Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hi, you're reading my thread, well done!

I have trouble motivating myself to get my ass and the rest of my body out of bed in the damned morning and do some exercise. What happens is that each night I say to myself "Tomorrow you'll get up at like 7am and you'll go out and jog, in the freezing cold, then come home and eat breakfast for breakfast and you'll feel a lot better, and it'll help get you in shape". Then I set my alarm, and feel positive. Then at 7am, alarm goes off, my brain is in another gear, and I just think to myself "what is the point?" and I go back to sleep. What can I do to break this cycle? Maybe just making this topic will be like a taking off my shoe and throwing it against the wall and it rebounding and hitting me in my own ass so I will just get on with it. But has anyone got any motivational ideas for me to get this happening?

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Why do you feel you need to do this in the morning??? A lot of people just don't function well and it takes a while for anyone to get used to.

I want to do it in the morning because it will put me in a good mood for the rest of the day, plus there will not be many people around. I would be happy to do it any other time of day too, but I have trouble motivating that also. Any motivational tips would be appreciated. I am thinking of putting something near my bed to remind me to stop being such a doucebag. Like a picture of Daywalkers tight ass, to remind me of what I am aiming for

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Having a goal always helps me. Not just to say oh I'm going to get up and run, or workout with weights or whatever but to have a specific goal of what you want to do, or where you want to run, or how long etc. Also just be dedicated, if I don't feel like doing some form of exercise sometimes it helps to ask yourself what you don't want. Like in 5 years do I want to have added 50 or more pounds, and do I really want to be in bad shape, not able to do fun activities just because I was not in the mood to exercise a few years before. And if your schedule allows, you could always try to go back to sleep after your run. Just my 2 cents!

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The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.

Yeah, cheers dude, good suggestions

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Can you put the alarm somewhere where you have to get out of bed to turn it off?

Or alternatively do you have someone to run with who could motivate you?

That's a good idea about putting it somewhere so I'd have to get up, and maybe I could a picture of Daywalker's ass on the clock itself. I wish I had someone to jog with, that would be the pinnacle because then you both have to be there for each other and you feel obliged, for their sake, and it works out for both. Sadly, I have no partnorz at the moment.

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I did really well with dragging my ass out of bed to run during the spring, summer, and early fall, but I just can't do it anymore. In fact, November/December is the hardest time for me to wake up period.

So I've changed when I run. And honestly, I still feel really good all the time. I thought not doing it in the morning anymore would ruin that, but it hasn't. So I run all different times of the day now. On weekends it's usually in the morning or afternoon, on weekdays I usually do one morning run (and go in to work late), and an evening run and/or a run home from work.

Maybe find a race to enter, and use that as motivation? You know, it'll make you get up and run so you won't look like a total fool at the race. Also, sometimes I use food as motivation. But maybe that's not a great idea.

I used to have a job where I got up at 5:30 am every day to be at work by 7am.
I did that job for years.

The keys to getting up early, without it being torture are:

- going to bed earlier
- going to bed at the same time almost every day
- getting enough sleep

Even if you can't jog in the morning you can begin working on it by taking each one of those three things one at a time and gradually making it a habit.

Operant conditioning is one of the most powerful means of behavioral change ever discovered. Come up with a system of rewards for each step in this process. The rewards do not need to be anything expensive. Logging what you do consistently can motivate you to make it a point to make a new log entry the next day. Give yourself a point for each thing you do, keep score, and make a game of trying to boost your score every week. If you pass a certain score each week go buy a magazine or a cd. Each day that you have to push yourself hard to get your task done give yourself a sticker in your log like a gold star.

It sounds dumb but it works.

People have used operant conditioning to train pigeons to play piano numbers. We have the same responses.

Don't expect instant results. Changing behavior is like exercise. You build up a little bit at a time.

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• Vegan Mock Meats At Subway? Make It Happen!
• Finding Reliable Vegan Nutrition Information

"The plural of anecdote is not data." (Roger Brinner)

Har, no I can't use food as motivation, gotta cut back and be a good boy, I am practicing control over the food and doing well with that right now. That's interesting about entering a race. I don't think that's something I'd want to do, but maybe I could have some other target like that which I'd need to get good for

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Cool, thanks for that. I have done similar things, in terms of 'points', and it is good motivation. Keeping a log is good motivation because it makes me want to maintain consistency

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Yeah, I figure food motivation only works when you weigh 108 pounds and can't seem to put on weight.

As for races, you don't need to be a fast runner to go in them (if that's what you're worried about). My dad enters two races a year, 5k, just to get keep himself going out there. He does 5k in about 30-35 minutes, which isn't bad for an "old guy" but he doesn't care about how fast he goes. Lots of people who enter are not fast at ALL, they just use races as motivation and like to get a t-shirt.

My former running "coach" convinced me to go into a race fairly early on and it was a great idea, because it was good motivation, and I've found races to be a bit addictive. It's my upcoming races and goals that keep me going out there even though it's freezing cold and I'd rather be lying in bed in front of my heater.

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Lifts:
250 Bench
445 Deadlift
335 Squat

It only really worked for me when I got up at 5:30 and I started doing the whole thing as part of a new routine. Summer break ended and school started and part of my new schedule was getting up early and going to bed early.

I've been going for 3 months now three days a week MWF.

-Aaron

Try running when you are the least unmotivated. If you take a liking to that maybe you'll slowly do it earlier in the day.