What motivates you to workout? For me, it’s staying healthy and fit – and keeping my pecs perky so that people continue to watch my YouTube videos (just kidding about the last point).
But my motivation wasn’t always so pure. When I first started going to the gym regularly and intensely at age 16, I wanted to look good. I wanted to look like the hot guys in the Abercrombie ads (and masturbation fodder) that I saw at the mall. I wanted to look “hot”, too. And so I hit the gym with all my energy and might.
What I discovered surprised me: The superficial changes paled in comparison to the deeper changes that I felt. Changes like increased energy, less stress, better sleeping patterns, improved health – and so on. As I got older, these benefits kept me motivated much more than looking a certain way.
Also surprising: Even when your outward body changes, the inside doesn’t. As it turns out, looking more like an Abercrombie model doesn’t actually make you feel any better or any worthy on the inside. Food for thought.
I don’t knock people for exercising to look a certain way. After all, it’s exactly what I did. But what I do hope is that people eventually come to appreciate exercise not as a means to look a certain way, but rather as a part of a more fulfilling life.
What motivates you to exercise? Vote in the poll below:
I dont really work out anymore. When I was trying to get fit, people just made fun of me and called me fat. So now i just dont work out.
Dustin – you should do it for yourself, regardless of what people say. If you don’t work out, you’re robbing yourself of a lot of great benefits.
Dustin,
There are many ways to work out and if it helps do so alone. A simple healthy diet and and brisk activity alone can help shed weight.
Try some of the simple exercises Davey has on here that require little to do. Then you are working for you and avoiding those that make you feel badly.
Ultimately though I agree with Davey you should work out for you.
T
People have made fun of me because I didn’t look like a workout guy when I started. In fact, I didn’t tell any of my friends at school or anything… Later on, my cover was blown when I began actually looking buff and I got lots of people’s respect and some people don’t mess with me anymore so … it’s very rewarding.
Dustin, I hope you have kept up your workouts. I am a new follower of Davey and I am just getting to read his older blogs, but he is right on this. You are working out for yourself. The benefits of having a healthy fit body out way the alternative.
Two years ago, I had an accident. I am just now getting to the point where I can workout again. My peers ask why? Then I look at them and listen to their health problems and I know why. I am going to the gym twice a day to reclaim my former body. Believe me I am suffering, but it is worth ever drop of sweat and each aching muscle. My students even have commented on my physical change and the change in my attitude. Yes, I was depressed on how my body looked and was working. Now they say I am getting my zeal for life back.
It was not easy when I transformed my body the first time and it will not be easy transforming it again. Keep up the workout and hopefully you will have seen the benefits.
Robert
Yeah , people call me fat aha . so now I go to Wii Fit , but I don’t really go on anymore . I wish I had that kind of a body
Dustin, people are indeed cruel; sometimes it feels like that cruelness is just who they really are. I like to think of these people as the same type of person as the bullies I had to contend with when I was in public school.
Thankfully as life goes on those idiots often fade away and you get to surround yourself by people who love and appreciate you.
Being fat is not a choice (for most of us) and we have every right to pursue healthy ambitions without the burden of harassment. I’m currently 120 to 150 lbs heavier than I should be for my height; that’s alarming complete with a whole host of health concerns that will only get worse as I age. Unless I do something these health concerns will eventually consume me.
I’m not prepared to let the mindless opinions of hateful people keep me from my health goals. I hope you will find the courage to do the same.
Best of Luck! VV
I used to work out to look a certain way. Despite several attempts, I never did achieve the look I wanted. I was disappointed and discouraged, and became even more self conscious of how I looked. I ended up ditching the gym altogether.
That happened about a year or so ago. I’ve recently started going back to the gym, and begun a healthy eating regiment, but it’s to avoid becoming overweight (I’m currently at the high end of the ideal weight range for my height) as opposed to looking a certain way (the A&F models you refer to).
I’m not sure why, but I feel better about my motivation now. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still love to have the abs and the pecs and the arms, I’ve just stopped having that as my end goal.
they just motivate me to masturbate
I used to go to the gym a few years ago. I can honestly say I lost more weight and was in better shape from working out at home. Everyone at my old gym would just go to flirt. I would see certain people talking more than excersicing. It would make me sick.
I’ve wanted to go aggain regardless of this issue. However, because of money woes, I have to wait. Good thing? I am eating better till then. No diet pills to aid me, just good ol’ vitamins.
Working for the state gives me a ton of free benefits, including free gym access on the college campus… Only problem is my schedule, it leaves me no time to do anything.
I work out to the thought meeting someone special.. And in the case of the last 4 months, winning the biggest loser at work (they said I didn’t have enough to lose.. SHOWED THEM!! – $$$) The next goal of mine would have to be the health benefits. There is no single motivator, if there was I couldn’t see myself continuing to go.
Too many people go to the gym to be seen, thats why I refuse to go to the on campus gym, and instead pay to go to a gym thats a little slower, and the people actually work out. There are a lot of good looking people at my gym, but by no means do I go to check them out, its just a small perk!
I can’t say I work out really. I try to eat healthy and walk/hike when I can. It’s difficult when you have health issues.
Since Davey has created this site though I am finding a few things to help. I can do the shoulder workout and am going to try the ab one he posted recently.
I Dont Work out at a gym where i work at i moving and sweeting … Am been a vegetarian for 5 years now am 21 now … I feel for me am a twink but i feel good about my self inside better than the outside … just because the book cover is small doesnt mean its doesnt have great information inside … thats how i feel just because i dont have muscles poking out and showing off my six pack … that am not strong and am not a sexy guy.
Yay!! Another vegetarian!! Being vegetarian keeps my weight stable but I really need to workout for strength…but I meditate about 2hrs a day and feel protective of what little free time I have to relax. I guess working out could be low-impact and relaxing but it just seems like hard work to me, and I wonder if the gym-bunnies go to seed anyway when they get into an loving LTR (like most of our hetero counterparts)?
Who wouldnt wanna look like the A&F Guys?
I started going to the gym for same reasons. To look good. That was 20 years ago. Now I’m still going to the gym and the benefits are now so much more than just looking good. Compared to other guys my age, which btw is 40, I don’t have any of the complaints they do about feeling or even looking old. Keeping fit and living a healthy life is a lifetime commitment. You just need to make that commitment to yourself.
I was motivated to begin working out earlier in high school when in gym class I was told “you can’t” by my peers. Being gay (and not open at school yet…), my sexuality has always been the hottest topic in school. Being the skinny gay kid wasn’t what I wanted to be on the outside, because how my outside was judged, my inside would be affected with stress and low self-worth. Although on summer vacation now, I hope that all will change in gym class. It actually seems stupid now that I wanted to change this in the first place. My health HAS improved, although I was always a nice size. There are many benefits that outweigh why I began in the first place.
I love working out to make me feel great & strong plus people keep asking me how did I get nicely toned body and I’m happy to help them too. Though it is not my intention, sometimes I become the center of attraction & I have to admit that I kinda like it. I am even more motivated now!
Yes, I think “looking good” is just the icing on the cake when working out.
I started back at the gym recently to try boost my mood, after being heartbroken i was depressed but remembered how after a workout it made feel alot happier.
I work out for my appearance, but not so I look good to other people I just want to look at myself in the mirror and appreciate myself more. I also exercise because I want to be healthy and stronger than I am, and I personally feel that if I look stronger, I’ll be able to appreciate my look more, because I didn’t exercise, and got to 210lbs, and now that I am I’m down to 165, find myself looking better, and just want to continue so that I get stronger and the look that makes me look in the mirror and love my outsides as much as I love my insides.
Yeah, they kinda do. And you too.
I work out for the health benefits and to look good, but I think what you eat is the most important thing.
Hey Davey,
( don’t know where to post it, anyway..,)
…What would you recommend for older guys?
What would be your workout routine for guys after 50? Any tips?
Hey Davey,
I work out in private with my boyfriend. The reason is -of course- to look good and staring is no problem
At my age I just want to keep everything working and not sagging. Seriously, it is a lifetime commitment.
You know, I have only three months working out, but I do it for spiritual reasons like control my body and my will to know myself. In return I have a nicer body and I like that.
I’ve been fat for a very long time. I look like a saggy titted potato with stretch marks that make my stomach look like a virtual map of the world. I’m always low on energy, no matter what supplements I take. I’ve literally tried everything known to mankind to shed those unwanted pounds (as far as I know at least!) starting from simple things like dieting, joining the gym (or gyms in my case!), exercising at home (not consistently I admit!) buying numerous workout dvd’s (they’ve mostly accumulated dust somewhere by now), having food delivered to my house (which worked, until eventually I gained it all back and then some!), having a personal trainer (I still reminisce about that cute Brazilian guy who was too expensive!), taking food suppressants…etc to the more extreme measures such as trying to regurgitate my food (my stomach proved to be too stubborn), getting Gastric Balloon surgery done (a temporary 6 month fix in which they insert a balloon in your stomach and fill it with liquid seyline…contracted painful stomach fungus because of it) last but not least, undergoing Gastric banding a mere 6 months after the removal of the balloon.
I’m 22, clearly low on self esteem (ask any of my therapists) and I just have to contend to the fact that I’ll never look like a model, or like you for that matter. Well, not without going under the surgical knife at least, of which I am obsessed with. Meh…
On second thought, there is ‘something’ I haven’t tried..I heard hypnotherapy is all the rage ;P
B.,
Your only 22 please stop and breathe. It’s good to want to lose excess weight but it does not need to happen all at once. It also does not need to be in the form of harsh diets.
Some simple diet changes usually yield great results. Say no to second helpings, reduce sugars, get out and walk more even if its just window browsing at a mall it all helps. Find out what works for you.
Also realize even if its only 1-2 pounds a month its still progress. I think most importantly is realize not everyone is made to be thin. Some people will always be bigger. It’s not about size as it is being healthy.
They motivate me to not buy their clothes. I have low self-esteem when it comes to body issues. I weigh about 160lbs and am 5’8″ not bad. I have recently lost weight, but over the years I see that losing weight hasn’t helped my self-esteem levels. I was once (at 16 and after biking 20 miles a day t school and back in The Netherlands) 108lbs and I think that experience caused me to have warped body issues. I was never unhealthy then, I ate like a horse. My body fat was extremely low and I thought the numbers meant I looked good. My family and close friends all told me I looked sic after going back to the US, but in my minds eye that was my idea of perfection. Sad huh? Now I see these fake guys everywhere and it only proves to make me feel worse about my current respectably weight. (Except you Davey Wavey… You make me feel good all over
))
What about the “nothing motivates me to workout” option? When you have only 4 hours a day that aren’t work or sleep, an income that doesn’t stretch to gym membership and an ectomorphic metabolism, it’s quite hard to worry about whether you can make yourself the ideal bodyshape.
It’s all up to you. If you don’t want to work out during those 4 hours, then don’t. If you want to, then do it. When there’s a will there’s a way, and if there isn’t a way, there’s not will enough. Plus, you don’t need a gym membership to workout! There is nothing wrong with working out in the privacy of your own home or going out for a jog. When I was 18 I was 5ft9in and weighed 182 lbs, and then I just set half an hour aside for taking a brisk walk and BAM! I lost 4 lbs in a week and I actually came as far as below my ideal weight at 153 lbs, simply because I made myself the time and stuck to a commitment that I knew wasn’t impossible to stick to. It’s all about the will to do it and setting reasonable goals, one really needs to be strict with oneself and not accept any excuses (except if you’re sick, that’s my only excuse.)
They make we want to stick my toothbrush down my throat.
the a and f models are inspiration-whether you look like one-or not.my motivation to get at least half hour walk-2.5km.i walk the dog-and my half hour walk is now 20-25 minutes.now i have to do more walking.half hour seems not to be enough.but it is working.after the holidays-now that its january-you have to work harder at it.
yes A and F models keep me on the workout progressive mode.ive dropped four-count them four waist sizes-reduced swelling in my feet-my sandals fit look good-yes the feet look sexy again-fit too.my diet-banana-an orange-sushi-for lunch-no beer or vodka-only white wine-i so so much feel better.and my friends are stoked at my progress.ive gone the vegan route-and i luv it.i will go to a 32-34 waist by xmas-you can bet on it.