what does everyone use for motivation? i feel im lacking it abit at the moment. i usually have a friend i would compete with so to say but he is moving away so now there isnt much to work with. im not going emo and i dont want to. i just think that i need to get more pumped.

music load and heavy. visualize the workouts and eating big all day. turn yourself into a bodybuilding zombie. do that and training alone will come easier and eventually desired. i love training alone granted everyonce in awhile its nice to have a friend.

i also strongly recommend a different gym everyonce in awhile as no one will know you and you can be the psyco crazy lifter everyone stares at and is like WTF! those looks are huge motivation.

all that plus having someone to look up to such as the pros. read bios, how they started, where they came from. many of their stories are very motivating!

i recommend dave drapers book: iron on my mind
not really a bodybuilding regimen or guide but more of a collection of beautiful personal articles written by dave draper on the topic of motivation, which turn out to be highly inspirational.. you can literally flip to a new page a day, and read what this guy wrote, think about it, and all the sudden your inspired.. its that easy for me

but if that doesn't do the trick or you run out of articles to read by dave draper, there is always heavy music

music is an amazing thing
not really inspirational.. but during training it can lead to that state of mind where we find ourselves really pumped and aggressive feeling, ect.. and for this i recommend the melvins..
usually for most people I notice heavy music works.. specifically the melvins, not sure why..
try: the melvins - houdini
its a good heavy album if heavy music is your thing

again, like the previous poster said.. whatever you are into as far as goals, check into what the pros of that field are currently into and doing.. sometimes it can be inspirational/motivational to see such well accomplished athletes talking about their lifestyles, even if they are lying

good luck

What raginfcktard said.

Also setting goals can be a good idea. Your not going to get anywhere if you don't know where you want to go!

Originally Posted by Shane0Mac

what does everyone use for motivation? i feel im lacking it abit at the moment. i usually have a friend i would compete with so to say but he is moving away so now there isnt much to work with. im not going emo and i dont want to. i just think that i need to get more pumped.

do you have a idol? tape a pic of Arnold (used as an example) to your fridge. maybe the next time you go in there you'll grab a steak instead of the apple.

Originally Posted by lennoxchi

do you have a idol? tape a pic of Arnold (used as an example) to your fridge. maybe the next time you go in there you'll grab a steak instead of the apple.

but doesn't an apple a day keep the doctor away?

Guess motivation boils down to something different to everyone. Ask yourself - what do I want to get out of this?

Do you want the mass monster body builder physique?
Do you want to be lean and look good for your partner (Or to get a partner)?
Are you doing it for purely health reasons (Drop bp, cholesterol, whatever)?
Are your goals in the gym purely related to how much weight you can shift (I want to be able to bench >300lbs for argument's sake)?

The reasons for going to the gym are as varied as the types of people you'll see in an average gym. Everything from single mothers of 3 kids to >260lb sub 5% bf mass monsters. You need to know what it is that brings you there and when you realise that - you no longer need a training partner, because the goals are your own.

I train >80% of the time alone and I like it that way. The general motivational things for everyone that have been mentioned already like music are still important, but it isn't the music that gets me off my ass after a 10 hour day at work and gets me ready, in the car and to the gym in the first place. That's mental discipline on my part and knowing what I want to get out of it.

Where a partner comes into for me is that little bit of competition, having the spot there to push those final 2-3 reps out without worrying about getting the weight back into the rack and also a different perspective on how my training is going. Those things are great, but they aren't critical.

I had a good moment yesterday where I caught up with a good friend of mine who I hadn't seen for a while and his girlfriend and when they saw me they were like, "Damn dude you've been working out!!!" - things like that remind you that even if you don't notice your progress on a day by day basis, it all adds up.

That's where it's also good to take before, during & after shots so you can see those snapshots in time and the big difference your hard work and dedication has made.

Ultimately champ it boils down to what you want to get out of it and making sure every workout, every day is another step on the road to that goal.

I'm in a space now where it's harder for me not to go to the gym and smash myself silly than it is to go. I love it.

Originally Posted by raginfcktard

music load and heavy. visualize the workouts and eating big all day. turn yourself into a bodybuilding zombie. do that and training alone will come easier and eventually desired. i love training alone granted everyonce in awhile its nice to have a friend.

i also strongly recommend a different gym everyonce in awhile as no one will know you and you can be the psyco crazy lifter everyone stares at and is like WTF! those looks are huge motivation.

all that plus having someone to look up to such as the pros. read bios, how they started, where they came from. many of their stories are very motivating!

YES, this above is great info. This is why I train at home and I'm not missing the Y @ all! I can act crazy, grab my crotch, no worries, fart, grunt, no worries. MY MUSIC or none at all. And no AC, got fan, can put the garage half way. The stupid Y was way too cool to workout in.

To pump you up, get you goin, read some articles, look at some pics. that inspire you, read your goals before working out. REMEMBER, if you don't have it written down it's only a dream!

thanks for the help. i got myself some new music (saliva) and a new mentality about working out. i missed out on a week of going to the gym and went back yesterday and was able to do more reps on higher weight. i managed to do 101 dips (not consecutive
and then at home finally did 100 consecutive pushups.

l read Flex every morning while l am sitting eating breakfast visualizing how l want to look something like Dennis James (yes l have a lot of work to do) and then think about my workout l train about an hour after breakfast.

for motivation, i go on facebook and look at all the people in the past who've pissed me off.. this includes ex-girlfriends, ****heads from highschool and a bunch of others. I stare at their photos for a few seconds and then tell myself "I must do better than them in life!!!! I must totally outclass them, failure's not an option!!"

When i've got competition like that, my mind just seems to burst so much more adrenaline. Back in second year uni, there was no particular person i hated and therefore i had no competition... i scored an average of 53% per unit. In third year, there was someone who i desperately wanted to beat at any measures... i ended up scoring an average of 89% per unit.

So the underlying rage + Music + Supplements goes a long way for me...

LOL @ BoyFromAus .

So I'm not the only one that thinks like that then? .

It became my mission years ago to become 'better' than ex-friends who had upset me at any time. I wish I'd kept the training up from the last time but better late than never.

It always seems to help the motivation when you have conflict in your life and can focus all those negative emotions towards your training.. But I have learned that, over time, those emotions dissolve (rule of life#1: nothing stays the same forever), therefore not to get attached to the idea of just remembering your old enemies/conflicts for the sake of motivation by waking up in the morning and starring at pics of their current lives.. sure its a 'tool', a method to be utilized at first and there's nothing wrong with it, we all need to experience this, but it's by no means the 'source' of long term motivation. In the end, this type of motivation will burn you out and you'll find yourself with a psychoanalyst for a few years trying to forget all those damn things that used to motivate ya and u cant seem to let go of.. lol.. ok maybe some of us don't take it that far, but just be careful with that negative reinforcement if u get my drift.. They are tools to be used and at the same time obstacles for us to move past.

Try new training methods, plan out a whole 6 weeks of training and make short term goals, learn new things, surround yourself with things that reinforce your training and make yourself become interested, for the sake of positive reinforcement.

Biggest source of motivation for me is this simple fact: when training is good, life is also good. And everyday ask myself: "Hmm.. what can I do better with my training that I didn't do before?" and just keep moving forward and discovering new things and learning and growing.

That isn't to say obstacles don't reveal themselves, things are gonna pop up and get in the way, but just keep going no matter what, even when you don't want to. Be prepared. Most of the time you cant prepare, and dare I say that's the point of these obstacles. There's lessons to be learned from forced training days, and tons of mental qualities to be learned from the entire experience that you should somehow willfully seek to practice.

Music!!! Some Danzig, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Misfits, System of a Down, Slipknot that's what motivates me in the gym. I often think of nailing hot chicks too, kind of a means to an end I guess.