We are a convenient nation. We want to travel fast, eat fast and cram our day with work, family, study, hobbies and then hit the couch in an exhausted state! Our choices come based on time efficiency rather than what is best for our health and being… and so we become deconditioned; our diet becomes poor and insufficient, we become inactive because the car is so much faster and we prioritise work and family above all else. Then suddenly an alarm bell goes off! We look in the mirror (really look!), or we hear about a loved one’s health risk and suddenly our weight or our fitness becomes a conscious factor in our lives! This is what draws people into gyms. “I want to lose weight! High blood pressure and cholesterol runs in the family! I want to look more attractive to my partner! I don’t want to puff walking up the stairs to work anymore!” There are so many ‘motivated’ individuals that join gyms, yet, it is a handful that stays long-term users… Could our source of motivation be the very thing that separates the ‘gym junkie’ from the sporadic user???
Most of us are prompted to start our fitness regime due to ‘external motivators;’ we exercise to lose weight, increase muscle tone, be fit enough to ‘keep up’ with a loved one or friend so we can seem more attractive and prompt better success in our lives such as appealing to the opposite sex or seem a better candidate for a job. What happens when the life rewards don’t come with the fitness gains? Often we lose our motivations and give up on the fitness regime.
The ‘evolved’ fitness junkies have discovered a thing called ‘intrinsic motivation.’ This is a state that allows exercise to push beyond the negative connotations such as fatigue and muscle soreness and find a state of pleasure induced by the activity itself. According to Jay Kimiecik in his book “The Intrinsic Exerciser: Discovering the Joy of Exercise!” intrinsic motivation has 4 components; personal meaning orientation, mastery, inner synergy and flow.
Personal meaning orientation helps you “find exercise rewarding in and of itself (“Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation and Exercise Adherence” by Scott DiNardo). The motivation becomes; “I am stronger now because I lifted a heavier weight”! Or, “I am fitter now because I ran that km faster!” These exercises find a sense of achievement in focusing on the activity itself and surpassing their previous efforts.
Mastery refers to a state of grasping a sense of perfecting an action or activity (“The Intrinsic Exerciser: Discovering the Joy of Exercise!” – Jay Kimiecik). As a Body Attack instructor I can relate to this; Plyometric or jump based activity is a requirement of the job. The true masters jump and are airborne enough to make you gasp! And so I train weighted, torturous exercises with my trainer so that when I instruct class I aim to jump through the roof! For power lifters this same inspiration comes by mastering the Clean and Jerk, or for the runner it becomes perfecting their stride and technique.
Inner synergy allows individuals to attach meaning to each exercise that is being performed (“Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation and Exercise Adherence” by Scott Di Nardo). Many people enter the Geelong Run for the Kids (I entered because I knew the child who the race was named after). The activity and the effort represent a cause or a principal worth running for.
Flow is the ecstatic state of being in the moment. You become “personally connected to the exercise” (“Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation and Exercise Adherence” by Scott Di Nardo). A ‘runners high’ is a good example of this. Forrest Gump “couldn’t stop running!” and neither can others caught in this high. It is a feeling of being in the moment, feeling freedom, rhythm and control. This place becomes a place of sanctuary and an escape worth looking forward to.
We all feel inspired by our superficial state; we want to be physically more attractive, and exert less effort in public whether it is walking up stairs next to a work colleague or keeping up with our kids. Our external motivation inspires us to a fitness regime!... but our intrinsic motivation locks us in and draws us to a state that we haven’t experienced since childhood; hopping, skipping and jumping for the fun of it! Not because it is work and imposing! It is amazing how ‘growing up’ makes us prioritise what is convenient for us rather than what is good and healthy for us. Perhaps our true ‘evolution’ isn’t growing up, it is remembering and living out our strongest and most ecstatic state of being.
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