Everyone know that exercising is good for you. It lowers the chance of getting a number of conditions and stops you from putting on weight for excess food consumption. It also may make you perform a little better.
What is your motivation for exercising?
Is it athletic performance, health, or aesthetic?
Honestly.
I would guess, although many people would not admit it, you are motivated almost exclusively by aesthetics. This was never more obvious to me than in initial consultations with people in gyms. Clients would talk about wanting to be ‘healthy’, but then when you got down to the root of the issue there was never mention of health as I would have measured it – it was all about losing fat and/or building a little muscle. Never was I asked on doing exercise for their heart or non-aesthetic health.
This despite what we know about health. It is better to be ‘fit and fat’ than it is to be the right weight but unfit. This is just a result of the social pressure to look ‘healthy’, even if you aren’t. This is obviously how we measure health – body shape – ignoring fact.
Interestingly, even if your goal is aesthetic we know the fear of becoming unattractive is a much bigger motivator for most than the desire to look good.
In summary: Our motivation to exercise is to not look bad.
Kind of depressing!
April 20, 2008 at 3:58 am |
Living life to the fullest is a huge motivational factor for me to achieve top fitness