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Interesting Psychological Effects/Phenomena


k31th

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OK, coming on from the Weight training thread here ...

 

The first interesting effect to discuss is the one brought up in that thread. Does the overall self-motivation you have used to sign up and plan out your gym sessions equate to having enough self-motivation for each individual gym attendance?

 

I think not. Some days are different to others and some days you just feel great before going to the gym and some days you really don't feel like going. It's very easy to psychologically fall on the side of doing less, imho.

 

I also think that each gym attendance makes me feel great afterwards, so they're all worth it, irrelevant of what I thought going in, which ultimately helps me personally to go every time I'm expecting to as I use what I know I'm going to feel afterwards as motivation.

 

Discuss! :)

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oh, of course... I just don't consider those to be direct external stimuli in the sense that I must use my own thoughts to make my own personal self-motivational thoughts related to such external stimuli.

 

The stimuli in and of itself is not directed at trying to convince me of whether going or not going is a good idea, is what I'm trying to say.

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2 minutes ago, k31th said:

Does the overall self-motivation you have used to sign up and plan out your gym sessions equate to having enough self-motivation for each individual gym attendance?

 

I look at it as doing what you want and not what you feel eg: I want to stop smoking/drinking/boning hookers but I feel like a cigar/bourbon/shag.

 

For the purpose of definition, "what you want" is a decision you make based upon a goal that doesn't change from day to day and "what you feel" is constantly changing based upon your sensory input and how you process that mentally and physically.

 

I want a certain body type and strength level so I gotta lift weights regardless of how I feel unless I'm injured.

 

2 minutes ago, k31th said:

Some days are different to others and some days you just feel great before going to the gym and some days you really don't feel like going. It's very easy to psychologically fall on the side of doing less, imho.

 

I think this is why it is important to create a program and stick with it for the requisite months that it will run for.

 

I feel better going into my shed to do weights when the weather is mild, I'm not sick and when I'm not tired etc. Some days are better than others and some days I want to just stay inside and chill out.

 

I currently use a program with a slight leeway in the amount of reps done so I can just do 2 less reps per set if my energy level is down or the weight is a bit too heavy. This helps me with the day to day differences.

 

3 minutes ago, k31th said:

I also think that each gym attendance makes me feel great afterwards, so they're all worth it, irrelevant of what I thought going in, which ultimately helps me personally to go every time I'm expecting to as I use what I know I'm going to feel afterwards as motivation.

 

I'm usually just glad it's over, though it is good to see noticeable progress afterwards.

 

I go because I want a certain result and if I don't go I wont achieve that result. It's more of a means to an end for me.

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that's a good way to think of it, actually, in that you take maybe a few less reps when things aren't going so well.

 

Thresholds are tricky psychologically, in general.

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Depending on the day the rep ranges are 13-15, 10-12, 8-10 or 5-7.

 

If I'm worn out from doing a couple of 10-12 days and only manage 10 on the second day and the next day is 8-10 reps then I can still achieve my rep goal on that day as I know I can do 10 reps and if I can't then 8 is still acceptable for that day.

 

Physically it makes very little difference to results but it helps out a lot more mentally.

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1 hour ago, k31th said:

Does the overall self-motivation you have used to sign up and plan out your gym sessions equate to having enough self-motivation for each individual gym attendance?

 

What worked for me for individual sessions was just by making them part of the daily routine rather than an action that was approached fresh each day.

 

Work-Gym-Swim-Groceries-Dinner

 

By doing that without fail there was never a choice/decision to be made, no motivation needed.

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yeah, I've heard a lot of physical exercise proponents say that if you make your gym routine (the time period for something to go from an irregular activity to routine varies in those statements, usually), then you'll do it for as long as you have the ability to do so.

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