staying motivated

[rojasdave]

hey everyone. Ive come a long way. started working out in 2008 weighing at 325 pounds. today i am 200 with a body fat of 16% (i am still a work in progress). recently i have found it hard to stay motivated. and to add insult to injury, the only gym in a suitable radius from where I lived, has closed down. I have no where to work out now, and the only thing i possess are a pair of 30lb dumbbells, resistance bands, and a track to run. It will be nearly impossible to sustain, and gain muscle growth with this equipment and im low on cash. any ideas? should I still stay around ~220g of protein even if im not working out as hard and consistently due to no gym? any ideas would be appreciated!

 

[BigKrabbe]

First of all, great job losing 125 pounds. That is amazing my man. Secondly you can get a great workout with just a track, 30lb dumbells, and your body! You can do bodyweight squats, lunges, calf raises, burpees, push ups in all their variations, pull ups, curls, shoulder presses, ab/core work, and much much more! Don't let the lack of a gym discourage you from working out!!

 

[OrganicShadow]

Running with BigKrabbe here, first and foremost congratulations on a big transformation. Dont underestimate the ability of calstenics and bodyweight exercises. They certainly arent as effective as weight training for muscle gain but its still a workout. Start asking around, maybe theres a hidden gem of a gym close by.
For diet, play around with it. Maybe drop carbs/protein a bit since your not lifting as much. Monitor where your maintenance numbers are and work from there. Listen to your body - itll tell you what it needs.

 

[seccsi]

You can do every type of exercise with dumbells. If you are low on cash you can even do things like fill milk jugs with rocks to make a poor man's kettlebell. I know you might be missing out on some things, but honestly you can see great results with dumbells, bodyweight training, and using that track.

 

[Knotch]

It goes beyond lifting but,
F.ck what you want, focus on what you have and what you can do with it.

DB Bear Crawls 15m
DB Lunges 15m
Push-ups- 5
5 rounds

Don't forget about Plyo's.

 

[jumpshot903]

The hardest part of a workout is getting the motivation to start, but also the motivation to stay focused during it, personally once i start i don't stop unless im abnormally tired. It's hard to find the motivation sometimes you've made a ton of progress and with the recent developments (gym closing, lack of exercise equipment) its easy to see how you lose motivation. But somethings gotta get lit back up in you if you wanna begin or else you may find yourself back up that 125 pounds before you know it, even if its going for a run a couple times a week doing some push ups here and there, maybe invest in a pullup bar to attach to doorways for an easy way to work out. You can do a lot with just your body and small amount of weights to stay in shape, but as far as motivation goes thats within you none of us can light that fire within you to begin again you gotta find what drives you bro.

 

[NightHawk50]

I'm with the other guys, don't under estimate the power of body weight training. Obviously it won't be as effective as resistance weight training but its a hell of a lot better than nothing. You say you don't have much money right now but if there's no gym close to you, you might have to invest in a inexpensive set of barbells/dumbells at somepoint. If you want this bad enough you'll find a way. As for motivation i find that picking and setting an ideal or goal and constantly reminding yourself of it is the most powerful way to stay motivated. For example, If you want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger you constanly study him, watch his movies before workouts or when you feeling unmotivated and really keep pushing towards that goal. Put photos up in your room and really surround yourself with what you want to achieve. The best tool is a positive mind..

 

[HomeWorkouts]

Exactly, bodyweight exercises are awesome, and they can be progressive. One month you can work on getting high reps for your basic exercises like pushups and squats, and then the next month you can switch to more difficult exercises like one arm pushups. If you're not ready for one pushups try one leg pushups or one arm pushups against a counter top. The next month you may want to do explosive exercises like clapping pushups. The possibilities are endless. If you need inspiration look at Rocky training for all of his fights. Think about the athletes real or fake that inspire you.