How to force yourself to play sports

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

For those who are looking for motivation for doing sports, blogger Maxim Bodyagin advises to stop forcing yourself to run in the morning or drag yourself to the gym through force. The secret is not violence against yourself, but finding exactly what will inspire you.

Now, in the first days of the new year, everyone starts life from scratch, lose weight madly and without memory, and often ask: how to make yourself go in for sports? Well, or some kind of physical education.

I have been practicing since the age of 19, I don't remember how many gyms and coaches I've seen over the years. I've been coaching myself for ten years in total. And on the basis of my experience, a simple answer to this essential question was born: nothing. Do not force yourself in any way. People who can force themselves to exercise, the question "how?" are not set. They are naturally endowed with volitional qualities that help them achieve success. This post is not for them. This post is for ordinary people who are not endowed with supernormal abilities, but instead enriched with a full-fledged set of neuroses, fears and expectations.

There are two ways to motivate: “violent” (this is just when you need to force yourself) and “encouraging” (this is when you need to be inspired). It is very simple to figure out what you need. Ask yourself: what do I need? If your goal requires some super-efforts (to get on the cover of a glossy magazine, to win a boxing tournament for amateurs, to lift a half-ton barbell), then everything is simple - you surrender to a professional trainer who will volens-nolens squeeze these super efforts out of you, and under his magic with a slap on the head, you will quickly understand everything about "forcing" and about "no pain - no gain".

If you have a more earthly goal, such as “lose weight by summer” or just “feel comfortable in your own body,” then perhaps you should stop forcing yourself to do what your heart does not lie in, and try to find something that will inspire you …

Let me give you an example. I hate running since childhood. Nevertheless, I had to run a lot. At different times I ran from "five" to "ten" every day, and once even ran a foolish marathon distance and almost died. Every time I needed to go for a run, I started to hate myself. Own life. Own choice. Each blow of a sneaker into a forest path or a treadmill was accompanied by an obscene exhalation. Of course, having reached the "age of Christ," I finally gave up running.

For a while I replaced running with jumping rope, but last year I discovered Nordic walking. For me, it really became the “discovery of the year”: it is a great way to breathe out all the lungs from top to bottom, load both arms and legs, “move” the spine, and so on. And now I don't need to come up with complex motivational moves, my feet carry me to the park by themselves. I happily walk six to eight kilometers with chopsticks almost every day. Moreover, I curse the days when the walk is interrupted or when I have to close the distance due to time pressure.

One more example. As a child, I tried to do judo, athletics, cycling. And, to be honest, I hated sports as such. I thought I hated any physical activity … Until I discovered Okinawan karate at the age of 19. I was amazed at the wealth that lurked there, and began to train 20-25 hours a week, leaving for myself the only day off on Sunday. Of course, then life changed and I had to revise my schedule. But I still remember that inspiration.

The last example. I hate yoga. I was in several classes led by my very qualified friends, and every time a mother came out from them, everything living on what was worth. For me yoga is painful and boring to the point of madness. I understand that all this is terribly useful, that we are not getting younger day by day, and so on blah blah blah. But the very thought of ever having to creak with my cords on a yoga mat terrifies me.

But then I remembered jumbi undo - a set of breathing, strength and stretching exercises that Shojun Miyagi invented in the 1920s. This complex was specially created so that a simple Okinawan fisherman could keep himself in shape suitable for practicing martial arts. This complex is also beautiful in that you can sculpt what you need from it, like from Lego bricks. If you want - you add a stretching module, if you want - a power one. And again I forgot about "forcing myself". I enjoyed experimenting with these exercises, adding or subtracting one or the other. When I came to Hapkido training after a long break, it turned out that I was quite in shape.

The secret of independent training was discovered to me twenty years ago by one Shito-ryu karate master:

You can never force yourself to give your best by exercising alone. It all ends with the fact that, once forcing yourself to do super-effort, you just hate yourself and spit on the class. To train successfully all your life, you need to work not with one hundred percent, but with seventy percent load. For example, you can pull up a maximum of ten times and then die from the pain. Okay, but you can probably do seven pull-ups with relative comfort, right? So increase this volume without ever stopping.

In Buddhism, this incessant effort is illustrated by the image of an elephant or a turtle, since these animals are never in a hurry, but they never stop.

It seems to me that this is a rather productive way of training thinking:

• work with 70 percent load, not 100 percent, but do it honestly;
• not "dying" in a workout, but ending it at an endorphin peak, keeping you fresh and inspired for the next workout;
• experiment and search;
• never stop.

Stop deluding yourself and looking for complex ways of violent self-motivation. Just find the kind of physical activity that will inspire you and be amazed at the changes that will happen to you. Fortunately, now there is plenty to choose from.

Believe me, as long as you are looking for support outside yourself, looking for "who would make you", trying to think in line with violent motivation, you will not change. You will sigh and reflect for years, instead of proudly walking forward like an elephant, never stopping.

Inspiration. Here's what to look for to truly change. Good luck and good health!