Physical fitness - what's the structure of your motivation?

Most people have an idea about what motivates them to do something; curiosity, boredom, fear, greed are a few common ones.  Not so many people have an idea of the structure of their motivation.  In fact when I first use the phrase with somebody I often get the bewildered response: "Structure?  What do you mean?"  Just this morning I asked the question of my co-coaching partner. It will be the subject of our next call.

Whatever the "what" of what motivates you, for that to result in action through time, it is bound to have a structure.  This applies to any area of life - fitness, work, relationships, hobbies...

For example when I moved to Amsterdam with my wife in 1994, I couldn't cycle to work any more as in London because somebody stole my bike, plus my office was too far away.  However, there was a swimming pool where my wife used to go and do her 40 lengths.  At the time, I was a poor swimmer and I couldn't imagine doing 40 lengths, but I went a couple of times and found I could do 30.  If my wife could do 40, why not me? so I did it a few more times and worked it up to 50 lengths.

That was nice, but I wanted to keep track of how much I was doing, so I devised an Excel spread sheet and set myself a target for the year (300 km).  Gradually I added little refinements such as average distances per week and per session. I increased my length count to over 120. I did this for two years in Amsterdam (95, 96) and continued it when we moved to Malaysia (97, 98), completing 360 km in the last full year.  When we left Malaysia and returned to NL, there was no swimming pool nearby so I stopped, although I do it whenever we're on holiday in a place with a decent pool.

In short, without setting out to do so, I evolved a motivational structure.  The daily driver to get out of bed at 6:30, be in the pool by 7:02 and swim 3km was the spread sheet - the prospect of putting the day's swim into the table and seeing the averages improve and the target distance get a little closer.  I found that a powerful pay-off. Over the longer term, I had the added motivator of my physical shape.  Visually, in the mirror I could see a gradual evolution towards a more athletic V-shaped torso - broader shoulders, trimmer waist.  Kinesthetically, my upper body felt stronger and the arm muscles felt bigger and firmer to the touch.

So I know that to motivate myself for fitness I need a daily routine that's doable, an aspect that can be measured with numbers and tracked through time, and a clear physical pay-off.

Since April I've been developing a new structure that I can fit into my current circumstances.  This involves a clear dietary regime to manage my weight (now down to 80kg from 90kg, target 78kg), dumbells for upper body muscles (they were 5kg, just bought 10kg) and sit-ups for the abs.  I'm still not quite there with the running, although Runkeeper Pro on my iPhone is having the desired effect.

What about you?  What's the structure of your motivation for health and physical fitness?

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