In need of serious motivation

[hryan77]

I was always a very active person...always working out, always at the gym or active...but in the last 4 months I have been a serious slacker...haven't set foot in the gym. Can't seem to get up to even exercise for 30 minutes to at least feel like less of a lazy ass. My eating has not been healthy...actually I can't eat a lot of solid food period because I'm having stomach problems (i think all the visits to the doctor is part of my reason for lack of motivation...it's just depressing). When I do eat solid food though I totally gorge...and then duh I don't feel well...I have two gym memberships, have a mini gym at home yet none of it is being used...just so tired lately, so unmotivated....

 

Any ideas or encouragement (eating plan, a way to ease back into my former lifestyle, etc)would be appreciated...I'm in a total funk...

 

 

 

[xjohanx]

I'm in a similar situation. I still go to the gym about 6 days a week but I'm not giving it my all there. It's like I'm drifting or something.

The Rocky movies are great for inspiration. I think I'm gonna watch one tonight. Hopefully someone can give you a little more advice and inspiration than Hollywood can.

[hryan77]

I really don't know why my deal is...i can't even get to the gym. I know that it's just a mental thing and once I start going I'll be fine. It's hard though...I work over 40 hours a week, am in class 4 nights a week, and still have a house to try to keep together....

[hilary wright]

I really don't know why my deal is...i can't even get to the gym. I know that it's just a mental thing and once I start going I'll be fine. It's hard though...I work over 40 hours a week, am in class 4 nights a week, and still have a house to try to keep together....

 

You're focusing on why you can't do it . . . flip that around

[hryan77]

Good point...I think part of my problem is I tend to be all or nothing...if I can't work out how I wish I could/how I used to then I just give up...I know it's not going to happen over night.

[zinzen]

Get mad. get pissed off that your mind, something you are sposed to control is controlling you, keeping you from what you want, keeping you from your goal.

Just get mad, and use that as a fuel.

In the words of a great band, Rage Against The Machine, ANGER IS A GIFT

[el_flaco]

I think you need to try to sort out your diet if possible, that will really be affecting your motivation.

 

After that I'd try to get into the gym regularly, but don't bust a gut when you're there. Take your time, talk to people, make some friends, use the facilities. Make being there a pleasure, remove any downside (feeling sore & tired being one downside). If your gym isn't a fun place to be then find a new gym.

 

For me the major upside of going to my gym is seeing my friends there. Having a laugh.

 

Once the gym going becomes a habit you can start to push it.

[hryan77]

I'm starting to think more and more that my health problems are the source of the problem...or at least a big cause. I'd love to eat a big salad or a stirfry or whatever...but lately I can't process or digest solid food so that's kind of out...it's been going on for 4 months and the doctors can't figure out what is wrong. I've gone through periods where I've started slow...got up and walked every morning really early before work to sort through my thoughts and de-stress but that only lasted a week.

[veggieprincess]

a week is not enough time to form a habit.

 

For some reason some (and I'm not saying you... but some people), seem to have it some where in there mind that it should be easy to get back into fitness. It is DAMN hard and not fun and very challenging... until it becomes a habit, and then its not so hard to force yourself anymore.

 

I realize you might have something going on medically that they haven't figured out yet, but make a decision to take control over what you CAN have control over....

 

You have the control to decide to put on your shoes and go for a walk every day or five days a week. You can also make better food choices. Sure there are lots of things you can't eat, but make the best decisions of the things you CAN stomach and keep down.

 

Start with light exercises to get into a strength routine such as knee pushups, crunches and some forward lunges. Do a set of 10 to 15 for 3 sets to start building some strength. You don't need weights for that. Resolve to walk 20 minutes 5 days a week and do a circuit similar to the one I mentioned 3 days a week. Then build up from there.

 

I also agreed with the person that said "getting mad" works for him. That actually works for me to. When I get in a funk with cheating on my diet and lack of exercise, I just keep repeating that these things do not get to control me, I get to control them, and I am better than that. It works for me to get mad, so find what motivates you. But continuing to do nothing, binge and stay in a place of feeling bad about yourself and your situation doesen't serve you well. "Act as if" and put one foot in front of the other and let it be hard until it gets a little easier...

[SeaweedWater]

That's why I love being a vegan, I like when people say "How do you do it? No cheese? No meat?" It just fuels my ego for having such badass will power you know? This is certainly not the reason I'm a vegan at all, but it reminds me that I have all this will power in the ole' reserves ya know? This fuels me, makes me go to the gym, try harder on my diet and all that.

[hryan77]

Thanks!!! I know it's all in my control...why I'm just giving up and getting depressed I don't know. I remember how in shape I used to be, how healthy and happy and I keep telling myself it won't be overnight but it certainly isn't going to happen if I don't do anything about it!!!

[hryan77]

oh I have to add it irritates me too that since I've been sick everyone has blamed it on me being vegan...that just drives me insane! To most standards I'm thin...just not happy with how I look and in my mind what I think matters the most to me. I get comments about well how can you be healthy when you just eat "grass"...the ignorance makes me mad...and I'm mad at myself already...clearly I need to take that anger and frustration and direct it towards getting the old me back rather than feeling crappy about myself.

 

thanks again to everyone!

[hsorlando]

This happens to me every once in a while. I don't know what it is but sometimes you just can't seem to get motivated to go to the gym. Anyway what usually gets me back into it is changing up my routine, and making it fun, interesting,and motivating again. Also if you can come up with a goal that sometimes helps too. May you get unstuck from your rut soon, lol.

[Marcina]

I'm in a similar situation. I still go to the gym about 6 days a week but I'm not giving it my all there. It's like I'm drifting or something.

The Rocky movies are great for inspiration. I think I'm gonna watch one tonight. Hopefully someone can give you a little more advice and inspiration than Hollywood can.

 

 

LOL I watch Rambo.

 

Stallone ftw.

[hryan77]

just went to the store and loaded up on fresh veggies...I think I'm going to cut out mock meats...not sure if it's helping my digestive system.

[veggieprincess]

Have you tried taking Probiotics?

 

I experienced digestive problems for the first time ever last month and the probiotics seem to help me

[hryan77]

yeah I have...they haven't helped...I ordered some digestive enzymes too waiting for those to come so i can try those...my GI can't figure out what is going on. I ate what I wanted today...tomorrow I'm starting fresh...I actually went to your site and signed up for the online training

[Marcina]

My digestive system can't handle mock meats either. The other night I ate tacos with veggie ground round and I got the stinking gas a couple hours later, followed by a migraine. I went to bed and awoke at 5 am with a tummy ache!! Never again!!

 

I also take probiotics, but they're no match for the evil that is in those mock meats... Lol (Srsly what do they put in there??)

[gfxlonghorn]

My digestive system can't handle mock meats either. The other night I ate tacos with veggie ground round and I got the stinking gas a couple hours later, followed by a migraine. I went to bed and awoke at 5 am with a tummy ache!! Never again!!

 

I also take probiotics, but they're no match for the evil that is in those mock meats... Lol (Srsly what do they put in there??)

Quite the conversation... haha

 

I think it takes about 3-4 weeks to really get back into it. You really have to force your self to go when you take a long break like that, but your body will start released endorphins when you push your self hard which will make it very easy to form a habit, even if you are not 100% aware what is happening. Whatever you can do to get your self motivated... I mean, honestly, the only way I could get myself to the gym initially(and subsequently after breaks) was the prospect of impressing girls. It sounds pretty shallow, but it worked out great for me. If you make that goal a huge priority, than it will come a lot easier.

 

I can definitely understand why you might be having problems getting yourself to go to the gym though. When I was working 10 hour days the summer after high school was over, there was no way I could have started going to the gym during that time. Granted, I had been going more than everyday before that summer, but had I not been, the prospect of doing anything additional would have been horrendous.

 

If your worried about your house... Get a Roomba!

[funkybioped]

I don't know if this will work for you but it did and does for me when I get in a funk and can't seem to motivate my ass off the couch. 1st keep a gym bag packed and ready by the front door. 2end give myself the 10 min rule. If I am just sitting there I force my ass out the door calling myself all sorts of names while I do it and say to myself well if I really want to come back after 10 min of an honest effort at the gym Ill come back. Some days when I have to do this to get there I spend the most time and have the best workouts. I can't really recall who or where I picked this little motivation tool up from but it works for me. Hope it helps for you.

[hryan77]

I ate a ton of seitan last night and my stomach is killing me today...NEVER AGAIN!!! Go figure I gained a pound...got up at 5 to go to the gym and went back to bed...then woke up realizing I never reset my alarm and had to make it out the door in ten minutes...that's what I get for not going to the gym...LOL

[MartinVegartin]

Well, if you want to stay young, you might find this interesting. It could get you back to the gym.

 

Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle

 

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

 

Doug McGuff, MD recently posted an article on ultimate-exercise.com on the effects of resistance training on aging, calling attention to a study published in PLoS ONE showing a reversal of aging in over 500 genes. (Melov S, Tarnopolsky MA, Beckman K, Felkey K, Hubbard A (2007) Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle. PLoS ONE 2(5): e465. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000465)

 

Abstract

 

Human aging is associated with skeletal muscle atrophy and functional impairment (sarcopenia). Multiple lines of evidence suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction is a major contributor to sarcopenia. We evaluated whether healthy aging was associated with a transcriptional profile reflecting mitochondrial impairment and whether resistance exercise could reverse this signature to that approximating a younger physiological age. Skeletal muscle biopsies from healthy older (N = 25) and younger (N = 26) adult men and women were compared using gene expression profiling, and a subset of these were related to measurements of muscle strength. 14 of the older adults had muscle samples taken before and after a six-month resistance exercise-training program. Before exercise training, older adults were 59% weaker than younger, but after six months of training in older adults, strength improved significantly (P<0.001) such that they were only 38% lower than young adults. As a consequence of age, we found 596 genes differentially expressed using a false discovery rate cut-off of 5%. Prior to the exercise training, the transcriptome profile showed a dramatic enrichment of genes associated with mitochondrial function with age. However, following exercise training the transcriptional signature of aging was markedly reversed back to that of younger levels for most genes that were affected by both age and exercise. We conclude that healthy older adults show evidence of mitochondrial impairment and muscle weakness, but that this can be partially reversed at the phenotypic level, and substantially reversed at the transcriptome level, following six months of resistance exercise training.

 

The full paper can be read by clicking the link in the original article.

 

Towards the end of the intruduction, the paper states,

 

“We report here that healthy older adults show a gene expression profile in skeletal muscle consistent with mitochondrial dysfunction and associated processes such as cell death, as compared with young individuals. Moreover, following a period of resistance exercise training in older adults, we found that age-associated transcriptome expression changes were reversed, implying a restoration of a youthful expression profile.”

 

Notice they didn’t say that resistance training slowed or stopped the age-associated transcriptome (set of genetic instructions for how to build proteins) expression changes - it reversed them. Like Dr. McGuff says in his article, this is the closest thing there is to a fountain of youth. If everybody regularly engaged in proper strength training we’d have an elderly population far healthier, more independent, and enjoying a much greater all-around quality of life. Barring accidents, diseases and other disasters, most would probably also live significantly longer.

 

Dr. McGuff made an interesting observation based on the study that the low-intensity, long-duration aerobic “exercise” so often recommended as healthy activity may actually contribute to aging:

 

“If we embrace this concept of aging (the gap between maximal and minimal output), and the type of training that enhances this capability; then we must acknowledge that there is a type of exercise which can produce the opposite result. Low intensity, steady state exercise will actually accelerate aging by this definition.”

 

The explanation that follows is probably one of the strongest arguments I’ve read against traditional low-intensity, long-duration cardio. It’s too long to post here, so I strongly recommend going there and reading it. In a nutshell (and greatly oversimplified) the changes resulting from low-intensity, long-duration exercise may interfere with the type of exercise adaptations the above study has shown to reverse age-associated transcriptome expression changes

http://baye.com/resistance-exercise-reverses-aging/

 

 

PART OF THE ARTICLE BY DOUG MCGUFF, MENTIONED ABOVE:

 

On May 23, 2007 a major stride in the quest for life extension occurred. Researchers Simon Melov et al announced a treatment that successfully reversed aging. (plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000465). This reversal occurred not in worms, fish, or rats; but actually occurred in human subjects. More importantly, this reversal was not simply a marker of aging, but an actual reversal toward normal youthful function at the genetic level. The researchers tested 596 genes that appeared to be markers of declining function as a result of age. Most of these genes were associated with mitochondrial function. This is important for two reasons. First, the mitochondria are the powerhouses for the cells of your body, they are the engine that makes us run. Secondly, mitochondrial DNA is easier to study with greater certainty of accuracy because all of your mitochondrial DNA comes only from your mother. As a consequence, differences in expression cannot be accounted for by the contribution of another person’s (i.e.-father’s) DNA that may react differently under experimental conditions. The study definitively identified 179 genes that were reversed by the intervention, and as the study stated “the transcriptional signature of aging was markedly reversed back to that of younger levels for most genes that were affected by both age and exercise”.

 

So what was this miracle treatment? The answer is STRENGTH TRAINING. Strength training performed twice a week for a period of 26 weeks. Even more amazing is that by standards of most people who participate in training facilities such as Ultimate Exercise, it was strength training that was done relatively poorly on substandard equipment. The researchers had subjects perform leg press, chest press, leg extension, leg flexion, shoulder press, lat pull-down, calf raise, abdominal crunch and back extension for 3 sets of 10 reps, and arm flexion and arm extension for 1 set of 10 reps. The equipment was Universal Gym, Inc. equipment. Resistance was based on 50% of a 1 rep max and progressed to 80% of a 1 rep max. Over the study period the subjects increased their strength by 50% which made them only 38% weaker than 25 year old cohorts.

 

While impressive, it is not uncommon for state of the art training facilities to more than double strength in elderly clients. We have an 83 year old that uses significantly more resistance than the average 25 year old off the street. When I hired my current manager Ed Garbe, I told him that within 12-16 weeks of training he would likely be stronger than he ever had been at any point in his life. During our last workout together, he admitted to having skepticism with regard to that statement but that he is now a believer. He said “this stuff is literally the fountain of youth”. Ed is 63 years old.

 

A New Definition of Aging

 

What is interesting about this landmark article is the genes that were identified to be related to aging were genes that were largely involved in synthesizing enzymes of anaerobic metabolism or transporting anaerobic substrate for aerobic use. What therefore appears to be a marker of youth, and consequently what gets lost with aging, is the ability to perform high-intensity anaerobic work.

ultimate-exercise.com/fountainofyouth.html

[dropSoul]

Ahh motivation. You are VERY WORTH your own effort. Time will go by anyway. I used to say, I don't have time for exercise or I'm too tired, now, even at 1 am I will do it half asleep. Probably not good, but I won't sleep if I have put if off that day. Just do 10 min to start. I would start with 10 min. of the bike, then if I could only do 3 reps with 8lbs., so what? 3 is better than none. 10 crunches on the resistance ball, now 50 is a breeze, I will need to start adding more weight (hold a dumbell) soon. What was really hard before, is very easy now that I have to increase weight to feel the same as I did before, but that's progress and really the body adapts quickly.

 

And don't compare yourself to others. You are you and you are an awesome human being in your own right. And vegans are also human beans too!

 

Beans not Beings!

[dropSoul]

Have you tried taking Probiotics?

 

I experienced digestive problems for the first time ever last month and the probiotics seem to help me

 

 

Yeah! The Vitamineral Green has billions and your system is nice and healthy! I think the Vega and some other green foods do too. I was plugged up and if you eat the fiber, drink the water or it expands in your gut and clogs your pipes.

[dropSoul]

Oh yeah. When I first started, I didn't have any equipment, so I used the furniture. Counter pushups, first at almost standing up, then more and more at an angle. Sitting in a chair and pushing yourself up, using your legs to assist, but over time using your legs less and less. Pushing against the wall, running in place for a few min. all kinds of things while your doing your daily thing around. Run around the car a few times before you get in. Park far away at the grocery store. Walk through the grocery store curling the cans or bags of stuff. Anywhere and everywhere to add it more in and then you'll be wanting to do more because your body will want it like sex when you're in love. That's my opinion anyway