Exercise Motivation: This is How to Get it Based on Science

It was the summer after my freshman year of college, and I was back home training for the upcoming football season with one of my buddies. We were at a busy local gym one night to lift some weights and run some sprints on the treadmill.  Near the end of the workout, we were doing the sprints part of the workout on the treadmill and were going pretty fast, like 11.5 miles per hour fast – which is pretty fast.

A couple of minutes into our sprints, a cute girl walked by who got my attention and I lost my focus. I’m not going to lie, at that point in our lives, our testosterone levels controlled much of our motivation and the fairer sex was a significant part of our exercise motivation. To make a long story short, my right foot hit the stationary part of the treadmill and I ate it…hard.

Picturing a fish out of water flopping around a dock will give you a similar visual to what I experienced. Only I bounced and flopped on the still moving treadmill a few times before it shot me off into the back wall.  While I had some lovely treadmill burns for a couple of weeks to remind me of what an idiot I was, my ego took a bigger hit as the entire gym stopped to witness what was not one of my finer moments.

And my friend did exactly what I would have done had I been in his shoes, he stood there laughing…

In today’s post, we are going to discuss some smarter (and safer) ways to create exercise motivation in our lives!

But…Before We Discuss Exercise Motivation…

We first need to quickly discuss the concept of motivation and the two main types of motivation, which are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within yourself; that is, doing something for the sheer pleasure of doing it.

Extrinsic motivation is often referred to as ‘carrots and sticks’. Carrots and sticks or extrinsic motivators are a type of motivation that comes from outside yourself; that is, doing something to obtain some type of reward (the carrot) or to avoid some type of punishment (the stick).

While ‘carrots and sticks’ or extrinsic motivators can work in certain circumstances, you are much better off using intrinsic motivation when it comes to exercise motivation as it is much more sustainable.

How to Light Your Intrinsic Motivation Fire!

As we discussed in a previous post, there are three elements that we can use to light people’s intrinsic motivation fire: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Autonomy – being able to direct our own lives and have some control over what we do.

Mastery – having the opportunity for improvement or to get better at something.

Purpose – being part of something that we are connected to.

We will see examples of how we can leverage these three elements in the tips below for creating exercise motivation.

Exercise Motivation – 4 Tips to Get and Stay Motivated

In his best-selling book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink gives 4 tips for getting and staying motivated to exercise.

In fact, on the jacket of his book is a picture of a runner and as he says, it’s not by accident:

“Running can have all the elements of Type I behavior. It’s autonomous. It allows you to seek mastery. And the people who keep at it, and enjoy it most, often run toward a greater purpose—testing their limits or staying healthy and vital.” ¹

Let’s now take a look at 4 tips to bring the spirit of Type I (intrinsic motivation) behavior into the gym, track, yoga studio, pool, bedroom, or wherever it is that you get your exercise on!

Tip #1: Set Your Own Goals

As Pink says: “Don’t accept some standardized, cookie-cutter exercise plan. Create one that’s tailored to your needs and fitness level. Equally important, set the right kinds of goals. Ample research in behavioral science shows that people who seek to lose weight for extrinsic reasons—to slim down for a wedding or to look better at a class reunion—often reach their goals. And then they gain the weight back as soon as the target event ends.” ¹

What’s also true is that those who pursue goals that are more intrinsic such as having fun, getting in shape to feel good or be healthier make slower progress at the beginning but see much better long-term results.

Make it actionable:

  Leverage the elements of autonomy and purpose by creating your own workout and exercise plan that helps you attain goals that are important to you.

  It is definitely okay to enlist the help of a professional to do this, but it is important that you make the final call to maintain your autonomy!

Tip #2:  Ditch the Treadmill

Amen!!!

Pink is not going to get any arguments from me on this one!  If getting your butt to the gym seems like a chore you need to find something you enjoy doing.  The idea is to leverage your inner Tom Sawyer and use the Sawyer effect to turn play into work or work into play. If you aren’t familiar with the Sawyer effect it is named after Tom Sawyer who tricked his buddies into painting a fence for him by convincing him that is was a fun thing to do!

Make it actionable:

  The idea is to find a type of exercise that you enjoy as this will help to get you into a state of flow. Whether it is walking, a game of basketball, dancing, playing with your kids, sexercise – whatever! If you enjoy something you are more likely to do it!

Tip #3: Keep Mastery in Mind

Improving at something is an excellent source of long-lasting energy! As Pink advises: “By continually increasing the difficulty of what you take on—think Goldilocks—and setting more audacious challenges for yourself as time passes, you can renew that energy and stay motivated.” ¹

Make it actionable:

  Choose an activity that you can get better at over time. For example, taking a Pilates or yoga class, playing a sport that you will be challenged to improve at, or simply trying to improve your personal best on the track or in the weight room.

Tip #4:  Reward Yourself the Right Way

While I don’t recommend extrinsic rewards for exercise, Pink makes a suggestion that may work for you if you are really struggling. The idea is to use a website called www.stickk.com where you can set a public goal and if you don’t reach it you need to fork over money to a friend, charity or ‘anti-charity’. You can think of an anti-charity as someone you DO NOT want to give money to! For example, if you are a staunch Republican your anti-charity may be the Democratic party and vice versa.

As Pink cautions: “But in general, don’t bribe yourself with “if-then” rewards—like “If I exercise four times this week, then I’ll buy myself a new shirt.” They can backfire. But the occasional “now that” reward? Not a problem. So if you’ve swum the distance you hoped to this week, there’s no harm in treating yourself to a massage afterward. It won’t hurt. And it might feel good.” ¹

Make it actionable:

  Again, only use this one if you are really stuck. Don’t use if-then rewards, but instead use ‘now that’ rewards.

Ever Since That Treadmill ‘Incident’…

…I learned my lesson and have shifted from extrinsic sources of exercise motivation to intrinsic sources to get my butt into the gym.

And to this day I have not gone more than 3 miles per hour on the treadmill!!!

Until next time, figure out which type of exercise motivation works for you, keep your eye on the prize, and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book.

Use it or Lose It

Some tips to create exercise motivation that we discussed are:

(1)  Set your own goals.
(2)  Ditch the treadmill and do something you like.
(3)  Keep mastery in mind
(4)  Reward yourself the right way.

When to Use It

Use these tips for exercise motivation when you are having a hard time getting motivated to workout.

What Do You Think?

What do you think of these exercise motivation tips? Do you have any other tips to create exercise motivation? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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References

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink