Workout Of The Week - What Is The Best Workout For People Over 60? [Archive]

jwshumate

09-13-2012, 09:05 AM

Recently the site bestMastersFitness.com posted a great article on fitness motivation for men over 50, here is the article:

Fitness Motivation in Men Over 50
Understanding motivation unlocks its powers for fitness in men over 50
What keeps most men over 50 from losing weight and getting fit?

Motivation provides the key for achieving fitness in men over 50
It pretty simply stems from one single, but major, missing ingredient.

Motivation.

So what is motivation, really?

Motivation at its core is extremely simple and can be boiled down to the following two components:

1) Holding a deep passion for some desired future state or outcome

2) A belief that, as an individual, we can largely control our desired future state or outcome

So here are few motivational quotes applied to achieving health and fitness goals for men over 50:

“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.”–Mark Victor Hansen

Want to develop a deep passion for getting fit? Picture your future state and write it down. Research proves beyond any doubt that, when put down in writing, we’re several times more likely to stick to our goals. Two simple goals could be weight and body fat percentage.

“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal — a commitment to excellence — that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”–Mario Andretti

From passion comes desire. Determination and commitment to a fitness goal come from an exciting vision of how you want to be in the future. We can then live in the daily joy of knowing that, with the start of each new dawn, we will take one more small step toward the self we want.

In fact, it could be said that with each action toward our goal we have already become the person we want to be.

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”–Norman Vincent Peale

We are the masters of our own destiny, and fewer pleasures exist in life than taking some small action to control the outcome. Just getting out the door and going to the gym today provides us with small but important proof that we are in charge of own lives and empowered to control our own outcomes.

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”–Lance Armstrong

If you’ve ever dieted you know the discomforts stemming from a calorie deficit. Don’t let temporary discomforts derail you from your vision, accept and embrace discomfort as a clear signal that you’re moving yourself in the desired direction. Remember, your passion and desire for your goals must be bigger than any limited discomfort.

“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.”–Hal Borland

A big part of fitness goal achievement lies in patience and persistence. Dieted for a week and only lost 2 pounds? Be patient, at this rate over ten weeks you’ll have lost twenty pounds. Don’t feel like going to the gym today? Persist. The hardest part of any workout is just getting out the front door. Know that your gains will come from many weeks and months of sticking to it, love your goals and stick to them.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”–Maria Robinson

Don’t let anything from your past limit your belief in your ability to achieve your fitness goals. If you missed the gym yesterday or broke out of your diet, forget about it – it’s in the past and is therefore irrelevant. Every day is a clean slate, and brand new opportunity to make progress toward the goals you love.

Great site for men over 50 wanting to lose weight and get into shape, bestMastersFitness.com!