staying motivated

I frequently hear trainers talk about different workouts to improve performance. But there is an even more important ingredient to winning. Motivation. I've seen so many incredible athletes loose motivation, which either indirectly, or directly, leads to worse results.

Motivation is hard to teach. To some degree you either have it or you don't. Unlike training I can't help you develop a program to improve results. So the key is to find whatever it is that gives you motivation.

For me it's the desire to win. I don't care how painful the training is so long as it improves my performance. In fact I welcome the pain while training because I know I'm putting more distance between myself and many of my other competitors that don't have the same threshhold for pain. When I don't have the motivation to train I simply imagine one of my competitors training, and that usually inspires motivation.

The best advice I can give someone that is looking for motivation is to focus on what your goals are. If you really want to accomplish your goals, then succeeding should trump a low motivation day.