The Secret Of Exercise Motivation
There is something that not a lot of people will tell you when they are trying to sell the benefits of physical activity. It’s the secret of exercise motivation and the key ingredient that keeps people active for the rest of their lives.
This important factor is often the one thing that separates the people who ‘keep on keeping on’, from those that fall in and out of fitness fads.
Do you want to be let in on the secret? It is what Dr. William Morgan from the University of Wisconsin has labelled Factor P.
Implementing Factor P into your routine, will give you the edge and internal drive to carry on forever. The P stands for purpose.
Let’s face it, as a species we have not evolved to workout in gyms and thus we find exercise motivation tough. Throughout history, the rigours of day-to-day living have sustained our fitness for many millennia. It has only been in recent times where that rigour has been dramatically reduced to a point where we need to find ourselves entering the confines of a gym.
A thousand years ago, those Indigenous to this country got enough activity moving around each day catching food, building shelter, and providing for everyone in the clan. The things we take for granted today, such as food, heating, and transport, were the exact things that sustained people for generations.
Therefore, the purpose of physical activity, once defined by the process of living, has been taken away. In the above example, if you were to ask about exercise motivation, you would have got a shrug of the shoulders and a simple ‘to survive’ answer.
Back to the present, you may wish to see how to implement Factor P in your life? Look for opportunities to find activity that is meaningful and has a purpose. Chances are that if you have been active for a while your purpose will be apparent to you. The ‘purpose’ of a regular gym goer, is to get ‘that’ feeling during and after a workout. It’s somewhat similar in nature to an addict looking for a fix.
For others the purpose may be riding or walking to work. As they need to get to work somehow, by doing it in active way provides a purpose for that activity. Define what it is for you and use your Factor P today, tomorrow, and next week in your life.
What type of exercise?
Use the Lifestyle Medicine The Exerselector Questionaire to seek the most appropriate forms of exercise for you and the family.
Taking control of your health
The Lifestyle Medicine Lifestyle screening Questionaire aims to identify, support and motivate people to take control of their health.
Advertisement
Professor Trim
Submit this page to: