Motivation

Motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviours. Motivation is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.

It is said that motivation has three major components: activation, persistence and intensity. Activation involves the decision to initiate a behavior, such as enrolling in a psychology class. Persistence is the continued effort toward a goal even though obstacles may exist, such as taking more psychology course in order to earn a degree although it requires a significant investment of time, energy and resources. Finally, intensity can be seen in the concentration and vigor that goes into pursuing a goal. Of these three, I believe persistence to be the key component. Without it, motivation is meaningless.

While motivation can be driven by either extrinsic or intrinsic factors, it is more often the latter which results in longer lasting behavior. The persistence component is more likely to remain. The persistence aspect of motivation is partly a case of the snowball rolling in the right direction: once you start your training, and begin to make gains, you become motivated to continue if only to not lose the gains you have already made.

Occasionally, I have been asked what motivates me to keep training. And I have found the question surprisingly difficult to answer. You would think that someone who is continually motivated to train, would know exactly what motivates them. I like to think that I am at least somewhat introspective, so this should have a quick answer, but it does not. Perhaps the reason is that training has become a habit and so I do not give it, the whys and the wherefores, much thought. 

Nevertheless, there is a motivating force because, of course, I do not always feel like training or want to train, especially when it comes to the bike. It’s super fun to be fit and jump on the bike and climb long and/or steep pitches or ride fast in a pack, on a warm sunny day. But there are many days where I have to force myself to ride, whether it’s cold and windy outside, or inside on the trainer, neither of which is much fun. The motivation for winter training then, is to maintain or build fitness for the summer. The better the fitness in the summer, the more fun can be had on those fine summer days.

There is also the prospect of doing the occasional time trial, which, to me, is a simply a benchmark, a test of aerobic fitness, like doing a maximum bench press can be considered a test of upper body strength. Time trials are ugly and painful but they can be satisfying if the power output and time show improvement from week to week or month to month. 

And then there is the strength training. I am motivated to continue with strength training for many reasons. Way back when I began, I was motivated both by gaining size and strength. After several years, it became apparent that the size part of the equation wasn’t happening for me. My muscles got bigger but then growth plateaued. And eventually, the strength plateaued as well. Plateaus in training mean that your body has adapted to the stress you’ve been placing it under. So you need to keep changing the routine so that it doesn’t get stale, to shock your body into adapting to a different kind of stress. Now I have specific skills I want to achieve, and they require strength. So I am motivated by new, specific goals.

My underlying motivation for all these forms of training is to keep improving. I don’t accept that decline is inevitable. I want to keep getting stronger with the passing years. Not only is life better when you’re stronger, it is better when you fitter. These may seem like vague notions but they keep me persistent in my training.

My hope is that you will explore what motivates you to train. Is the motivating factor extrinsic or intrinsic? Having a specific goal like getting a black belt or some other short-term goal is a powerful motivator, but in order to keep training, one needs to have something else to take its place, once that goal is realized.

I think the quote from Isaac Newton puts it best:

“An object that is at rest will tend to stay at rest, an object that is in motion will tend to stay in motion.”

Be the object in motion…