Category: training

How to stay motivated

Tips and Tricks to motivate yourself and to introduce self-discipline into your daily routine, in order to achieve everything you want in all the aspects of your life.

HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED?

This is a question I recently heard a lot. Whether that is due to the current circumstances that we face as we all can´t go to the gym or do the sports that we are used to, or just in general. Most of us have a lot more free time and feel like, probably because of the enormous amount of at-home-workouts that suddenly turn up on social media, that we should move more. So this is a very good time to start being more active and take a step towards our fitness goals. However, motivation is not only required in sports, but all parts of our lives if we want to be successful and fulfil our whole potential.

For me this has never been a problem. “Get up and move” – easy, but “rest and recover” – not really my thing. You probably think : “I wish I had your problems” but I can tell you it is far worse for your body if you don´t know when to stop and rest because you always end up doing to much. But this is a completely different issue and to get back to the one you want to get rid of let me tell you as an athlete, who always trains alone, without a coach or someone that keeps me accountable, I can tell you that once you can motivate yourself to train alone and feel motivated to do so, you will benefit for the rest of your life in all imagenable aspects. Now I know how to work hard for my goals and don´t get sidetraked that easily because I know I can get things done alone, without someone pushing me, because I don´t need anyone else to tell me what to do or when. But this took time to develop and if you feel like you never end up doing the things you set yourself to do, than I will try to help you manifest that attitude of approaching things like I do, into your routine.

Let´s take the example of exercise. Regardless the reason why you want to get into exercising more, be that to loose fat, built more muscle or to stay in shape, we all face the same problem and the same question: Why should I do this home workout/ go for this run now if I could just as easily stay on this sofa and enjoy the time that I have at home? Do you always assure yourselves that you can do this tomorrow because now is not the right time, because you feel tired or simply not in the mood to get up?

Well in this case I have to tell you that THIS WILL NOT MIRACLIOUSLY GET EASIER ALL OF A SUDDON  and that you will at some point get a magic motivation boost, but that you need to GET UP AND MOVE ! The question that you need to ask yourself is not Should I do this? but rather HOW am I going to do this? This might be different for everyone which is the reason why the question should be: How am I going to do this? and not How do all the other people approach this?. By asking yourself that particular question, you acknowledge that you decided on doing something. Now you just need to work out a technique that works for you and gets you to move away for you comfort zone and do that something .

If you now think “easier said than done” I agree but there are some things that can help you to get into the right mindset which will motivate you every time and will keep you motivated in the long term.

So how to be motivated to go for a run, do an at home workout or go to the gym:

  1. Set yourself the right goals. If you don´t know how to do that have a look at my blog post concerning this topic and believe me that it can change everything. If you know what you want to achieve and why exactly that is important to you (and only you) you will have a reason to get up every morning with a purpose.
  1. Secondly prepare yourself to go – By that I don´t mean merely thinking about what you might want to be doing as a type of movement tomorrow, because that is what got you into the downward spiral of wanting to go – rethinking that because tomorrow might be just as good- concluding that tomorrow would be even better- and then staying on that sofa- in the first place. So instead really get ready: put your running shoes out the night before, pack your gym bag and set an alarm at the time you want to start. Make the session part of your timetable as you would schedule a meeting and don´t postpone it because you wold not be able to do that with a work meeting as well. Or think of it as a group practise like you would have if you participate in a club or team sport, you couldn´t just miss that either or be late because that would make you coach angry and disappoint you team mates.
  2. That brings me to my next point. You are your own coach and your own consciousness! That means you need to expect from yourself to be disappointed if you don´t turn up and keep you to the promise that you made to yourself and that is to train. I know that this isn´t easy because it requires a lot of self-discipline, but I promise you it is worth it and it will help you in every other part of your life as well. Look at it like that, if you can push yourself and manage to be your own consciousness and judgment in this, you can be that in every part of your life. No matter if that is at work, in your social or family life, it will help you to get things done and stick to your plan, no matter what, because you taught yourself to do that in sport.

How to stay that way and not stop after the initial excitement

  1. it takes around 21 days to form a habit and 66 to build a routine that you can easily sustain on the long term. I recently read the book “miracle morning” by Hal Elrod and he describes the steps to built a habit (the habit of waking up earlier or starting to run every day) in 3 phases from unbearable to uncomfortable to unstoppable. Each of this phases takes 10 days and I think it describes really well that in the beginning it is really hard and you don´t want to do it but then it gets easier with every day until to reach a point where it has become second nature to you and you start enjoying the task.

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.

Jim Rohn
  1. reward yourself – set yourself mid-way goals or checkpoints like “I went to the gym twice for 4 weeks” or “I want for a run 5 times where I normally would have found excuses to to go” and take time in the beginning what you maybe always wanted to buy but were resistant because you didn´t want to spent that much money on yourself or wanted to wait for an occasion that felt right. Well now is the time to reward yourself with whatever that might be if you archived your set goal. That makes you even more motivated to carry on and work towards the next one.
  2. envision your goal – try to picture in your mind how you will feel as soon as you reach that goal of yours, as well as the journey towards it, see yourself having fun working towards your goal. Capture it in your mind, with all the senses (smell the surroundings, feel you feet on the floor, hear the voices around you). Elite athletes and successful people around the world (for example Bill Gates, Will Smith, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Oprah) work with vision boards or general visualization because our actions follow our thoughts. Again this is explained really good in the book Miracle Morning and I recommend reading it if you don´t understand how to exactly visualize things to become successful.
  3. invest, because that motivates you – Interestingly studies have shown that the individuals were more likely to continue working towards their goals (e.g. going to the gym) when they had invested in something like a personal coach/ bought a monthly subscription of a gym membership or even a bus ticket. As soon as they invested a reasonable amount of money, they no longer wanted to make excuses because they knew that their money would be spend continuously on something thy didn´t use. But it had to be something that would be taken away not only once like if you bought yourself some pricey gym clothing or equipment, but rather something that would need to be payed every month for a longer period of time (after that a new habit would be established anyway so that the motivation of money loss is no longer necessary for some)
  4. remind yourself of the WHY – maybe set yourself an alarm to put your trainers out for the run in the morning or to prepare you gym bag and name the alarm after what you want to achieve or your motivation (“beach body”, “next competition“)

https://www.miraclemorning.com/

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– 2 – The benefits of a plant-based diet for athletic performance

How to fuel yourself properly for training and optimal recovery – the benefits of plant-based nutrition

Among the other benefits of a plant based diet, like reduced risk of morbidity and mortality, heart disease, cancer, or developing type 2 diabetes, a plant-based diet also has shown to be especially beneficial for athletes. Many studies show multiple benefits that I am going to review in this post, so if you are interested how to get your performance to the next level, have a read. In the end I also mention the most important facts that you should take away from all of this in order to benefit you training, recovery and health and some practical advice to take small steps towards a better nutrition.

This is about what you should try to eat more of, rather than what you should not eat!

If you want to built muscle and help your muscles recover faster from training, getting a good amount of indispensable amino acids like BCAAs (what proteins are made of) through our diet is really important as they are important for promoting muscle protein synthesis and our bodies can´t make them themselves. Many people are worried that they won´t get enough protein on a vegan diet because they won´t get the protein from meat or dairy protein such as Whey. (7) According to the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine the protein recommendation for endurance and strength-trained athletes ranges from 1.2 to 1.7 g/kg (1). From my own experience I can say that it is really manageable to get that amount of protein on a fully vegan diet if you eat enough calories from whole foods such as legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds (have a look at my earlier blog post if you want to learn how to built a perfect healthy meal). Protein is in everything we eat and that´s where the animals get it from in the first place. Therefore animals are just the middle men and we can avoid them by eating the plant ourselves. If you are not convinced picture just picture an ox for a second. Does this animal look weak to you? NO, because it is huge, has enormous muscles and you definitely don´t want to come near it if it looks angry. And guess what it eats… not meat but only plants. For long, the misconception that vegan diets provide insufficient amino acids, labelt plant protein as an incomplete protein source as they don´t have a “complete” amino acid profile. But even if whole foods like quinoa or even cacao didn´t have that it wouldn´t matter because we don´t need to get all amino acids at exactly the same time, but throughout the day or week and that is easily done by eating a variety of vegetables, legumes and whole grains.

Furthermore, consuming animal protein also results in us having higher circulating levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO).TMAO is a substance that injures the lining of our vessels, creates inflammation, and facilitates the formation of cholesterol plaques in our blood vessels. And that, of course, is highly problematic for cardiovascular health and inhibits blood flow to our muscles which results in poorer recovery. (4)

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Data of a huge cross sectional study showed that omnivores consumed more total energy, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and protein but less fiber, calcium, and iron than vegetarians. Vegans consumed the least energy, saturated fat, sodium, and calcium, but the most fiber and iron as the diet is naturally higher in whole foods and furthermore provides the body with more vitamins and nutrients. The study concluded that the main advantage for the serious athlete to adopt a nutritarian-style vegan or near vegan diet may be the improved immunocompetence (better immune response to viruses etc.) with the positive effect of not missing training and events because of illness . This is especially important for people doing all sorts of sport because training causes stress to the body and alone a single intense workout temporarily diminishes immune function. So we should do all that we can to help our bodies to reduce stress and inflammation in the first place as we are more vulnerable anyway if we train hard. For example excess fat intake and poor food choices may exacerbate exercise and induced immunosuppression where as Carotenoid (pigment molecules abundant in green and other coloured vegetables) are known to enhance immune function. Furthermore antioxidants (molecules in colourful vegetables) are really helpful to reduce inflammation in the body which is created through free radicals which are produced during exercise and are known to play a role in prominent conditions such as cardiovascular disease and the development of cancer. Antioxidants can neutralize inflammation and studies found that supplements of specific isolated antioxidants would be vastly outperformed by the complex combinations of antioxidants and other phytonutrients in high-micronutrient, whole foods. So it can be said that it is most effective to eat more foods that are high in antioxidants, some of which are listed below (the same is observed in epidemiological studies). In Conclusion there are simply many proven benefits of eating more colourful vegetables to help recovery and reduce inflammation that is created through training.

Consuming antioxidant-rich foods work wonders for your immunity and will give your skin a healthy glow!
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Practical things to take away from all the science and studies:

  1. eat more green leafy vegetables as they support immune function
  2. eat more colourful vegetables because they are high in antioxidants and help your body recover
  3. limit your animal protein intake as it inhibits blood flow and therefore optimal recovery, especially after training
    • –> maybe try some plant based protein (as it isn´t inferior to animal based protein and see how that works for you. I have personally noticed that I don´t feel all too good after having whey protein and that my recovery is so much better after a plant-based protein shake)
    • I already listed some of my favourite plant based protein supplement companies that I tried and I personally think that their protein is just as good as the whey protein ones, with multiple flavour options and a great taste, so have a look at the article below if you need some inspiration (don´t make the mistake to take pure hemp protein or some such and expect it to taste like something other than grass)

All that said it has also be taken into account that “vegan” does not necessarily directly mean healthy as it can nowadays also consist of processed foods such as meat alternatives. Furthermore athletes should be testing their blood from time to time in order to make sure that their ferritin (iron stores) is high enough due to the reduced bioavailability of the type of iron that is found in plants. But again I have made the experience that if I eat a good amount of whole foods I don’t have any problems with that. (coffein has also a big impact on iron absorption so if you always have coffee straight after or with your meals you should consider that the iron absorption is really limited). Furthermore vegans or vegetarians should take a vitamin B12 supplement because B12 is made from bacteria in the soil and we can’t make it ourselves (animals can’t either, but they get supplemented as well so you can get vitamin B12 through meat). In Addition to that I would advice to take a Vitamin D supplement as well, at least during the winter, as our bodys need sunshine to produce it and we would need around 15 min of direct exposure to strong sunlight in order to produce a good amount (most effective on bare forearms or the forehead).

If you found this post interesting please give me a like and make sure to follow this blog ; )

The next recipe will be a healthy snack to fuel you training and recovery properly so stay tuned for that!

Sources

1 Nutrition and Athletic Performance. (2009). Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION DIETITIANS OF CANADA

2Fueling the Vegetarian (Vegan) Athlete Joel Fuhrman and Deana M. Ferreri Dr. Fuhrman.com, Inc., Flemington, NJ

3https://www.pinterest.de/pin/419679258997532825/

4https://www.forksoverknives.com/wellness/animalproteindangers/#gs.31a9wn