Fitness that Fits Your Focus: Motives Just Your Size (Fragments of the Subconscious)

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Fitness that Fits Your Focus

Getting fit and/or staying fit isn't easy, nor is maintaining the motivation to stick with a workout program when it seems to take soooo much longer to see or feel positive results. And yet, skip a few days of your workout, and the negatives seem to appear almost instantly.

How does one stay focused?

How does one cultivate the determination not to give up even after weeks or months of less than optimal progress, no matter how easy or tempting giving up may be?

Forget appetite suppressants, diet aids/pills and filling yourself up with enough water to fill any number of lakes! We've got something better...

No more "routine" workouts for you. Just add a healthy amount of daydreaming to your workouts, and you'll find those workouts more enjoyable and maybe even longer lasting and/or more frequent! How will daydreaming help? Read on and find out!

The Exercise	Corresponding Motivation...The Daydream

Aerobics	Think form-fitting matching ensemble outfits and completely sweat-free aerobic instructors and their male and female students following along on the DVD or video you're likely watching. Then, imagine your outfit is just as hot (without being sweaty) and that you look that good while working out, too.

Burpees	You look utterly ridiculous. In just 3 minutes, the hottest guy/gal you know will be passing by, able to witness your hideous exercise display. Faster, faster! You don't want witnesses to this embarrassment! Hurry!

Curls (Bicep / Tricep)	Think used car salesman. The greasy kind that sold "lemons" in the late 70's or early 80's. Think smug jerks that think they're better than you (and probably everyone else, too). Then, think how much you'd like to punch them out. Work those muscles!

Dancing	You're a 5-year-old child prodigy that's a better dancer than any 95-pound ballerina or stick-thin dancer. Your parents have pinned all their hopes and dreams on your dancing ability to support them as they frivolously spend your earnings before you can even count high enough to add them all up. Dancing is your life, your hobby, your work...the only thing you know and are allowed to do!

Duck-Walk	A certain famous amusement park is going to pay you a million dollars to be a duck for a day if only you get the walk right at your audition. Get it right and you might even get a new significant other named Donald or Daisy.

Hip Thrust	Do I really need to say it? I thrust...ahem, trust...that if you're a consenting adult, you'll be motivated without the need for someone else's recommended imagery. It's okay to find your own motivation. It's a natural and healthy occurrence. wink

Jogging or Walking in Place / Treadmill / Stairmaster / etc.	Envision right in front of you that hottie you saw the other day or that celebrity you'd marry "if only..." No rush to leave or switch workout stations with this in mind! It's all about stamina. (Well, stamina and maybe hotness, too.)

Jogging or Walking...NOT in place	Your boss is on a rampage...and you flopped your latest project or missed a serious deadline. Run! Save yourself! Run for your life! Or maybe just turn around and rampage back! =p

Jumping Jacks	Imagine a "Jack"...or a "Jill"...you'd like to jump or be jumped by... gasp Stay focused with your workout until your energy has been completely spent.

Kickboxing	For all those times you've been a complete push-over...for all those times you never talked back but wished you had...no longer are the feelings pent up. Focus all your energy at the poor, misguided soul who last dared to treat you like a doormat.

Leg Kicks	Your boss is on your case again, but this time, it's finally time for you to show him/her who's really boss. That's right...with each leg kick, it's your boss's ass you're kicking!

Lunges	When you lunge, envision in front of you that super-annoying relative, friend, neighbor or co-worker. (You've thought they've had this coming a long time already, haven't you?!) Don't hold back. Lunge!

Pull-Ups	Outgrow the diapers. With pull-ups, you'll learn to wipe on your own! Oh, sorry. Wrong "pull-ups." Back to the right ones...you're a major celebrity and the paparazzi are at your heels. Pull-up, pull-up! You'll be just out of reach, and...you'll grow stronger so you can deck them when you're so distracted or worn out that they do eventually reach you!

Push-Ups	Think of these more as push-downs. Push-down that upwardly mobile, competitive coworker...the one with low morals, a lack of ethics and a serious agenda, who you suspect has been attempting to sabotage your position or steal your job at any cost!

Rear Leg-Lifts	That kid who teased you mercilessly in your pre-teen years is standing right behind you. Break his nose with a good sharp backwards kick / leg-lift.

Rowing	You've finally been booted from the island. Piranhas and blood-thirsty sharks infest the waters. A hurricane is headed your way. You know on the mainland shore, awaits the love of your life whom you haven't seen in months.

Scissor Cross	Stripper poles. Firemen...er, firemen station...poles.

Shoulder Shrugs	You're a politician, practicing your stonewalling techniques. Know nothing. Remember nothing. Recall nothing. shrug Ah, bliss!

Sit-Ups / Crunches	Sorry, I got nothin'. The mere hope of ever obtaining six-pack abs will have to suffice. **Earnote*: Just keep the six-packs of beer to a minimum or you'll more likely develop keg abs no matter how many sit-ups you do.*

Squats	You're not human. You're just a dog with bowel issues and needs...on a cranky neighbor's yard. (Ah, the sweet, sweet revenge you might get away with by using those cute puppy-dog eyes!)

Swimming	You've been given that special opportunity you've been waiting for at work for years. This could make or break your career. It's sink or swim time and you really, really want this promotion! Swim!

Weight Lifting	Men...don't be a girly man. In muscles, like certain other things...size matters. Pump those muscles up and see just who you can sweep off their feet...or at least, pick up off their feet. Women...anything men can do, you can do better...and in heels. Right?! Don't let the men show you up. You're tougher and stronger than you look. Just lift it!

If all else fails, just remember, it takes work to be the sexiest man alive or sexiest woman alive. And maybe someday, that could be you. (In your dreams.) Keep at it. You'll surely never get there if you stop trying! (Not even in your dreams)

Six-pack abs aren't sale items you can pick up at the local discount outlet. You have to earn them. Well, unless of course, you opt for surgery...then you just pay for it...and for the removal of all that excess skin you'll have afterwards.

As you age, a slowing metabolism is your enemy. So are "fast food," desserts, fatty foods, malts/shakes and pretty much anything you probably like. But if you're anywhere near "normal," you'll probably eat them anyway. After all, what fun is life if you can't enjoy a 24-ounce steak or an ice cream treat now and then?

Thus, you have to stay focused and maintain regular workout habits if you hope to stay fit and trim, get trim or work on muscle toning. Don't be discouraged. Find your focus. If it means you're imagining kicking your boss's derriere or pummeling that bully you still remember from junior high...so be it. It's your motivation; It's your workout!

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