believe (by the question) that they're too high.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:45:11 GMT

I stay motivated by training for specific meets and events. On days when I feel tired I do LSD (long slow distance, usually with a pull buoy), or off strokes/IM. Without goals it's eaay to talk yourself out of a workout.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:41:22 GMT

I agree with the essence of what Fishgrrl and jim clemmons are saying, but it's a slippery slope and I'm not sure it's the answer as it pertains to the author of the question. If "how do I stay motivated?" is the question, it seems to me that something unmotivated the person asking. This doesn't sound like a question from someone who can't make goals, but someone who sets them too high.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:33:24 GMT

Good points, Jim. Jeanette - the thing with swimming is that learning to do it correctly can be difficult and frustrating, therefore easy to give up. As Jim said, getting with your coach and setting short term goals is doable rather than saying, "I'm going to swim 5 days a week and learn butterfly!" - which is too general. But breaking your general goals down to smaller, short term goals is more reasonable and will help keep you from getting frustrated and wanting to give up.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:08:37 GMT

Hi Jeanette - Great question! I think the replies that you're recevied so far indicate that the ways to stay motivated are as individual as the person trying to be motivated. I know that for me swimming is a huge stress reliever. If I didn't swim (or workout) I would go crazy and drive everyone in a one mile radius of me crazy too! When I'm having one of "those days" my boss will very gently say, "maybe you should hit the pool today.....?" I make swimming a priority and I find a way to work it into my schedule. I work full time and go to school in the evening nearly full time; and I have a husband and house to keep up...and once in a while some kind of social life but everyone in my life knows that I take that hour or two a day and get to the pool. So out of 24 hours that one or hours is totally mine. I'm a better wife, employee, friend, sister etc. for it and I'm better to myself too. I looked at my average day and said, "when can I fit this in?" and if it means I get up at 5:30 to do it, I will (though many times I have hit the snooze button...!) Hang in there! Exercise is one of the very best things you can do for you! Also - I compete in meets so that keeps me motivated all on its own. :)

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 16:50:08 GMT

I think the key is not to push yourself for too hard for too long. If you don't feel like going because you don't have time for a full workout - just get in the water and do a warm-up. I've been swimming five days a week for six months now and I have the same concern you have. Once my life gets more chaotic (I'm an independent filmmaker) I'm simply not going to have the time. Make a mental agreement that this is fine. Your commitment to swimming is not to exercise by a certain amount, but to swim as often or as long as time or your health will allow. If during up times you can improve your technique or speed - do that too. If you push yourself too hard it gets tough to continue when things stop going the way you imagined they should be going. Once you get in the "I screwed up" state of mind and deem yourself a failure you have to pull yourself up. If your agreement with yourself has a clause for slow days, weeks or months you'll be much better off mentally.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 16:46:11 GMT

Mine is pretty simple:I just love swimming, that is my passion.Regardless of what I have going on(work, school, etc.) I always have time for the pool, every day.You just need to WANT to do it, there will be no problem swimming regularly then... You can't have a "I have to" approach , that won't work, you need a "I cannot be without it" attitude, that will surely keep you in the water...

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 16:44:47 GMT

I have the same issue: something will happen and then I fall out of the habit of getting to practice... All I can suggest is to just get on with it and force yourself back in... Having said that, sometimes we need a break mentally and physically, so maybe a taper once in awhile is good... Now get in the water!! :p

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Jim Clemmons — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 12:23:48 GMT

I believe that without goals, you will hit the "wall" much sooner and more often. A goal to "just workout" is very vague and won't keep you in the right frame of mind to keep at it when the "going gets tough". Get with your coach and talk with him/her about goals that are realistic and appropriate for what you're struggling with. Jim

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

aquageek — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 11:49:01 GMT

Motivation is hard in all sports, especially with work, family, church etc that all demand more attention. If you have a passion for the sport losing motivation is harder. But, it still will happen, it's inevitable every now and again. My motivation is when I hear the two most beautiful words in the English language - fried chicken. Without motivated swimming, those two words could not be uttered.

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

jswim — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 11:48:54 GMT

yeah.. I know you're right.. Ultimately I know I need to just bite the bullet and get back to it. I was perhaps hoping someone had some magic beans that I could take?.. lol, anyway, thanks for the post.. I'm off to swim at lunch! And THIS TIME....... I'm going to keep at it! :cool:

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 11:31:11 GMT

Originally posted by jswim I live in Oklahoma, and there is no Masters team, or coach to speak of here, in Oklahoma City anyway, which can be frustrating. For awhile it looked like our YMCA was going to start a Masters team, but it seemed to fizzle out, and the guard that was going to coach got a job elsewhere...(also frustrating), this was a dissapointment to say the least. Have you tried down at the OU pool in Norman? I used to swim there, and there was often a good group of people there (and it's tucked far away enough from the other buildings that parking isn't a pain in the rear). It might also be a good place to look for others interested in forming a Masters team - a number of grad students, faculty and staff work out there. Kae (OU Grad College, class of '00).

RE: How do you stay Motivated?

Former Member — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:22:46 GMT

Each lap motivates me further!