what keeps you motivated?

**TruRelign** · 01-20-2012, 11:42 PM

pretty self explanatory question i feel. Im really curious, actually. i have my good days and bad days, and sometimes I'm not 100% sure if i wanna go the competitive route, but every time i see pre comp and competition photos and videos it renews my hunger for it. going through what you do to stay in the game, you've gotta have a serious motivator, right?

**MR-FQ320** · 01-21-2012, 12:51 AM

its just a little voice inside my head that says 'go to the gym, lift more, work harder, improve yourself, be the best you can be, be bigger and leaner'

it comes and goes like you say, sometimes you go through the motions without really thinking about it

**wmaousley** · 01-21-2012, 06:16 AM

My goals of becoming the best looking bodybuilder in the world that only I will see.

**jp_2011** · 01-21-2012, 09:09 AM

I think about all the times people doubted me and told me i couldnt do it. At school i wasnt skinny, i had an athletic build but no real muscle size. I had a motocross accident at 15, afew months before my 16 birthday and had my left leg pinned in 5 places, was lucky not to have it amputated and was told by doctors my future mobility would be limited. I wouldnt be disabled or immobile but sports would be out of the question. After 2 years of healing and physio i got my full range of motion back in my leg but i had gained weight and was now abit fat. I was almost 18 and asked my mum and dad to buy me a years gym pass for my birthday. Thats when it all started. I started losing weight and building muscle gradually. Within a year my bodyfat was at the level i was at school but i had at least doubled in size. I started training harder n more intensly, began reading bodybuilding mags, learnt how to train properly, i got my diet dialed in and a local bodybuilder took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. I turned 24 last november, afew week before my birthday i pushed 430kg on leg press for 27 reps. I had defied the doctors. Some of my friends said i wouldnt be good enough to compete, i placed 3rd in the mr bolton last may. I dont want to be another face in the crowd, i want to stand out, be recognised and achieve what i was always told i couldnt. That drives me harder and harder. I think about my 1 year old daughter looking at me proudly and seeing not only her daddy but a champion. Ye i have off days and every now and then i feel less motivated, but i just think back to the position i was in after surgery at 15 and what the doctors told me, i realise if i want it i can get it, not matter what!!!!!

**MR-FQ320** · 01-21-2012, 01:54 PM

^^^^^^^^^^ good story.

**hankdiesel** · 01-21-2012, 02:10 PM

There a whole of things that keep me motivated during a contest prep. (which starts tomorrow actually and will go for 4 months and I'll be doing 3 or 4 shows)
I'm an extremely competitive person and I love lifting weights. Dieting and cardio was never an issue for me. So........let's get it on!!!

**TruRelign** · 01-21-2012, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by hankdiesel

There a whole of things that keep me motivated during a contest prep. (which starts tomorrow actually and will go for 4 months and I'll be doing 3 or 4 shows)
I'm an extremely competitive person and I love lifting weights. Dieting and cardio was never an issue for me. So........let's get it on!!!

That's what blows me away, i dont know how you could prepaire yourself mentally to adjust your diet so drastically and forcing your body to burn the excess right off. that's pretty much like feeding a grizzly 3 times a day for 8 months then feeding him once a day for 4 hahaha. Don't you just feel like dying???

**jp_2011** · 01-22-2012, 04:59 AM

Originally Posted by TruRelign

That's what blows me away, i dont know how you could prepaire yourself mentally to adjust your diet so drastically and forcing your body to burn the excess right off. that's pretty much like feeding a grizzly 3 times a day for 8 months then feeding him once a day for 4 hahaha. Don't you just feel like dying???

The way i see it is that yes its hard to reduce food intake and increase exercise (more cardio) pre contest, but people who moan about it should stop to think about life in general as opposed to saying they are suffering because of it. If they want to see suffering they should take a trip to the cancer unit at the hospital and see all the people, including children who are really suffering. That puts alot of things into perspective. There is no doubt that its hard work to diet for a competition, but its a choice. There is no point crying into your chicken and brocolli about it. Cancer patients dont have a choice, yet they are still smiling even though they are the ones really suffering. When you think of it like that, things become alot easier to deal with alot quicker.

**Times Roman** · 01-22-2012, 06:20 AM

coming here helps keep me motivated.
...although here lately, with the crappy diet i'm forced to eat, and being real "short", i'm beginning to lose my focus.

**hankdiesel** · 01-22-2012, 08:01 PM

My contest diet (which began today) consists of 7 meals a day. Steak, chicken, turkey burgers, eggs, oatmeal, yams, brown rice, it's actually not that bad guys. I just cook a bunch of food ahead of time, weigh it, put in in containers, and eat a meal every few hours. People in 3rd world countries would kill for just one of those meals.

**bigZthedestroyer** · 01-23-2012, 01:24 AM

I like to spend the first part o my workout walking on the treadmill watching bodybuilding videos on YouTube and drinking a pre workout. Search Kai Greene and watch "Be Number One"! Works every time!

**Armykid93** · 02-09-2012, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by zreinke

I like to spend the first part o my workout walking on the treadmill watching bodybuilding videos on YouTube and drinking a pre workout. Search Kai Greene and watch "Be Number One"! Works every time!

kai is the sh1t

**DeadlyD** · 02-09-2012, 07:35 PM

I agree with TR on this, coming here everyday or so keeps me reaching fir my goal!

**jypoll** · 03-03-2012, 10:40 PM

i dont need to worry about motivation, i am so obsessed with lifting that i go crazy if i dont go for a couple days or mess up a meal. Im sure if i went to a doctor and got tested i would be diagnosed with severe OCD toward lifting. I re-assess my diet and workout program 2-3 times a day and day dream all day long about my next session. The worst feeling in the world is when i wake up in the morning hoping i get to go to the gym but my legs are bummed from my last workout. As eminem says "Success is my only mother fvking option, failures not!" Im possibly on the edge of unhealthily obsessed :S

**Schmidty** · 03-05-2012, 09:45 AM

i feel like im falling apart when i dont lift, i need a will fiend for a pump if i dont get one atleast every other day. im pre comp right now and its getting harder and harder to push myself to the point i feel complete or whole. But its that feelin of being whole and complete that makes me strive for perfection that makes me the best me i can be. havent taken my meds yet if that doesnt make sence lol

**JohnnyVegas** · 03-05-2012, 11:29 AM

I will never compete, but I have worked hard since getting back to the gym a year ago after a long-term injury. My motivation probably borders on a bad thing...it is mostly caused by a sort of self-loathing. I look in the mirror and see a guy that isn't as good as he used to be, and it makes me push hard to stick with it and get back to point where I can feel comfortable in my own skin.

**surferbrent87** · 03-07-2012, 11:10 AM

I watch some bodybuilding youtube videos at work before then gym. Once you compete once your hooked and it doesnt take much, you can just invision in your head what you want to look like on stage and that is motivation enough.

**Schmidty** · 03-07-2012, 05:17 PM

can any of you see that your big when you look in the mirror? I might start a thrad in the lounge about this. Maybe its my poor self esteem or sumthing but no matter what i do, how big i get, how much weight i put up, cycles i do or lean i get i really cant look at myself in the mirror and see what i know other people see. I get yor a freak looks even at the gym. When i see a pic of myself i can kind of see it but all i see is whats wrong and what i need to improve on(that being one big thing that motivates me). Anybody else feel the same? and it drives me crazy when a 170lb guys on FB ranting about getting jacked in the gym.

**jypoll** · 03-07-2012, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by Schmidty

can any of you see that your big when you look in the mirror? I might start a thrad in the lounge about this. Maybe its my poor self esteem or sumthing but no matter what i do, how big i get, how much weight i put up, cycles i do or lean i get i really cant look at myself in the mirror and see what i know other people see. I get yor a freak looks even at the gym. When i see a pic of myself i can kind of see it but all i see is whats wrong and what i need to improve on(that being one big thing that motivates me). Anybody else feel the same? and it drives me crazy when a 170lb guys on FB ranting about getting jacked in the gym.

the bigger i get the bigger i want to get and the smaller i look,

the lower my bf% is the leaner i wanna be the fatter i look.

**Schmidty** · 03-07-2012, 09:14 PM

its a never ending cycle

Originally Posted by jypoll

the bigger i get the bigger i want to get and the smaller i look,

the lower my bf% is the leaner i wanna be the fatter i look.

**Schmidty** · 03-07-2012, 09:15 PM

it keeps us pushing forward though and always reaching for more

**MIKE_XXL** · 03-10-2012, 09:25 PM

To be a porn star you need to be in shape...XXL

**hankdiesel** · 03-25-2012, 08:52 PM

Today I started carb depleting for my show on Sat. I'll tell you keeps me motivated : some coffee and my ipod.

**Lift to live** · 03-27-2012, 11:35 AM

Now that you mention it I think any true bodybuilder thinks they could always look better. I say the same thing to my friends and wife and they just laugh me off like im crazy for saying I look crappy. I am never satisfied, now that I think harder we may have a problem what's the opposite of anorexic? Lol

**MR-FQ320** · 03-27-2012, 12:13 PM

^^^^^^^ musclemorphia ?

**Big Bacto** · 03-27-2012, 07:12 PM

My greatest motivation is when people that I know see me and they look shocked , well that's priceless ! I then remember all the hard work , the dedication and it just fuels me to keep moving forward.