I enjoyed this article in last month's Ultra Fit magazine.
The motivation for change must come from within. Studies have shown that internal motivation is far more powerful than external motivation.
The motivation for change must come from within. Studies have shown that internal motivation is far more powerful than external motivation. Telling your kids - rather unpolitically correctly, but stay with me - that they are fat and need to lose weight is a waste of breath. They’ll lose weight when (and if) they are ready. Whilst if you struggle to maintain a fitness or dietary regime past January and into February - let's face it your heart just isn’t in it. The cold, hard truth is that the only person who can motivate you is you! The secret to keeping yourself motivated for week-after-week and year-after-year is turning your motivation into something that is big and real and alive within you.
Gambian George....!
This leads me to Gambian George! I met Gambian George in the Gambia (odd, that!) a few years back when I was on holiday.
George came up to me on the beach and we started talking about training and exercise. His enthusiasm was boundless and every day for about a week he hounded me to come and visit his gym. I was on holiday and enjoying a break from training so politely refused at first but George was persistent. Eventually I capitulated and off we went to his gym. I was expecting an old Universal set-up and a few ropey-looking dumbbells at best but what I saw was something quite inspirational.
Before I tell you about the gym, let me tell you a bit more about George. George was actually from Sierra Leone, one of the volatile countries that boarders the Gambia. He had slipped over the border to escape the mass genocide and mayhem happening in his own country – he literally had to run for his life. The rest of his family were not so lucky and were victims of the common-place atrocities being carried out in the name of the civil war and political freedom. You get the picture – Gambian George had it tough. Homeless and penniless, George sold drinks on the beaches so he could survive from one day to the next.
Back to George’s gym...Gym is actually a bit of a grand term – George had a shack made of corrugated iron and outside that shack was a selection of strength training equipment George had made himself. Much of it consisted of car parts and other items of scrap iron. He would save a little money and get a local engineer to weld the pieces of scrap together to make exercise benches and fixed weight dumbbells. His gym floor was the hard-packed earth.
George learned everything he knew about strength training from two very old and well-read copies of Flex bodybuilding magazine. His equipment designs were based on what was in those mags and so were his workouts. Considering his lack of reliable information, George was remarkably fit and strong. He had no supplements, no fancy machines, a less than optimal diet, no air conditioning (it was 30 degrees centigrade in the middle of winter). He just got on with it – no fuss, no bother. His workouts involved two of my favourite things in exercise – picking up heavy stuff and putting it back down. Brilliant!
Thinking about Gambian George brings me back to many people’s inability to stick with a New Year’s Resolution for more than a couple of weeks. Think of some of the common excuses people use for not exercising or losing weight: 'I don’t have enough time, I feel tired all the time, the classes are too busy, the gym is too warm/too cold, I can’t afford the right workout shoes, it’s hard work'...it’s a long list! Funnily enough, very few will have the excuse “My family were murdered during the civil war and I have next to no money for food let alone a fancy gym membership”. I think George’s potential excuses for not exercising trump any weak-chinned excuse most of us can conjure up – by the power of about 1000.
So, ladies and gentlemen, next time you get the urge to skip a workout and sit on the sofa eating junk food or drinking wine instead of heading off to the gym, spare a thought for George. If, with all the strife in HIS life, he can commit to regular workouts week-after-week, year-after-year, what valid excuse do WE have to bunk off exercise?
I consider Gambian George to be one of my major fitness influences and also a key-player in what helps keep me motivated. I hope his story helps you stay on the fitness path over the coming 12 months.
From all of us at ultra-FIT magazine, Merry Christmas and here’s wishing you a happy, healthy and active weekend.
Patrick Dale
ultra-FIT Contributing Editor
Whilst I agree with what Patrick say’s about only you can motivate yourself but reading something like Gambian George does motivate me however the last 3 months have not gone as well as I would like training ways. I have had one niggling injury or illness after another, 5 months ago I realised that running 5 or 6 times a week was not getting me fit as I still had the belly and was not fit. I started off with a short circuit of 300 res, or should I say that was the plan, I started off with the 25 press ups and as I approached 10 I realised whilst I could probably do 25 but would have to have a rest before carrying on with the rest, which was not how the schedule was supposed to work. I had to reduce the reps drastically and took me 6 weeks before I could do the full routine and time myself I managed just under 6 mins which I was told was between excellent and good so at 52 I was pleased, I did the routine for 3 months then introduced weights and as I had never lifted a weight for a long time I started off lightly. So I have gone from flu, groin strain, right calf tightening, coccyx problem, hernia and told to take 15 days off from training and so have walked between 1 and 2 hours a day (surprising how stiff my legs are just from walking, considering I run between 30 mins and an hour at a time). 2012 will be an interesting time to see how my goal to get fit works out… Watch this space…
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