Guest Atomic Dog
Motivation is For the Comon Herd, Not the Alpha Male
by Charles Staley

OK T-Dudes, they've allowed me to write a "Guest Dog" this week. As I considered how I might take maximum advantage of my 15 minutes of fame, I thought I'd see if I could create some real excitement about a topic that should receive a lot more attention from you hormone-soaked gym-rats:

MOTIVATION.

Stay with me here — I'm going to share some powerful information that can't be learned by setting your TIVO to the Oprah show. Look, for most of us, motivation is a fleeting experience — sometimes you have it, sometimes you don't. Which means that sometimes your training is kick-ass, and sometimes, well, sometimes you're just going through the motions.

So if you occasionally find that your training progress is "living in a van down by the river," so to speak, I have some really cool tricks for you. None of them cost any money or require walking across hot coals. Coolest of all, these techniques are literally 100% effective if you use them consistently. Do I have your attention now?

OK, for starters, we obviously all need motivation, or we wouldn't bother to get out of bed in the morning. But there's a vast difference between internal drive (which is the good kind) and external sources of motivation, which are strictly for people who are, as my first weightlifting coach used to put it "part of the common herd." Motivation literally means "to move." The question is, are you a self-actualized person, or do you need someone else (or something else) to prod you into action?

Before we continue, I'll have to take the unprecedented step of requesting that you take just a few moments to fill out the following pre-qualification application. A passing grade means that you have sufficient inner drive to benefit from reading this article. However, a score of less than 80% will trigger the T-mag server to banish you to DeniseAustin.com. Good luck:

1. In order to get up in the morning, I…

a. Just automatically wake up ready to take on the day.

b. Usually need to set an alarm.

c. Actually, I need a back-up alarm as well.

d. I hire Tony Robbins to conduct a private, three-hour motivational seminar right in my bedroom.

2. When I'm getting ready to do a workout…

a. I obsess about the workout for days and when it's time to train, I need to be careful not to break the equipment!

b. I have to remind myself of why I'm putting myself through so much effort.

c. I need a workout partner to help me commit to the workout.

d. I joined a private gym populated primarily by adult film actresses.

3. When it comes time to decide what to eat for my next meal, I…

a. Remind myself that food is for fuel, not entertainment.

b. Eat "on target" six days a week, then cheat on day seven.

c. Go to McDonald's, but I try to choose something "healthy."

d. Remember that I'm really confused about how to eat right, so I usually down a can of Slim-Fast with Cell-tech creatine, but then I get nervous about all the calories and usually purge it.

4. The most recent training-related item I bought was…

a. The entire Westside video series.

b. A tub of Biotest's Advanced Protein.

c. A Bowflex unit.

d. A pair of Tony Little's "skin so soft" velvet workout gloves.

OK, now that you're back, I'll assume you passed the pre-qualification application, congratulations! If not, here's that site again: DeniseAustin.com

I'm going to make a pronouncement right here and now: if you typically rely on external sources of motivation, it simply means that you have failed to develop goal-directed behavior. It is flat-out as simple as that.

Oh sure, most of us give lip service to the concept of goal-setting. We say we understand it, and that of course we have goals. But 99 percent of you are wrong, lying, or both.

The common herd, needing an external source of motivation, will typically gravitate to group exercise settings, such as Spinning, Tae-Bo, and Body Pump. The common theme is the class format, which is designed to provide a motivational assist to participants. Unfortunately, the class format inherent in each of these popular programs inevitably leads to far less detailed supervision. This in turn leads to significant deterioration of quality. Many Tae-Bo devotees for example, have performed more martial arts techniques in three months than the typical black belt with over ten years of experience, yet their skill level is typically less than a beginner after his first martial arts class.

In the case of Spinning and Body-Pump, these two activities (cycling and weight training) were never in need of improvement. But most people feel far more motivated to cycle a bike that doesn't go anywhere or lift plastic weights, as long as other people are doing it too.

Now, here's a very important question to consider: You obviously don't need a source of external motivation to leave a burning room, but why?

It's because you can CLEARLY see the benefits of doing so (and the consequences of NOT doing so). Ah, interesting, isn't it? OK, let's come back to this in a minute. First, I want to make sure we're clear about the essential components of properly-designed goals. We'll use the SMART acronym to describe some of the more pertinent features (as opposed to the more commonly used D.U.M.B. acronym which stands for Directionless, Uninspired, Moronic, and Brain-dead):

S: Specific. Specific and measurable go hand in hand — if your goal isn't measurable, it also isn't specific. If your goals focus around body composition, you might have a dream to be as freaky-big as Lee Priest. However, this isn't specific or measurable, so we need to convert your qualitative dream into a quantitative goal. You can use bodyweight, measurements, and/or bodyfat percentages for example.

M: Measurable. (Covered above)

A: Achievable. Here's where things can get a bit tricky. How do you know if your goal is possible? No real way to tell until you try, but in my experience, more often than not, what is actually possible tends to be more than what we THINK is possible. So don't be afraid to create big goals — small goals don't really "juice you up" enough to devote the necessary resources to get the job done. Here's another trick — tell everyone you know about your big goals — this puts a fire under you and holds you accountable. Also, once you've achieved it, the victory will be even sweeter.

R: Relevant. Our emotions are what drive us to action, so your goal must have deep, personal meaning. Otherwise, you won't take appropriately aggressive action to accomplish it. As one of my early coaches used to say "You have to obsess over it just like you did with your first girlfriend." If it doesn't have that kind of power over you, it probably isn't a worthwhile objective. Here's an example of three different ways to frame what is essentially the same goal. Let's say you've always wanted to squat 500 pounds. You could state your goal like this:

"By January 1, 2002, I'll parallel squat 500 pounds, using only a belt."

Or you could state it this way:

"By January 1, 2002, I'll parallel squat 495 pounds, using only a belt."

Or, this way:

"By January 1, 2002, I'll parallel squat double bodyweight (504 pounds), using only a belt."

In each case, the goal is almost the same, but ask yourself this question: what really juices you up? A nice, round number (500 pounds)? Five plates on each side (505 pounds)? Or double bodyweight (whatever that weight happens to be)? The option that pushes your buttons the hardest is the best way to frame the goal.

T: Time-referenced. Your goal needs a deadline for completion. And preferably in THIS lifetime. Again, the idea is to put a fire under yourself. Example: as I write this article, I literally have a stopwatch running. And I now have 32 minutes to finish the article, so I need to move on to the next point!

A few more critical things to consider before you finalize your goal:

• Frame goals around behaviors, not outcomes. I first learned this from success coach Jeff Smith, who is the "900-pound squatter" of goal-directed behavior and personal success strategies. Outcomes are often not under our control, but behaviors often are. Here's a personal example: I'd been stuck at a 265-pound power clean for seven years. Every year, I would construct my goal of cleaning 275 pounds. Then I'd develop elaborate training programs to accomplish my goal, but year after year, it never happened. One big reason is that I kept injuring and reinjuring my right wrist from "racking" the barbell on my shoulders as I performed my cleans. As soon as Jeff explained the idea of framed goals around behaviors to me, I had a breakthrough: My new goals were:

1) Never continue performing cleans when in pain; switch to clean pulls instead.

2) Always ice the wrist immediately after all upper body workouts.

3) Include wrist flexions twice a week to strengthen the wrist (something suggested to me by Franco Columbo)

On my calender, I checked off each day that I successfully accomplished these three behaviors. And guess what? Three months later, I cleaned 275.

• Leverage your goals: Can accomplishing this goal also help you accomplish other goals along the way? In other words, can you "kill two birds with one stone?" One example of this concept might be to get involved in competitive powerlifting with the goal of winning a state championship. In the process, it's a good bet that your bench, squat and deadlift will all improve. It's also a good possibility that you might meet people who could support your training goals in various ways. And if you plan to enter a lower weight class, this goal could even help support your body composition objectives.

Now, remember how we were saying that you don't need a source of external motivation to leave a burning room? We said it was because you could clearly see the benefits of leaving the room (and also the consequences of NOT leaving). As our final step, let's apply this powerful realization to our goal-construction process.

Before you commit yourself to the pursuit of your goal, ask yourself:

"What are the three most important ways that will change my life for the better once I've accomplished this goal?"

And...

"What are the three most significant things I'll have to give up or sacrifice in order to accomplish this goal?"

Spend a LOT of time comparing these two questions. Consider what you'll have to give up versus what you'll gain in the process. If what you'll need to sacrifice isn't worth what you'll gain, find a new goal. If the sacrifice IS worth the end-result, it's time to rock and roll, my friend.

And guess what? The room is burning, and you don't need to join some pathetic Tae-Bo class to get after that big goal of yours. You've now adopted the Alpha Male mindset. And that's what it's really all about, don't you think?

PS: I finished this article with three minutes to spare!

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