Shape Up With Rick: What happens when your motivation runs out of steam?

By Rick DamanFor The Times

Finding motivation and keeping that motivation are tough tasks.

You’re sometimes hot and sometimes not.

You’ll never be 100 percent fully motivated all year. If someone tells you they are, they just lied to your face. When you get into a rhythm with training and eating healthy, you’ll think to yourself, “I got this, and I’ll be able to do this forever.”

The motivation is high. You’re obsessed. You’re on a roll. It’s been a few months since you missed a session, and then out of nowhere things begin to change.

You get sick. Work gets busy. Kids get sick. Something throws you off track, and slowly but surely you begin to lose steam.

The once-unstoppable motivation you thought you would never live without has virtually gone away.

Now you’re battling back. You’re battling to find that motivation. You’re becoming frustrated, irritated and thinking you have lost all of your results.

You are not alone.

Everyone goes through this even those social media “stars” that make life look perfect. (They make life look perfect because more than likely their life is a hot mess.)

I had two conversations this past week with longtime members of our gym. As dedicated as they are, they are battling a bit of motivation. I can assure you these two people will be back on track and the short lack of motivation will soon be forgotten.

The guy who writes this column is battling a bit right now, as well. There’s a lot going on at the end of the year. The routine has been thrown off. A lot of end-of-year deadlines. A lot of holiday cookies and good times. He knew it was coming and mentally prepared himself.

Now that you know your motivation is low, how do you get it back?

You have to mentally keep it together. You have to nutritionally keep it together. And focus on shorter workouts.

When someone decides to take a week off and that week gets to three weeks, you can kiss them goodbye.

Three weeks turns into three months, and before they know it ,they are out for months.

Why shorter workouts? It all comes down to mentally climbing back up.

You do not have to win the championship every single workout. You don’t have to have a new personal record at every workout.

You do not — and should not — want to feel beat down as if you just climbed Mount Everest in only an hour.

The short workouts keep you in the game. They keep your mind thinking positively. Short workouts are a great way to mentally feel great, gain energy and slowly but surely get back on track and regain that motivation you once thought you lost.

Rick Daman runs Daman’s Strength Training in Vanport. Daman’s Strength Training runs many programs, including Women’s Boot Camps, semi-private training, personal training and athletic development training programs for athletes starting at age 12. Visit http://damanstrength.com. Contact Rick Daman at damanstrength@gmail.com.