When Mental Pain of Not Exercising is More Than Physical Pain of Exercising
A lot of people look for ways to lose weight without exercising. Exercise is the single biggest obstacle in the lives of most people wanting to get into better shape. The inertia to exercise is tremendous. Some people enroll themselves into expensive health clubs and gyms so that the large investments made would be a motivation to exercise. Others look for friends that will push them when required or kick them when the need arises. Without these external motivation factors, most people can’t ever imagine themselves ever having the tremendous discipline that is thought to be required to exercise.
When someone is able to exercise without any external motivation, they are thought to be “jocks” or freaks. What is the difference between the people who need external motivation to exercise and those who have an internal motivation to do so. The difference is “pain”. But how could pain be the differentiating factor?
The motivation shifts externally to internally when an individual crosses a threshold. This threshold is when the mental pain of not exercising is more than the physical pain of exercising.
The pain of exercising could consist of the discipline required to exercise consistently every week. For appreciable results, one has to at least exercise three times a week. The discipline required for someone who has never exercised, to set a side time and effort for 3 sessions of exercise weekly, is enormous. This by itself is tremendous stress for a lot of people.
Then comes the pain of the exercise sessions it self. This is the pain of the lungs burning or the muscles aching after an exercise session. The person is left with sore muscles. Just as the aches and sores are gone, the next exercises session appears.
Tremendous external motivation is required to overcome the inertia of these hurdles. The secret is to keep at it. Everyone will come to a point when suddenly they start filling guilty about missing exercise sessions. The exercise becomes an utmost priority. And strangely enough, they start looking forward to the pain of aching and sore muscles. Aching and sore muscles give the satisfaction that one has had a good workout. There is also the euphoria that comes from the release of dopamine in the brain when the exercises are completed.
One of the main reasons for this is the feel good associated with the exercise. One is also motivated by the visual changes in the body that is a huge motivating factor. Also one would not want to let go to waste the large amount of time and effort already invested into exercising.
When does someone cross this threshold? I have seen some people do it in 3 weeks and others in 4. But if someone is consistently exercising 3 times a week for 6 weeks, one is sure to cross this threshold at some point or rather. Upon crossing this threshold, one cannot ever imagine returning to a live without exercise.
Also once this threshold is crossed, a person is never the same again. Since there has been a large investment of time and effort into exercise, one starts becoming very careful with diet. One starts taking health more seriously. This Threshold is the point of no-return which anyone who is serious about sustainable weight loss and fitness must cross. This is the point where one breaks free from the inertia of a life that becomes unimaginable to someone who has already crossed the Threshold.
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// Categories: Mind & Motivation
// Tags: dopamine, exercise, external motivation, inertia of exercise, jocks, pain of exercise, Suresh's Threshold, threshold, weight loss Back to top
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16/09/2009
very true.. well said!
21/09/2009
I have been preaching exercise for years as the start to good health.
debra mazda
19/11/2009
While I agree with your premise, I disagree that a person can not then revert back to their previous non-exercise unhealthy way of life.
I would be one example. I worked out regularly, 4-6 times a week from January through the end of August. Both weight-lifting as well as cardio. I lost 35lbs, I gained around 10lbs of muscle. I decreased my mile pace from 10:30 minutes to 9:00 minutes. I ran in several 5k races. I went from a tight fitting size 38 waist to a 36, almost a 35. I went from wearing Extra Large shirts to wearing Large sized shirts. I would actually find myself getting grumpy if I went more then a couple days without doing some form of exercise.
Yet, something happened that got me off track and now I am back to my old self. It was relational, depression set in and I started to eat junk food again and stopped working out… completely.
Now, Sept, Oct and half way through Nov and I am finally getting over it and hoping to get back on track, eating better and working out again. I expect I will have to cross that Threshhold again. I am looking forward to it.
19/11/2009
Thank you for your comment. I fully agree with you that one could very easily slip back but even if one does, he or she cannot forget the feeling that they had when they were on “the other side”. I have been guilty of this as well. But when I did slip up, there was always an urge to go back to the other side. This feeling used to really eat me up from within and not a day went by when I did not think of how I used to feel, going about my exercising routine. Someone who has not crossed the threshold will not understand this. We cant even explain it to them. From your comment, it looks like you are going through the same thing. Wish you all the best in crossing the threshold.