Make the Effort the Reward
 
Make the effort the reward, and you’re well on your way to achieving great things.  This factor for motivation seemingly contradicts using pain and pleasure, after or before you're done, as motivation.  Sure, we can use pain and pleasure, and I recommend trying that at first.  But eventually I want you to advance to the point where the effort itself actually becomes the award. 
 
Enjoy the grind, enjoy the discipline, enjoy achieving the small things.  You’re taking yourself to a higher plane of existence now, you’re generating a different future for yourself by sheer willpower.  This is a better high than any reward. 
 
The problem with using rewards and punishments, is that they can actually make the activity itself harder to do! This sounds counterintuitive, but with the way your brain’s neurotransmitters work, you want to take the “high” away from the reward and put it on the activity itself.
 
Rewards increase dopamine, a powerful neurotransmitter in the brain that makes us feel good.  But you can actually trick your brain into thinking that the task itself is rewarding so that you don’t have a dreadful state while you’re doing what it is you’re doing. 
 
Let me explain a little bit more.  Research shows that rewards can actually decrease motivation, and they can even become counterproductive.  If you set up everything difficult you do, like work, behavior change, exercise, eating better, etc.,  as something which gets a reward afterwards, you’re essentially telling your brain that it’s difficult, dreadful, and hard, and in turn the activity gets even harder.  We human beings don’t really care for hard work.  So instead let’s play a trick on the brain.  The effort itself is going to be the reward!
 
Give yourself a ton of credit and psychological praise just for getting done what needs to be done.  Stop and think for a minute while you’re doing something how good it feels to be moving in a positive direction.   Here are some examples from daily life:
 

• Find a way to actually enjoy the workout itself, without having to rely on rewards. 
• Do little things in the morning to build momentum of actually accomplishing things and you will be more motivated to do more difficult things. 
• Adopt a positive attitude in challenging circumstances, even if you have to fake it, and eventually you’ll have one.
  

 
I want us all to feel good about doing what we need to do, what we want to do, in order to achieve our health and fitness goals.   Use a pain and pleasure system to help you get started, but eventually start to motivate yourself into getting a dopamine high just by being able to do your workout.  It’s a cliché but it’s true- the journey is the destination.  Moving is a gift, we’re blessed, we’re lucky, life is good, and the effort is the reward!
 
------

This is a powerful concept! Like the blog? Bookmark and pass it on!
Scott
 
Read next: Move After Meals

It's long been common wisdom that a bit of a stroll after a meal feels good.  It's easy to feel sleepy after a meal, when your body goes into digestion mode.  But some new research even shows how moving for only a few minutes can be good for you. 

From an August, 2022 NY Times article:

"Walking after a meal, conventional wisdom says, helps clear your mind and aids in digestion. Scientists have also found that going for a 15-minute walk after a meal can reduce blood sugar levels, which can help ward off complications such as Type 2 diabetes. But, as it turns out, even just a few minutes of walking can activate these benefits.

In a meta-analysis, recently published in the journal Sports Medicine, researchers looked at the results of seven studies that compared the effects of sitting versus standing or walking on measures of heart health, including insulin and blood sugar levels. They found that light walking after a meal, in increments of as little as two to five minutes, had a significant impact in moderating blood sugar levels.
“Each small thing you do will have benefits, even if it is a small step,” said Dr. Kershaw Patel, a preventive cardiologist at Houston Methodist Hospital who was not involved in the study."

In addition to the benefit in managing blood sugar, it would also be helpful to move to help with nutrient absorption from the food you've eaten.

Practical tips:

• Every time you eat, get up and move gently and lightly for at least 5 minutes, but up to 30 minutes.
• This is a perfect time to take the dog for a walk.
• If you don't have time to walk, at least try to stand up instead of sitting down.
• Eat your bedtime meal at least an hour and preferably 2-3 hours before bed.

Like the blog? Sign up and pass it on!

Scott

One main reason America has an obesity epidemic is the sofa on wheels, better knows as the car.  Now I'm not completely bashing the car, I have one myself, two actually, and a motorcyle.  What I am pointing out about the car is that the USA invented the mass-produced car and built it's entire modern infrastructure around the car, including suburban sprawl.  As a result, we don't walk much, we don't bike much, and we don't even meet many of our neighbors.  It's strange when you walk around most cities- you feel the aggression of cars, and often you're the only one walking! The sofa on wheels is an impersonal, obesity-inducing machine, if never questioned.  I don't want to ban cars, but I do want you to be healthy. 

Do cars give us "freedom"?

So from now on think about this.   Yes it is a "freeing" feeling to have the ability to drive, but when does it the "freedom" to drive, become the necessity?  The freedom to drive has become the requirement.  And the problem with sitting on the sofa all day, at work, in the car and at home, is that it's not good for us.  The proof is that we have the most cars and the most obesity in the world.  What to do?

• Walk
• Bike
• Live Closer to Where you Work
  

From now on, your car is a Sofa on wheels!

Scott

---like the blog? Pass it on!

The 5 Zones of Cardio

Zone 1 - Rest (Sitting or Standing)
Zone 2 - Easy Activity (walking, flat bicycling, could talk and do it at the same time)
Zone 3 - Harder Activity (Challenge to talk conversationally)
Zone 4 - Difficult Activity (fast jog, uphill or fast biking, could not talk)
Zone 5 - Sprints (all-out effort at maximum speed)

This is the important thing about cardio zones. When you do your aerobic / cardiovascular training, stay in zones 2-4, and most of the time should be spent in zone 3 & 4.  This would correlate to 6/7-8 using the Talk Test. 

Zone 3 would be your recovery zone, or base level zone which you return to after an interval, where you could talk if you had to but it would be difficult to carry on a conversation. Zone 4 is your interval zone. Technically Zone 5 could be used, but only for about 10 seconds because it is depleting your stored Muscle Creatine  and creating maximal exhaustion. Zone 2 could be used too for recovery, but isn’t as challenging and effective as Zone 3 for a base return level.

If you are doing just steady state training, try to stay in Zone 3, but avoid 2 & 4. 

A sample interval training workout with the 5 Zones of  Cardio:

1. Warm up 3 minutes in Zone 2
2. 24 minutes of intervals in Zone 3 & 4
3. 12, 1 minute intervals in zone 3
4. 12, 1 minute intervals in zone 4
5. Alternate for 24 minutes
6. Cool down 3 minutes in Zone 2
   
   

Like the blog? Pass it on!

----Read next:

Architecture and Fitness