Physio Works

We have all watched G.I Jane and Platoon and seen the drill sergeant barking orders at snivelly recruits during Navy Seal training and giggled when they break, but have you ever thought about how different motivation can have a completely different effect on a person.

Theory (cos I have to)

There are 3 main types of Motivation:

Intrinsic Motivation – doing your sport or activity becuase you love it (plain and simple)

Self Determined Extrinsic Motivation – doing your training, even though you may not want to because you know it will help you be better at your sport

Non-Self-Determined Extrinsic Motivation – doing your training because of outside pressures; ie. you don’t want to have fight with your coach, race partner, you want the medal, you do it for the money (lucky you) etc

The first two types give an athlete drive to push that little bit harder for themselves, the third, less so.

Your coach, training mates, personal trainer and/or partner, have a massive effect on these motivation types, and not everyone responds equally to each type.

Let’s take me for example:

This morning I went to a spinning class, I normally go with a friend and have always had a good time. This morning, I went alone and am pretty sure that I was at an exorcism of some kind. I was shouted at, growled at (and not in a cute way) and basically every sentence was a very aggressive command. Needless to say I didn’t have a good session, in fact every time I was screeched at I lost more and more will to push myself harder. I slipped completely into a “bugger that” mentality, and if not for my incredible stubbornness, I would have walked out of the class mid way. With a mate there, we would have turned her ridiculous shouting into a joke and created a positive atmosphere, alas, negative was the way of the day, and negative does NOT work for me.

This got me thinking about the different types of motivation that I receive (sports-wise) in my life and how each one affects me:

I have quite a bit of intrinsic motivation, but need to work on my self-determined extrinsic motivation more. I.E I love doing certain things but I do struggle to get myself to train even though I do know that I will feel good after (but waking up at 4:30am just doesn’t feel worth it at the time kind of thought process) I am generally happier for doing it and that’s how I build on it.

I do not react well to non-self-determined Extrinsic motivation. Basically, I don’t do pressure from an outside source, I don’t need medals, I don’t need notoriety. I mean those are all cool, but they don’t really ‘make a massive impact on why I am doing what I am doing.I give myself pep talks and set myself goals. Basically, I thrive on intrinsic motivation and the pros and cons that go with it.

That being said I have a friend that thrives on a very aggressive training attitude, he would have LOVED the spinning class. He also does not participate for notoriety and praise but the drill sergeant attitude is the perfect way to get through to him and make him push harder and faster. The louder you shout the faster he goes. His intrinsic motivation is lacking though and he needs someone to shout him off the couch before he will attempt anything.

Then there are others, these are the positive reinforcement athletes that need to be constantly told that how well they are doing either by a training partner or by using tools that track every increase in power, speed and weight.

To be honest, I cannot fault any of these different motivational methods and I am sure there are many more. The trick is to find out what kind of motivation you need.

Is your training partner using the right techniques to get you going, or do you feel dejected after training sessions?

Sit down and think about what gets you going on that early morning cycle or stops you from walking up that hill instead of powering through and going for the sprint finish. Once you know what works for you it makes it all the more easy to change your training styles to suit your motivation. Once you have that down – you are as good as gold 🙂