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Many people join health clubs to "feel healthy or de-stress" and many hire a personal trainer to "lose weight and get fit" but those are not the real reasons that motivate people to exercise in the long term
I've had clients hire me to improve their self esteem so they could start dating again. I've worked with people who needed to workout so they could make a career change, sell more products, get more women, or get promoted at work……. but that's not what they told me when we first met.
Every now and then a client who says they need to hire me to learn how to exercise actually wants to learn how to exercise but that's pretty rare. The real reason people exercise is what smart fitness pros call underlying motivation. It's what motivates you to move and to stick with exercise for life.
Underlying Motivation Is What Fuels Your Fitness Goals
Most people are unaware of their underlying motivations so they often go through the motions and then quit. This happens to most people within weeks of starting an exercise plan, most just want instant results and gratification. It's the people who are truly aware of why they are starting a workout plan that stick with exercise long enough to lose weight, get fit, and get healthy.
I started my quest in 1998 by wanting to lose weight and run a marathon and be more health conscious. When I had finished the marathon I had had it with running……… well for about 3 months anyway!!!
I took time off and then joined a gym to keep up my new found fitness, I liked the feeling of wellness. I found over the next few years I had more than 1 underlying motivator, the first was the feeling of accomplishment when crossing a finishing line in a Triathlon, running race, etc and second was that my almost constant lower back pain had virtually gone. Looking after myself with a healthy diet and exercise then lead me to change careers so I could pass on my experiences to others so they can make that change too.
Do you know you're underlying motivation? You may find your underlying motivation as I did, kind of by accident, or you may need to sit down and look past the whole look good and feel good mindset and find out. It may make you uncomfortable or happy or emotional or even sad but once you know the true reason why you want to exercise, doing it consistently will become part of your life and make it very enjoyable, satisfying and you to keep coming back for more,
Think healthy, live healthy
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