What Motivates You?

Whether you are a fitness junkie of ten years and counting or just about to take your fitness plunge, I want you to reflect on what it is that motivates you. Knowing the answer to this simple question will serve as your constant reminder for why you train. For some people their motivation may be performance, appearance or to simply stay healthy. The more specific your motivation, the more successful you will be with your program as you can properly focus your energy on that specific goal. Just because you pick a goal doesn't mean you have to stick with it forever. This isn't as challenging for athletes or those who train for performance because each day, week and month is dedicated to becoming better at their specific sport or event. Athletes traditionally follow a program utilizing what's called "periodization" or the use of specific cycles which allows athletes to peak at times of competition.

For those of you who are not athletes and are not worried about  peaking for competition, it is a little easier to aimlessly wander through your daily, weekly and monthly routine. If your motivation for working out is simply for health and fitness, I recommend dabbling with all fitness goals to provide your program with some variety and train your body to be fit in just about any situation. Setting short term goals can effectively move you through your fitness routines, resulting in a lifetime of benefits. One simple way to use a form of periodization is to break up your routines to target short term goals on a monthly basis. For example: One month gear your workouts to be total body and functional in essence. The next month, switch to a four day push-pull split and focus on strength or power, then after that switch your workouts to be high in volume and low intensity to build some great endurance and even sculpt the body a little bit. Breaking up your program into phases will keep the body guessing, reduce monotony and keep your total program well rounded.