Chapter III: Motivation for Change

Motivation is the biggest and most important part of achieving the physical fitness that you have always wanted. I always tell others who seek advice in fitness “Motivation is everything,” If you can’t stay motivated, no matter what you are doing, you will not be a productive individual. If you look at people who are very successful at what they do you will often see that they are very motivated. Some are motivated by money, success, power, or just being the best that they personally can be.

In the fitness world motivation is everything. How successful you are in achieving your personal fitness goals all depends on how you keep yourself motivated. If you can’t get yourself motivated to go for that walk or say no to that second piece of pie you ultimately will fail. No fitness supplement, workout machine, or even diet, will supply you with motivation to achieve your fitness goal. A person has to find what motivates them by his or her self. Once this source of motivation is discovered almost nothing can keep you from obtaining your goal.

The best part of motivation in the fitness world is that it is like a spark to a firework. Once you get the motivation to workout (Spark) you start to see results that you have been working towards. The more results the better the positive reinforcement of the motivation/ fitness goal will be. As in the firework analogy, once the firework is lit via the spark, there is no stopping you!

There are many ways to get and keep a person motivated. The way I kept myself motivated to lose weight and transform my body from fat to muscle has been to visualize myself at the beach with all the people I love and care about. The people in my vision make comments on how good I personally look with a swimming suit on. All this positive attention makes me feel good. When I come out of my trance I always look in the mirror and realize that I still have work to do in order to ALWAYS look and feel that good.

This is just one of many scenarios I put myself in. The point again is to find someone or something that gives you that intrinsic motivation to get the job done. Getting off the couch isn’t always easy to do.

I have heard wonders about dieting/working out with a partner. I personally never have used this technique for obtaining my own goals, but I have used this technique to help others. Having another person to go to the gym or simply go for a walk with is a great idea. This concept is what the personal trainer is based off of. A personal trainer is not right for everyone and often can be expensive. This is why I stress self motivation even though I am a personal trainer. Don’t get me wrong I love my profession, but I believe that anyone can be self motivated and obtain their fitness goals by their self. I am living proof! There are many self motivation books that are available online, and at local bookstores as well as libraries. I suggest that you check a few out.

Well that about wraps up this chapter, motivation is the backbone of this article and will be stress in almost every chapter in this guide. Remember in the fitness world, “Motivation is everything.”

Chapter II: Setting Obtainable Goals

After realizing that there needs to b a change implemented into your life, you must now set long term and short term goals for yourself. This applies to any sort of change that you want to undergo. For example, If you want to lose weight, you might want to set a short term goal such as two pounds a week or 10 pounds a month etc.

This is truly a huge step in the achieving total fitness. If you choose obtainable short and long term goals you will be able to actually see and feel the hard work you are doing. Each small goal you achieve is like a tiny battle you have won. The more battles you win the more likely you will win the war (Achieve your overall long term goal).

A fitness goal should be comprised of a few different parts. The first part of the goal should be what you want to change (lose weight, tone, build muscle etc.) The second part of the goal should be the amount of time that this goal should be done by (days, weeks, months.) The third and final part of goal planning is how you are going to do it. That is what the remainder of this guide will focus on.

Not everybody’s goals are the same so it is quite hard to generalize a typical goal. I will give a few example of unattainable and poor goal planning so you can see what to do and what not to do.

EXAMPLE #1

My name is Laura and my goal is to lose 40 pounds in two months. My short term goal is to lose about 3-4 pounds a week. I don’t really know how I am going to do this because I haven’t read the rest of the “Beginners Guide to Total Fitness”

This is an example of poor goal planning. A general rule of thumb that I tell people that work with in the gym is that you should never lose more than 2 pounds of weight a week. Now you might be wonderinig about shows like “The Biggest Loser.” The contestents on the biggest loser are under DIRECT medical supervison. After every workout they have they are montered by a medical personal. The medical community generally agrees with my “rule of thumb.” So in that being said the 40 pounds in one month is out.

EXAMPLE: 2

A more reasonable goal would be as follows: I would like to lose 40 pounds in 4 months. I will conquer my long term goal by setting a short term goal of 10 pounds a month as well as 2 pounds a week. As to how this will be done will be shown in later chapters in this guide.



Setting long and short term obtainable goals will help in the total fitness process. So far we have covered two critical steps in the total fitness transformation. The first was discovering a need to change lifestyle habits. This is all that this step required-just needed to realize that a change was needed. The second step was setting long and short term obtainable goals.

In the next chapter we will explore the motivation aspect of aquiring that physique that you have always wanted!

Chapter I: A Need for Change

Chapter I: A Need for Change

If you are reading this you may already have an idea that you need to make some sort of lifestyle change in order to be a fitter individual. That may be because you are slightly overweight, underweight, or maybe you even want to tone your body. The excess weight can be very unhealthy and often can be a source of many health-related problems.

Having a need for a change is the first step in becoming a healthy, physically fit individual. Without seeing this “need” to change, many individuals often do not make an attempt at making any sort of change. A need for change

I often hear people complain that they are over weight but have no idea where to start. This is where your journey begins. You must accept that you need to change in order to become a healthier better feeling, better looking individual. Realizing that you need a change is often the easiest step in achieving fitness. Physical appearance can be transformed through simple exercise. Here are some questions that help you realize what you want to change.

Am I over weight?

Am I upset with the way my body looks?

Do I avoid going to the pool or beach in fear of what other people think of my body?

Do I feel or look too skinny?

Is my lifestyle healthy?

In order to become a successfully fit person you must have some need or purpose to transform you body. Without reason, most attempts at becoming a healthy individual will fail.

Next we will explore setting goals that are obtainable and will promote your fitness.

The Guide to Your Transformation: Preface

I have decided to write a guide to help my readers become more fit. This guide will be updated everyday via chapters. Today we will start with chapter one and go for ten days until the guide is complete. The guide will contain items such as:

Supplements
Free Weights vs Machines

Dumbells vs Barbells

Big Gyms vs Small Gyms

Home vs Gym Workouts

Body Weight Exercises

Diet and Nutrition

Motivation

Keeping track of Progress

Achieving your goal

All of this plus much much more will be explained in detail every single post. Enjoy!