Motivation: What's yours?

 

Why do some people seem to succeed at pushing themselves (even when they don’t really feel like working out) and others seem to struggle?  

Dr. David E. Conroy published an article in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology about this very topic.  College students were asked to rate their intention to work out at the beginning of the week, then wear a pedometer to track their actual level of physical fitness.  Dr. Conroy and his colleagues found that the more intent the student in working out, and the more motivation they had, the more likely they were to work out.  Dr. Conroy states, “it is important to pay attention to how we can sustain a high level of motivation and not just let that motivation degrade in response to all the external demands we face.”  Well that’s great doctor, but how?

I’ve researched some recently published studies on motivation and summarized them below. 

The runner’s high: An endocanabinoid, called anandamide, was found to be released into the bloodstream after hitting a level of exercise intensity in humans and dogs.  Anandamide creates a happier state of mind and is also thought to increase motivation in itself.  Once this threshold is reached, exercisers may be motivated by the rewarding sensation and by the feelings of motivation created.  The release of anandamide is a win/win.

Autonomous/Controlled:  These are the two types of motivation.  Autonomous refers to self.  This is the type of motivation we experience because of our own reasoning, such as coming up with personal reasons to workout or feeling that working out is the best way to help your current situation.  Controlled motivation is the type of motivation that comes from outside sources.  For example, feeling pressure from a spouse or a feeling of guilt for not doing what you know you “should” be doing.  Several studies have found that autonomous motivation is the key to long-term success.

Self-perceived ability:  One study measured the level of success in correlation to the participant’s level of confidence in performing certain exercises.  The authors of the study found that those with a higher level of self-perceived ability (whether true or not) tended to do better than those with lower perceived ability.  

Small area: Another study found that when thinking about how much they’ve accomplished versus how far they have left to go, people are more successful if they focus on whichever area is smaller.  If you’re just starting out, then focusing on how much you’ve accomplished so far will make each step in the right direction seem like a huge leap.  This line of thinking may give motivation to keep taking leaps.  Conversely, if you’ve been working out for a long time and are close to your goal, it may be more motivational to focus on the few steps you have left to go (instead of on how far you’ve come).
 

Loss aversion: This refers to our tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains.  When trying to drum up some motivation, consider thinking about the potential losses if you don’t go to the gym today.  You’ll lose that good feeling afterward, you may lose self-control around foods you wouldn’t normally be tempted by, and worse, you could lose motivation to go to the gym the next day and so on…  

So, what’s the takeaway?  We’re all similar in that we all have days (or weeks!) that we don’t feel like getting ourselves into the gym, but we may find motivation in very different places.  Here are some tricks to use in getting yourself up off the couch: 

 

1. If you’ve experienced it, remember the rush of happiness you felt when you’ve pushed yourself to an intense level
2. Go over the personal reasons you’ve come up with for working out
3. Tell yourself that you’re able to do any workout that may be presented in today’s bootcamp/SPI FIT class/personal training session
4. Focus on either how far you’ve come (lost 5 lbs or walked an extra mile!) or how little you have let to go (only 5 lbs until I hit my goal weight or just 2 mins more off my time!), whichever is less
5. Think about what you stand to lose by not working out instead of what you might gain (a bit counter intuitive, isn’t it?)

      What about you?  If you’re a regular, what advice would you give to someone struggling with motivation?  If you don’t exercise as much as you think you should, what struggles with motivation have you experienced?

 

Summaries derived from articles obtained at sciencedaily.com, which sites the following sources:

David E. Conroy, Steriani Elavsky, Amanda L. Hyde, Shawna E. Doerksen. The Dynamic Nature of Physical Activity Intentions: A Within-Person Perspective on Intention-Behavior Coupling. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 2011; 33 (6): 807-827 [link]

Minjung Koo and Ayelet Fishbach. The Small-Area Hypothesis: Effects of Progress Monitoring on Goal Adherence. Journal of Consumer Research, October 2012 (in press)

Vikram S. Chib, Benedetto De Martino, Shinsuke Shimojo, John P. O'Doherty. Neural Mechanisms Underlying Paradoxical Performance for Monetary Incentives Are Driven by Loss Aversion. Neuron, 2012; 74 (3): 582 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.02.038

Jordan Etkin and Rebecca K. Ratner. Goal Pursuit, Now and Later: Temporal Compatibility of Different versus Similar Means. Journal of Consumer Research, February 2013

David A. Raichlen, Adam D. Foster, Gregory L. Gerdeman, Alexandre Seillier and Andrea Giuffrida. Wired to run: exercise-induced endocannabinoid signaling in humans and cursorial mammals with implications for the ‘runner’s high’. Journal of Experimental Biology, 2012 DOI: 10.1242/​jeb.063677

Kelly H. Webber, Deborah F. Tate, Dianne S. Ward, J. Michael Bowling. Motivation and Its Relationship to Adherence to Self-monitoring and Weight Loss in a 16-week Internet Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2009.03.001

K. M. Flegal, M. D. Carroll, C. L. Ogden, L. R. Curtin. Prevalence and Trends in Obesity Among US Adults, 1999-2008. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2010; 303 (3): 235 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2009.2014

Sai Yi Pan, Christine Cameron, Marie DesMeules, Howard Morrison, Cora LYNN Craig and Xiaohong Jiang. Individual, Social Environmental, and Physical Environmental Correlates with Physical Activity among Canadians: a Cross-sectional Study. BMC Public Health, (in press)