Hi — I was told by someone I will newer look good as I have bad Genes — I was a Bit over weight but have now lost 7 kg body fat and gained 5 kg of muscle in 2 months by training hard and eating a good diet.
Today was Movie Day—a day in which I do nothing but watch movies, and I try to have one at least once a month.
You see, I love movies :-)
And today, perhaps to rekindle my inner child, I spent 91 minutes watching a movie that I literally watched every day for an entire summer when I was 12 years old: Rocky IV.
Now, you may not agree with me that Rocky IV is one of the best movies of all time, but if you’re a Rocky fan at all, you’ve GOT to agree that it’s the absolute best out of all the Rockies (and there will be time to debate that later if you don’t :-)
I mean, what a great story, right? Rocky, avenging his best friend Apollo’s death by defeating the highly-favored, monstrous Russian on his own turf in Russia−even for someone who’s seen it 79 times like me, it’s pretty intense stuff.
But apart from that, even if you somehow didn’t care for the movie (and I can’t imagine how), Rocky IV can still teach you something extremely valuable and applicable to you and your own goals.
And that is, the raw power of motivation.
Let’s be honest, if Rocky had gone in to fight the Drago prior to Apollo or at any other time, under any other circumstances, he would have got his butt handed to him. The dude was a monster, and had Rocky outmatched in every possible way.
But because Rocky had something extremely powerful to motivate him (the fact that this guy killed his best friend), he was able to seemingly defeat some crazy odds and emerge victorious.
Let me ask you a question: What’s YOUR motivation? What is it that gets you up in the morning and over to the gym before work when everyone else is sleeping in?
What is it that allows you to regularly pass up the quick and easy (and frankly, delicious) foods that so many others regularly indulge in?
Do you have a REAL source of motivation? If you don’t, it’s highly likely you’re going to get “knocked out” by all the temptation and “easy ways out” that surround us on a daily basis.
Let’s face it, it’s a heck of a lot easier to eat whatever, whenever, and skip the whole workout thing then it is to live a fit, healthy lifestyle.
You absolutely have to have a very powerful source of motivation, because without one, your toast.
So do you have a source of motivation that keeps you going strong toward your goals each and every day? What is it?
Reaffirm it by posting it in the comments section below to start today off with renewed focus (and if you don’t value your “reason” enough to post it below, it’s probably safe to say that you don’t really have one).
Talk to you in the comments section!
Joel
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Hi – I was told I have bad genes an will newer look good just because I was a tad over weight — have lost 7 kg Body fat and gained 5 kg muscle. Training like a animal and loving it to proof this bloke wrong !!
Dear Joel,
I haven’t seen Rocky IV but will be soon. My motivation goal has to do with my 25th wedding anniversary in 2013. We are both cancer survivors and to be healthy when we celebrate this anniversary with friends and family. I try to lose weight during Jan- March and then maintain throughout the year. I have been doing this for the last 2 years, so far so good. Sure I’d like to lose it faster but maintaining is the real goal.
Sarah
My motivation is very simple but very important — my health.
My motivation is two part. Part 1 – I’m a cancer survivor, so I’ve got to be in control of what goes into my body, and how I utilize my body’s power to live. Part 2 – My family. I want to grow old and see them become the outstanding people I know they are going to be. One smile, one hug, one tear of disappointment, one look of empowerment on a face that knows how to come back from defeat. Those looks on my wife and children’s faces are my motivation.
In His Name.
My motivation is to get back to how my body was when I was training heavily in martial arts, I was fit and I looked great! I know what my potential is and that is what drives me.
Wow. Too many reasons to even list.
1) Because I have seen what obesity has done to my mother, and my aunt. My aunt died at age 42, weighing over 700 lbs. My mother is only 61, but due to the toll obesity has taken on her body, she can barely walk from one end of a room to the other, and can’t stand more than 30 seconds at a time.
2) Because I was briefly obese myself after the birth of my 2nd child, and felt first-hand what life was like as an obese person. The physical discomfort, the medical complications, and the psychological torture (no, I don’t think torture is too strong a word)
3) Because I have big plans & dreams to make the world a better place through health and fitness (and yes, plans to make a great life for myself and a lot of money doing so), and that requires my own commitment to fitness to be strong.
4) Because I am 40, but want to continue looking much, much younger (without spending all my money on plastic surgery to do so).
my motivation is simply being a man. men are the pinnacle of the earth’s evolutionary process – i’m out to prove it.
I want to stay fit fo our little boy, to play sports with him and have him be proud of his Dad.
At age 17 I was 6’5″ 140 lbs. I am now 50 240 lbs and about 12% body fat. Want to get to 250 and 8% because after growing 6″ in 3 months as a teen and being so skinny I have had this dream of specific body. I am almost there.
I am in the healthcare field…or should I say “sick care” and I see the end result of not taking care of yourself through diet and exercise everyday. Every day I think I do not want to be like this when I am 60 or 70 or 80….I want to be fit, flexible, mobile and healthy. So I need to be consistent with working out and eating right to avoid the pain and suffering that everyone thinks is a normal part of ageing – and does not even think to link to years of poor diet and inactivity.
The rocky movies are great, he looked phenomenal in 3 & 4,
Stallone has made being in great physical shape a lifestyle choice for himself and it shows, if you haven’t already you should go on youtube and search for sylvester stallone working out, or something to that effect, the guy is in his 60’s and his physical conditioning is better than most athletes much less than half his age, the guy is a beast, very inspiring.
The time that I had the most motivation to do something was when I was in Advanced Individual Training for the military, and the Drill Instructors were telling me that if I didn’t run faster I was not going to make it for the time limit, and graduate. You better believe I ran faster than I had ever run in my life so that I could finally go home and continue on with my military life.
The mirror!
i really have NO MOTIVATION, but I look better thank any 47 year old out there.
I eat right and excercise daily and try to do the best I can. JUST THE WAY I WAS BROUGHT UP and giving ALL THE GLORY TO GOD.
That was a powerful movie. My motivation to get up every morning and get moving is my desire to live long enough to see my grandkids graduate from high school. I am 66 years young, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, thyroid disease. All these are stacked against me. I have a strong will and eat carefully and healthy. I stay very active doing housework, yardwork and 3 days a week with a developmentally disabled girl. I have gotten her in to walking with me and she is losing weight. I know the key for me to lose the 30 pounds I want to get off is EXERCISE! I eat healthy but need to spend more time working out. I thank you for all your encouraging e-mails. CarolJ
Joel,
All the Rocky’s were good for motivation. I might just have to go home and watch it tonight.
What motivates me to train and train hard is the feeling I get afterwards. The outcome I get from it later. Either by added strength, looking in the mirror to see differences or comments I hear fromother people. That motivates me more and more and reassures me that all the pain and hard work is really paying off. What really motivates me the most is the football players I train. When they finally have that “I get it” moment in the gym. The reason I push them so hard and the things that I do to them. When they get the big picture is what really motivates me to train and to train them. Plus if I didn’t train as hard as I do, I couldn’t keep up with them nor ask them to do something I hadn’t ever done. Good article Joe. Hey I am in the Tampa Bay area too.
@ Annette:
I loved what you said about people not knowing how old you really are. I look 10 years younger that I am (66) but my excess weight is beginning to take a toll. I am working out but not nearly enough. Yea girl..Keep it up
WELL first off because i never what to back to what i was, and that is very fat, in the last 4 years i have lost 5 inces off my waist and a load of fat.
IF that is not enough to motivate me i don’t know what would, and oh ya i compete in BB competitions!!!!!!!!
My vanity. My love for soccer. I am 30, the days of playing will be gone soon. The great feeling of achieving goals that I set for myself. Pride in taking care of myself. Overall, being healthy breeds confidence and adds to happiness.
Rocky IV sure owned all the other movies of its time. Maybe I should give it another watch all these years later =D
As for my motivation, well, my first one is feeling good in my own skin. I’ve been overweight all my life and it started weighting down on me (oh, bad pun) quite a bit in the past few years in the form of awful lower back pain. Getting back into a healthy lifestyle makes that pain go away. So I’m all for keeping it up.
My second motivation is my girlfriend. I want to be in good shape for her, and live a long, healthy life. Y’know, love stuff haha. It IS one of the best motivators while it lasts :)
I always look forward to the next big event in my life. In 2 1/2 weeks I’m going on vacation (bikini time) big motivator. Other times it’s just visiting family or the 1/2 marathon in June. Things like that are usually 2-3 mos apart so I’ll think to myself “ok, I’ve got 2 mos. to look my best better start cracking”. Also I just feel better on a day to day basis. I start eating crap or slacking at the gym and I don’t feel very good. That’s a huge motivator.
As I age (I just got on Medicare…UGGH) good health is a major motivation; i.e. I’m keyed in on preventative measures like eating healthy and exercising. Growing old and having the body slowly deteriorate into the grave is NOT something I want to do, so healthy living is a HUGE motivation for me.
Hi Joel,
My motivation is really simple, I want to be better. I’m 28 but I know I’m downhill now, I believe that men get to their best physical form at 25… but I want to be better every year, stronger and faster. I believe I can beat time, at least ’till I die.
Did you know that Dolph Lundgren (Drago) is a Kyokushin Karate Olympic champion? that’s a hard dude to take.
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...