What’s my motivation?
Never would I have imagined that I would be someone else’s inspiration, someone else’s motivation.
I’ve struggled to even look outside of my own bubble to have someone I myself would look up to, so for anyone to find me remotely inspirational still baffles me.
But it’s happened – I wrote about my 12-week transformation every day (funnily enough it started this time last year), I wrote about it, not even thinking anyone would read the thing, not even my own mother (she loves me, but not that much), but you did, you read it, you listened, you spurred me on.
But my ‘fitness journey’ that I thought was going to last just 12 weeks, well, it never stopped. A year today and I’m still going strong, literally, but one thing I am always asked is where I get the motivation from?
I want to give you an honest answer.
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There are many times when I simply cannot be bothered. There are times when work is so full-on that I feel that my time would be better spent burying my head in my laptop and skipping lunch.
There are also times when I would much prefer to go home, throw on something baggy and do absolutely nothing for the rest of the night. And there are times when the last thing I want to do is cook a healthy meal and prepare food for the next day…believe me there will be more times than you can imagine that I feel like this, and sometimes I do exactly that.
But I’ll also tell you that the training, the better food choices, the taking ‘time out’ to lift something heavy, to listen to some bad-ass tunes whilst you get a sweat on, to have your trainer push you so hard you no longer want to be their friend; all of that, is worth the extra effort.
It’s worth the extra effort because going to the gym is about so much more than just ‘training’.
My motivation doesn’t just come from one thing because honestly, it can change every single day.
One day I’ll be storming in because I’m frustrated, angry or hurt and I want nothing more than to fight the world with a hardcore playlist, but the minute I step into that gym, press play and start lifting, there is nothing else to focus on. It’s just me, my muscles and 100kg (deadlifts are great for days like this).
One hour later and the aggression and emotions I had flying around before aren’t there anymore, they are no longer the big deal I originally made them out to be. Because an hour later, I feel like I’ve just kicked some serious ass and I can take those problems on with a clearer head.
Don’t worry, I’m not delusional, the problems are still there but I’m ready to take them on now.
On the other hand, my motivation is strength.
I’ve surprised myself with how far I can really go and believe me, when you have a UP trainer pushing you, proving to you that you won’t break, you’ll be surprised at how much your body can do.
It makes you realise that not only are you physically stronger but mentally you can handle so much more than you give yourself credit for.
There is a high chance that you couldn’t care less about how much weight you could lift, but being strong is about so much more than being strong.
It’s confidence; it’s pushing yourself to do things you never even imagined doing; it’s being focused and determined; it’s competing with yourself. The one thing I learnt growing up as a gymnast is that this will rub off on you outside of the gym – at work, relationships, your family, your life.
They always say that you should never do things to impress others, that you should do it for you, but I strongly believe that people are much more likely to let themselves down than they are someone else.
Which is why having a personal trainer, (a good one – there is a huge difference), provides so much more value than you can imagine. You ask where I get my motivation from…the answer?
YOU.
I wrote about my 12-weeks and you pushed me to keep going when I complained, my trainer pushed me when I thought I couldn’t do it anymore, my colleagues, followers, my younger sisters, they all pushed me.
What motivates me is the UP clients who have chosen to challenge themselves even when they didn’t believe their own goals were possible.
They motivate me when I see that no matter how busy they are, how successful they are, how little sleep they’re getting because they are taking care of their family or their business, but with their trainers pushing them, checking on them and showing them how possible their goal really is…they do it.
THAT is my motivation.
It’s hard to find, even at the best of times, but if there is one bit of advice I could give you it would be to ask that you don’t look at social media to see everyone’s ‘best bits’, that you don’t see our clients, our trainers or even myself and assume that we achieved our results with ease because we all have our struggles.
We all have difficulty finding the motivation, the time, and the energy, but when you start to see the results and the benefits both in and outside of the gym, that is where you will find your reason.