Staying Motivated Towards Fitness - Why & How?

For many of us, it’s tough to stay motivated towards our fitness regardless of age. Vinayak Puthran, our School of Ultimate advisor and guest coach shares his journey – his motivations, his challenges with it and why it’s important to overcome it.

This is a special post, so do read and hopefully it also nudges you in the right direction.

————————–

“When I was in my 20’s, I used to think that staying motivated was easy. You don’t have to do much to keep fit when you’re that age, you just get it naturally. You show up and that’s all you need to do. But that is ok, if all you’re doing is playing football in the building.

I started playing ultimate [frisbee] in my early 30’s. My first tournament was AUO 2013, and I realised very quickly that what I thought was fit, wasn’t fit at all. I realised that it would require a change in lifestyle, if I wanted to get good at this sport. I decided that I would give it a shot. So, I started going to the gym regularly, and showing up at practice whenever it was called. And slowly I got better. I was better than what I was when I started, but still nowhere near where I wanted to be.

Relevant Read:

This went on for a few years. But that was about all I did. Gym, and practice. It was only during the lockdown, when I was forced to eat at home for an extended period of time, that I realised how good and different I felt, now that I didn’t eat out. I always used to cook, but my breakfast and lunch were usually at the office. But now, after only eating at home for a few months, I could feel the difference. I felt cleaner, lighter, less bloated, and I didn’t want to feel any other way again.

Then, just by chance, I started training in the mornings with a couple of folk from ATC (team Air traffic Control). I used to join them when they used to do their sprint sets. I then realised that I wasn’t getting tired as much when I was playing. There was this vast reserve of energy that I could dip into now. I never wanted that to stop either. And so now, I eat home cooked food, I’ve drastically cut down on alcohol, I’ve cut down my intake of juice, biscuits, chips, chocolates, and cold drinks, I go to the gym, I do conditioning, and I attend sessions regularly.

I have realised that fitness is like riding a cycle. When you’re in college, you’re riding down hill, and even if you don’t pedal, you tend to go faster, get stronger. From about 25-35, the road flattens out a bit, and you realise that if you don’t pedal, you start to slow down, but if you pedal hard for a bit, you can still coast. But once you cross 35, it’s only uphill from there, and you have to pedal your ass off, just to keep yourself from rolling backwards.

Relevant Read:

That’s where I am now. I have gone through all of this and realised where the pitfalls are, by falling in them. So, I lay all this out to you. So that you needn’t fall in them too. I don’t want to get slower, I don’t want to get weaker, I want to be able to play at a level that is still competitive.

I’ve heard people say that you need to be motivated to keep fit. No you don’t. Only maybe 1 out of the 10 days that I wake up in the morning for training, I feel like, “Yeah! Let’s kill this!”. The rest of the 9 days are a struggle. There have been days when I have woken up and then struggled to get out of bed. Days when I have gotten ready, then stared down at my shoes and said, let’s go to the gym tomorrow. But then I force myself to do it. So, I wouldn’t say I’m motivated, I just know that there hasn’t been a single day that I have gone for (practice/training/gym) and then regretted it, but, almost every single time that I skip one, I do.

You don’t need motivation, you need discipline!

I’ve found my reason to train, you need to find yours too.”

– Vinayak Puthran

—-

A big thank you to Vinayak for sharing – and reminding us how fitness isn’t just about turning up to play a sport, but also about working on your stamina, eating & drinking right and overcoming those restrictive thoughts that demotivate you, luring you to current comfortable habits that won’t be so great for your health in the future – and for reminding us the value of discipline.

To know more about us, what we do, then check this out: