One of the most common questions I get about working out, not only from readers of my book and students, but from friends and family is; How do you maintain the motivation to PT all the time? Well, there are several things that impact that and I’ll admit, not all point to perfect mental health either. But, one thing I’ve learned to use over the years is how to use goal setting combined with cycling my efforts, keeps both my body and attitude fresh.

Cycling is the process of varying the amount and intensity of your workouts. This is nothing new as it’s a tried and true method that professional athletes use for building up to a physical and mental peak that they need for a specific event, game, etc. There is a real art to this process, especially in certain sports that require an athlete to also make a certain weight limit, like in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, etc. Timing a peak can easily mean the difference between winning and losing, as when a fighter mistimes his peak will, they say; “Left his fight in the gym.” It takes discipline, experience and planning to be able to do this right and the best athletes/trainers have this down to a science.

Now that’s professionals, what about the rest of us? Well, there are millions of unpaid, part time athletes that take their recreational sports very seriously. Just look at the huge numbers of people that participate in marathons, triathlons, bicycling, or those that play golf, tennis, softball, racquetball, etc. in tournaments. The same goes for amateur weightlifting, and body-builders. I have some female friends that complete in fitness competitions and are some of the most dedicated and disciplined people I know, especially when it comes to their diet. It’s a real commitment that takes long term, everyday motivation. But, for or the vast majority of people, who just want to keep their weight down and their fitness and health up, using the basic concepts of cycling and goal setting can have great benefits.

The first step is to fix on a goal, one that has a real date attached to it. Having a no shit day marked on your calendar to do something is very important. Like I tell students, the only difference between a goal and a dream is that a goal has a completion date. A dream is just out there, somewhere floating around. Nice to think about, but not real? Now this could be just about anything; the start date of any planned sporting event of course, or even something less physically specific like the start of your summer vacation, a wedding, or a class reunion. IMO the best time frame is at least 90 days, but you could go longer, or a little shorter depending on the goal and where you’re starting from. After you decide on a date and an event, come up with some tangible result benchmarks that you want to reach on your date. This could be a weight loss goal, a PR of some type, or it could just be to look your best and/or be in your best shape to fully enjoy the things you have planned. I think that training (and thinking) this way (for almost) anything increases not only the anticipation, but in the end the event itself. As you will feel like in a way, you earned the fun times ahead. I can’t explain the why of this exactly, but I know it’s a real thing.

Then divide the time into 1/3’s. You should plan to have a slow, steady improvement as you ramp up in the first third, a bigger improvement the second and then roll through with momentum the last 3rd to your goal date. I always plan to taper off and reduce my efforts in the last few weeks so that I come into my day: rested, loose and very importantly, uninjured. It’s not productive to beat yourself down right up to game day. Mentally and physically you want to be feel fresh and actually somewhat anxious to get to it. To make this work, you need to write this down either in a training log, or on your computer, phone, etc. You don’t need a major diary type thing, keep it simple. But, it’s important to keep track of your efforts and in its own way, will provide some additional motivation and interestingly when you write it down: I find it keeps me honest.

I’ve been doing this for years and for many different goals. Everything from boxing matches, karate tournaments, marathons and triathlons, to adventure races, mountain climbing and backpacking trips. The goals were different, but the process was the same. For an example I have attached my most recent training log. This is my training totals for our upcoming trek to Mt Everest. I keep the daily workouts in a hard notebook, but add up the monthly totals on a computer spread sheet. This trip will be 3 weeks of backpacking, totaling over 100 miles in altitudes from 4000 to just over 18,000ft. Not what I would consider epic, but no walk in the park either.

While I was probably in good enough shape to do this on Jan 1st, I used the upcoming event to motivate my training over the last four months. As you can see I worked up to decent level of conditioning a month out and now over the last 30 days I will level out and finally taper off a little to when we leave on the 28th. I expect to arrive in Nepal in my best condition, rested and ready to go. My level of conditioning will actually make this hike a piece of cake, so my attention will be focused on enjoying myself and the time with my son, rather than even the slightest worry about the physical aspects (I hope). After I get back, I will go back to a somewhat relaxed PT schedule for about a week or so, then I’ll find something in the upcoming summer to work toward. From that new goal I will slowly ramp up my training again. To me it’s a never-ending cycle, that has always produced excellent long term results.

The important point here is that by varying your efforts based on working toward goals, you will keep your body and mind fresh and motivated. Just trying to mindlessly pound it out every day, just to do it, will at some point burn you out. Or, at least make your workouts stale and boring. Find yourself a goal, YOUR goal and set your plan up around it. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy, just something that you want to achieve. Try it and you’ll be surprised how just having a that little something to work toward can get your lazy ass up and moving every day. Which like they say: Showing up is half the battle. Enough for now. We’ll talk again next month when I get back from Everest. Till then

“Be Safe always, Be good when you can.”

Semper Fi

MGunz