Greetings Fitness Seekers! Welcome to my guest blog for Empower! I am honored to be asked to share my fitness journey with you. I hope these words will inform you, inspire you, and help you move forward on your own fitness path. My inaugural topic: Motivation! (Because I have an educational background in psychology and teaching, I enjoy talking endlessly about things like motivation –you are officially forewarned). Motivation is the study of motives. A motive is any stimulus with three characteristics: it initiates behavior, it sustains behavior, and it is goal-driven. Once the goal is met, the motive is satisfied, at least for a while. Hunger is a great example. It gets up out of the chair, moves us around the environment until we find the kitchen and refrigerator, and keeps us searching in the refrigerator until we find something to eat. If there is nothing to eat, we will be restless and keep searching. Have you ever checked the refrigerator more than once, even though you know it contains nothing but leftovers with mold and a stale piece of bread? Maybe a piece of chocolate cake will magically appear? Remember that a motive is goal-driven. Motives can also be internal (hunger, thirst) or external (the words “chocolate cake”). And, an external stimulus (driving past The Parlour) can initiate a perceived internal stimulus (I am hungry), even when there is no physiological need for the internal stimulus. And, external stimuli have different values to each of us. What’s your favorite dessert? What’s your favorite weather scenario? Who’s your “perfect” man or woman? It is clear that motivation is a complex process, with internal and external influences, and impacted by cultural and individual preferences. Next time, we will talk about this topic as it applies to fitness. But, until then, I leave you with these questions – What’s your favorite exercise? What’s your lease favorite exercise? Why? Until next week, warriors!
-By Empower’s Guest Blogger and Loyal Client, Peter “Herc” Wooldridge
