Psychological Barriers to Exercising with a Disability

For many people with disabilities, the idea of exercising can feel daunting. Beyond physical limitations, psychological barriers—such as fear, self-doubt, or negative past experiences—can make it harder to get started. Overcoming these mental hurdles is just as important as adapting exercises to fit physical abilities. Here’s how to break through these barriers and embrace a fulfilling fitness journey.

1. Address Fear of Judgment

One of the most common psychological barriers is the fear of being judged by others. Whether it’s worrying about stares at the gym or not meeting traditional fitness standards, this anxiety can discourage participation.

Solutions:

• Start Small and Private: Begin exercising at home or with a trusted friend. Online workout videos or virtual classes designed for accessibility can help build confidence.
• Find Inclusive Spaces: Look for gyms or programs that specifically welcome individuals with disabilities. Many organizations now emphasize inclusivity in fitness.
  

2. Reframe Expectations

It’s easy to compare yourself to able-bodied fitness enthusiasts, which can lead to frustration or discouragement. Reframing your mindset to focus on personal goals and progress is essential.

Solutions:

• Set Realistic Goals: Start with small, achievable milestones. Celebrate each victory, no matter how minor it may seem.
• Track Progress: Keep a journal or use an app to monitor improvements in strength, mobility, or endurance.

3. Combat Negative Self-Talk

Internal doubts like "I’m not strong enough" or "This won’t help me" can create mental roadblocks. Shifting your inner dialogue is key to staying motivated.

Solutions:

• Focus on What You Can Do: Instead of dwelling on limitations, explore exercises that work for your body. For example, chair workouts, resistance band exercises, or aquatic therapy might be great options.
• Seek Inspiration: Follow adaptive athletes or fitness influencers with disabilities on social media to see what’s possible.

4. Overcome Fear of Injury

For some, fear of worsening their condition or causing pain can prevent them from trying new exercises. While caution is important, fear shouldn’t be paralyzing.

Solutions:

• Consult Professionals: Work with a physical therapist or adaptive fitness trainer who can guide you safely.
• Start Gradually: Begin with gentle movements and low-impact exercises to build confidence and reduce risk.

5. Build a Support Network

Exercising alone can feel isolating, especially when facing psychological barriers. A supportive community can provide encouragement and accountability.

Solutions:

• Join Groups: Look for adaptive sports leagues, accessible fitness classes, or online communities focused on fitness for people with disabilities.
• Involve Friends or Family: Exercising with someone you trust can make the experience more enjoyable and less intimidating.

6. Focus on Mental Health Benefits

Exercise is not just about physical health—it’s also a powerful tool for mental well-being. Regular movement can reduce anxiety, improve mood, and boost self-esteem.

Solutions:

• Start with Activities You Enjoy: Choose exercises that bring you joy, whether it’s dancing, swimming, or simply stretching to music.
• Mindfulness and Movement: Combine exercise with mindfulness practices, like yoga or tai chi, to enhance both physical and mental health.

7. Educate Yourself About Accessible Fitness

Lack of knowledge about adaptive exercises can create uncertainty and hesitation. Learning about your options can empower you to take the first step.

Solutions:

• Research Programs: Many gyms and organizations now offer classes and resources tailored for people with disabilities.
• Ask Questions: Reach out to trainers, therapists, or fitness communities for guidance on where to begin.

It is all in your head...

Breaking through psychological barriers to exercise requires patience, self-compassion, and support. By addressing fears, setting realistic goals, and focusing on the joy of movement, you can build a sustainable fitness routine that enhances both physical and mental well-being. Remember: every small step forward is a victory worth celebrating.

Your Fitness, Your Way.

Building Confidence / Weightlifting

This article is a two-parter. Part One is about how weightlifting is a good activity for building your self confidence. Part Two is about how to maintain self confidence through a variety of methods.

Part One - Building Self Confidence through Weightlifting

Honestly any kind of exercise helps to build self confidence, but two activities that are particularly good at building confidence are as follows:

1. Training for Marathons.

2. Weightlifting.

In theory you could do both, but lets explain why both of these activities are good for boosting confidence.

In the case of Marathon Training, running long distances does two things: 1. You see a noticeable increase in endurance, and that in turn boosts your confidence. 2. Long distance running releases a cocktail of endorphins and hormones into your bloodstream which act like drugs and produce what is known as "Runners High". The combination of progressively building endurance while being rewarded for your efforts with Runners High is a surprisingly effective way of building confidence. Actually running a marathon and then being able to say "I did it" is a bit like climbing a mountain, it is an incredible boost to your sense of self worth having accomplished what you set out to do. Doing multiple marathons, perhaps improving on your time as you progress means that you can see marked improvement as you get both faster and become a more efficient running machine. Unfortunately Runners High is also addictive, so be warned not to overdo it. (Anything over 100 km per week is considered to be an exercise addiction.)

In the case of Weightlifting the boosts to your confidence are multi-faceted.

• You still get a release of Endorphins and Hormones while weightlifting, although not to the same degree as Runners High does. The result is that many people who get really into weightlifting will experience an Endorphin High. Note - It isn't a high like being drunk or stoned. It is more a rewarding feeling of euphoria.
• After exercising many weightlifters will report feeling "unstoppable" for approx. 45 to 60 minutes after their workout because they are "so pumped up". This is a combination of both the endorphins and the feeling that they are physically bigger immediately after a workout.
• As time goes by your strength and endurance increase, and mentally you feel more capable and more confident about your physical capabilities. Be careful you are not over-confident however, that leads to foolish accidents.
• It is true that many weightlifters like to admire themselves in the mirror. Some perhaps a bit too much, but they are doing so because they are liking the results they are seeing. The confidence is there, building. Sometimes it might be over-confidence, so try to focus on staying humble.
• Use your strength to help people during your daily life. Suddenly helping someone carry a baby carriage down a flight of stairs doesn't seem so difficult and you feel good about doing it. Feeling stronger in your daily life will boost your own sense of self worth.

Weightlifting Tips

Tip #1. Be careful not to over-train. Over-training causes you to lose muscle mass and become weaker over time, because you are overdoing it. If you feel worn out, exhausted, completely out of energy after a workout then you might be over-training. A good way to prevent this is to take regular breaks, hydrate and to focus on a moderate amount of repetitions with a moderate amount of weight. Trying to do lots of repetitions and lift ridiculous amounts at the same time is just going to exhaust you, causing more harm than good. You will know you are over-training if you feel exhausted each time, and actually feel weaker as time progresses.

Tip #2. Keep a journal of how many exercises/repetitions you do each workout and focus on leaving the gym feeling pumped up instead of leaving the gym feeling exhausted.

Tip #3. If you are feeling ill, tired due to lack of sleep or less-than optimal on a particular day, try reducing the weight between 5 to 20 pounds and focus on building endurance instead of strength today. It is okay to have an off day.

Tip #4. Once in awhile, like once per week or once every two weeks, you should try lifting a new personal record. Each time, even if it less than you were hoping, you should write down your new personal best in your journal.

Tip #5. Eat healthy! This is perhaps the most important thing you can do. You cannot build a weightlifting machine by feeding the engine doughnuts and coffee filled with sugar and cream.

#6. Maintain Proper Form and Posture. Form is more important than weight or number of repetitions. Bad form leads to sports injuries. Good form builds muscle faster. Wearing a lifting belt can also be a safe and effective way to help you maintain form and posture during weightlifting.

Part Two - Maintaining Self Confidence while Weightlifting

To explain this next part I am going to turn you over to the lady in the video further below who has multiple tips on how to maintain your self confidence by asking yourself several questions after your workout is over:

What did you do well?

What would you like to change or improve?

These questions are really geared towards making you a better weightlifter over time, but they also have the benefit of allowing you to evolve as a weightlifter and become better at it - and as a result it helps to maintain both your confidence and your motivation to keep lifting.

There are other tips for staying focused and staying confident while exercising. These tips include things like: Giving yourself a sports day once/week where you can go enjoy a fun activity outside instead of staying cooped inside in the gym all the time; Give yourself something to think about while you are exercising, like a mental puzzle or a mystery - this keeps your brain active on a task while doing the physical activity. eg. I like working on ideas for future projects in my head (whether they be woodworking, writing, artistic or even poetry) while I am weightlifting; Lastly, listen to music. A few good songs that make you feel excited to exercise certainly help keep you focused and enjoying what you are doing. Need more help? Hire a personal trainer.

Happy Lifting!

Great Ways To Overcome Workout Laziness

Guest Post by Erica Fleming - March 2nd 2019.

Training is always good and useful for you. Thanks to regular exercises you can get a good physical shape, cope with depression, improve sleep, mood, and indeed, prolong the youth of the body. In practice, it has been proven that fitness classes are not only beneficial for the figure but also help to give up bad habits (smoking, alcohol abuse), adjust diet and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Fitness for women allows them to quickly recover from childbirth and avoid the development of postpartum depression. For men's health, regular exercise also benefits; it is an excellent prevention of non-specific prostatitis, stagnation in the pelvic organs and erectile dysfunction.

We all understand and know these benefits, we all know that we need to be engaged on a regular basis and do not miss training. But sometimes it’s just laziness ... Especially in autumn or winter. After all, this time is the laziest. The sun is not enough, most of the day is dark, it is cold outside, and the body, besides its usual expenses, spends its energy on keeping warm. And how often, coming home after work, everything is needed to turn on the TV, read a good book with the cup of tea and cookies... But not to go into a fitness center to do sports. And it does not matter that the subscription is purchased for several months in advance.

Experts note that in the cold period of the year, many clients of the fitness centers decrease their activity. In addition to the reasons already listed, the motivation to go in for sports is lost in winter frosts; after all, people walk in warm clothes and do not show their figure to anyone. Motivation returns sharply in spring and closer to summer. But, as a rule, this time is not enough to bring the body into shape.

But what to do to overcome this laziness and motivate yourself to act?

Here are the top 10 proven ways to get rid of laziness:

1. Create a list of benefits

Think about why it is needed to lose weight: to become stronger, hardier, faster, gain muscle mass, lose weight, increase flexibility and coordination of movements, increase the speed of reaction, accustom yourself to hard work and patience, or perhaps something else? Take a piece of paper, a pen and write down the list of benefits that is possible to get from workouts. Looking through notes can help to feel responsible for actions. Besides the fact that it helps to put thoughts in order, there is some magic; the recorded goals are executed more often than those that were not recorded.

2. Hire a coach or personal trainer

It is very important to have a professional coach or certified personal trainer who simply forbids being lazy at the right time and corrects all actions. But there is another side to the medal: economic. Athletes involved with a coach, often go to the gym. The fact is that a prepaid training does not give a chance to pass by the fitness center. Lost money scares people more than laziness.

3. Divide the elephant into pieces

Often laziness is not only a lack of motivation but also a hidden fear that something might not work out since it was taken on a too complex task. For example, lose weight by 30 kg per month. Naturally, without damage to health, it is simply impossible and such tasks can be pretty scary. Therefore, it is easier for your psyche to make you lie down on a sofa or eat another portion of your favorite dessert. Therefore, the goal should be divided into several parts. For example, set a goal of 4 kg per month. Doesn't it sound so scary? And 4 kg per month is clearly better than zero. Therefore, concentrate on small goals, not big ones.

4. Change the type of activity

If the power training is already bored to the edge, find out what other activities your club provides. Go to yoga, Pilates, Tae Bo, spin the pedals of the exercise bike in the end! The more interests we have with the club, the more willing we will be to visit it. And as soon as favorite activities and instructors appear, motivation to go to the gym increases. Starting a workout will be a welcome time in the schedule.

5. Planning is a key

For all this, it is needed a well thought-out plan and a competent training program. Also, a very useful thing will be keeping a diary, where at each workout it can be recorded all results. This is the most effective way for this situation.

The coach can be asked to help make up a training plan, and also it is possible to make it without any help. It can be a long-term plan for a month, for three months, six months, a year. The main thing is that everything should be planned in detail.

6. Visualize the final result

Often, to achieve goals, people practice visualization. This is the creation in the imagination of images of the desired reality. If a goal is to lose weight, it makes sense to transfer thoughts mentally to the future when the goal is achieved and present yourself the way you want to see yourself. That is, imagining ourselves slim, we figuratively draw a picture in our head, and then it’s all for the all-powerful subconscious. The main condition for the effectiveness of visualization is complete relaxation. Suppose that at this moment all matters will fade into the background, and close people will allow you to be alone with yourself.

7. Just do it

Just start, the appetite will come with eating. Action without thoughts is the best motivator, regardless of mood, desire, weather conditions. The only thing that will be needed is some effort at the start. But in 10-15 minutes you are already sufficiently immersed in the activity. Begin training through strength, and in the third exercise, it will be forgotten about any laziness. Moreover, after training session, it will be guaranteed a great mood and a desire to return as soon as possible.

8. Go to the gym at another time

There are people who are dependent on different phases of the moon and the sun. Especially for these guys, clubs create flexible visit system – it is possible to come whenever you want. Though early in the morning, at least late at night. This is not a problem at all. The main thing is that the visits are really regular and lined up in a more or less efficient system.



9. Download new music

To fill up the playlist with new cool songs is a good move for additional motivation. After all, it is no longer news that those who train to the music are engaged longer and more actively than those who prefer to swing in silence, with the clank of iron. Also, scientists have found that music can serve as a natural painkiller and helps move more actively. Since listening to music while exercising contributes to the development of positive chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine and opioids - which improves mood, dulls pain and reduces fatigue.

10. Find company and friends

More fun to do together. It is a fact. When we go to the gym not alone, we are better motivated to exercise. Here, you should add your best friend to the classes and inspire him or her with the idea that together you will overcome all the trials of weight loss. If no one wants to go it makes sense to meet someone directly in the hall. Communicate with others involved, share your results, ask about the achievements of others. Act! And elastic belly and beautiful muscles you are guaranteed.

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Guest Poster Biogrsaphy

My name is Erica Fleming. I support the effective adoption of new technologies or ways of working within writing by communicating complex information in an informative and inspiring way. You can access my works at freebooksummary.com. I’m fond of writing articles for students, helping with essays.

Cardio Trek Milestones and Achieving Milestones

January 4th 2019.

So in ancient times the Romans would place a milestone along roads to mark how far that section of road was from Rome. Important Milestones might be every 100 miles, 500 miles or similar distances.

Today we use the term Milestone when there has been achievement of some kind.

For example, as an archery instructor I have been on CBC, CTV, CityTV, TSN and several other television and radio broadcasts, usually promoting the sport of archery. Oh and newspaper articles. I tend to forget the newspaper articles.

I also have personal milestones like when my wife and I got married, or when we had our first son, our 1st anniversary, and our son's 1st birthday party.

And now that it is 2019 I want to do a wee bit of record keeping regarding the "History of Cardio Trek", which began as a website in 2011. Truth be told, I started teaching archery back in 2009, but it wasn't until December 2011 that I began taking it seriously as a business and put together this website. Prior to that my archery lessons were based on word-of-mouth, so the creation of the website was a milestone by itself because it means I realized that this had potential as a business and I could teach significantly more people if I was able to advertise more effectively.

I also got my personal training certificate, although now I think I should have got a sports training certificate instead as that would have been more accurate to what I actually do.

Statistics

Regarding the website, there was an explosion in popularity in the early years of the website.

I even have old posts regarding some previous Milestones:

1 Million Visitors

1.5 Million Visitors

2 Million Visitors

And sometime in late April/early May of 2019 I expect to reach the 2.5 million visitors mark.

I should note however that a lot of those visitors are Americans who are visiting a handful of my posts that went viral. Seven posts in particular that got 20,000 visitors or more. Roughly 850,000 of the current 2.4 million visitors are people who were visiting those 7 viral posts, mostly because the posts in question were unusual subjects.

Of those 7 posts, only 1 of them had anything to do with archery: "Ramsay's Archery Skills on Game of Thrones"

What is more important to me is the statistics for my Archery Lessons in Toronto page, which recently surpassed 40,000 visitors.

Now why is that one important? Because that is the page that usually indicates how many people are checking out my site, looking for archery lessons in Toronto. Since archery lessons makes up a good chunk of my annual income, keeping track of that is important to me.

How many of the visitors to that one page are from Toronto? Unknown. I should hope it is mostly people from Toronto, but I know that I also get international students so there must be a good chunk of people who see my site and say "Hey, this guys looks really good. I am going to plan a trip to Toronto and schedule archery lessons with him." Hence why I also get archery students from the USA, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, China, the U.K., France, Russia, and other countries.

Regarding Old Posts

As noted in my Cardio Trek End of 2018 Notes, I used to do a lot more posts per year.

180 posts in 2012
230 posts in 2013
120 posts in 2014
120 posts in 2015

And then it dropped to 100 posts in 2016, and 60 posts per year in both 2017 + 2018.

So including the 10 posts from December 2011, there has been 880 posts during the 2011 to 2018 period. At the current rate of 60 posts per year, I should reach 1000 by December 2020.

However, I am somewhat tempted to go back to my old routine of 120 posts per year. 60 is certainly easier, but if I did 120 in 2019 then I would reach 1000 posts by the end of this year. So to do this, I would need to be writing 1 new post every 3 days roughly.

I could in theory do this, and it would no doubt help my business if I grew my content of archery themed posts. My busiest years as an archery instructor was the 2012 to 2016 period.

Starting in 2017 I noticed a decline in the volume of students, partially because the Hunger Games Fad was wearing off, but also possibly because I was not writing as much as I used to do.

Regarding the Future

In 2017 I also did something new. I published my first article in Archery Focus Magazine.

Which was followed by two more articles in 2018, one about Adaptive Archery, and a second article about Teaching Archery through Narrative Storytelling. So these magazine articles were also milestones, and I have another two articles upcoming in 2019.

Then there is also my 2nd poetry book, which was specifically about Zen Archery. So yes, for those of you who don't know I have a secondary career as a writer / poet, and I am not limited to writing nonfiction about archery.

During the past several years I have also been writing an "Archery How To" book, so whenever I finish that it will be an additional Milestone. Plus I have been accumulating things for a 2nd archery how to book. Oh and a 3rd poetry book. And a book of fables which is now about 60% finished. And various fantasy novels, novellas, short stories, and a web series about a vigilante boxer set in Toronto.

So yes, I am very busy. Busy teaching, busy writing, busy taking care of my son and enjoying life with my wife.

But being so busy does not prevent me from achieving milestones.

If anything, achieving milestones is what makes me so busy - and motivated.

Motivating Yourself through Milestones

So yes, the second purpose for writing this post is the issue of achieving personal milestones and motivation.

Motivation is an important thing for people seeking to lose weight, gain muscle, or do specific sports. For the people who lack motivation to go outside and exercise (or stay inside and exercise), finding motivation to exercise is just as important as the exercise itself.

But when you achieve some kind of milestone you also get a feeling of accomplishment. That feeling of accomplishment makes you want to go forth and do more. To do better. To achieve more. To hit greater milestones.

And thus tracking your milestones is important.

For me, Cardio Trek is not just a business or a website. It is also how I track myself through milestones. If I have a particularly great day doing archery, and take photographs of what I did, I do a post about it.

If I do a series of trick shots and have photographs of it, I do a post about it.

If I get some really nice testimonials from students, I post.

Think of it like how some people keep journals of their exercise routine, how many calories they are eating, etc. A person who keeps a journal can also note down their personal bests they've ever achieved in specific tasks, keep track of their weight, etc.

So for me, CardioTrek.ca doubles as an online journal, which allows me to keep a record of every kind of milestone I feel is worth sharing.

Note - Some people might prefer to use Instagram or something similar for their online journal. Photos of their gym workouts and other personal achievements.

Imagine for example a person who wants to lose 100 lbs of weight and they workout every day for 3 years, losing about 33.3 lbs per year. And during that process they took a selfie of themselves every day and posted it on Instagram.

No doubt the images would show a dramatic change in their appearance as they exercised. It wouldn't be a simple before and after photo. It would show the entire process of their physical transformation over 3 years.

So think about what kind of milestones you can achieve and make a list.

Weightlifting Milestones
Speed Milestones
Jumping Distance Milestones
Dieting Milestones
Belt Size Milestones
Weight Milestones

With respect to sports like archery, one could also have:

Accuracy Milestones
Speed Shooting Milestones
Furthest Distance Milestones
Competition Milestones

And you can even track other milestones for other activities that have nothing to do with exercising. So for example for my writing career I have:

First Novel Published
First Short Story Published in an Anthology
First Solo Anthology of Short Stories
First Magazine Article
First Poetry Book
First Children's Book

And then the Second Novel, the Third Novel, the Fourth, etc.

Achieving these milestones encourages you to keep working at it, and it works for everyone regardless.

Imagine a person who has been in a terrible accident and the doctor says they may never walk again because they are paralyzed from the waist down. But they are determined to prove the doctor wrong so they keep trying.

First Toe Wiggle
Second Toe Wiggle
All Toes Wiggling
Foot Movement
Leg Movement
First Steps with Assistance
First Fall
Second Fall
First Steps without Assistance
First Jog
First Dance
First Run

It is really a matter of finding joy in every milestone, no matter how small or how insignificant. That is your milestone. It is important to you.

Every baby has their first steps, but just because you're an adult doesn't mean you cannot achieve more milestones than when you were a baby.

My son has been figuring out how to climb out of crib lately - or trying, but I keep stopping him and distracting him. Some day soon he will climb out for the first time and then he will realize that he can climb out of the crib whenever he wants.

Take that as a metaphor for your life. Your crib is not a cage. You can climb out whenever you want to, it really is a matter of motivating yourself and achieving that first milestone.

How to Set Realistic Weightlifting Goals

If a person goes to the gym and sets for themselves an unrealistic goal of someday "bench pressing 400 lbs" they are basically just setting themselves up for failure.

What people should do instead is to first determine the following:

How much can I currently lift doing particular exercises?

So for example, if their chosen exercise is the bench press, and they can currently bench press 120 lbs, they should then set a new goal that is within range. Like bench pressing 125 by the end of the week, and later trying to bench press 150 within several months.

Those are realistic goals a person could set.

And the trick here is that such goals will vary with the person.

A much stronger person, who can already bench press 170 lbs might set a short term goal of 180, and a long term goal of 200.

Thus goal setting with respect to weightlifting should be to do the following:

One - Make a system / schedule whereby you are doing a variety of exercises geared towards achieving your weightlifting goal.

Two - Set a short term goal.

Three - Set a long term goal.

Four - When you achieve your short term goal, set a NEW short term goal that is slightly harder, but still below your long term goal.

Five - Keep setting and achieving your short term goals until you eventually achieve your long term goal.

Easy.

But the first trick is knowing how much you can already manage. Then you will have a better idea of how to set realistic short term and long term goals.

When setting such goals you should also be setting goals that are SAFE!

And if you know you are stretching the limits of safety, at least get yourself a spotter so you lower the chances of seriously hurting yourself.

Weightlifting Fails, Things Not To Do

Realizing That Was Stupid

GET A SPOTTER!

Exercise Quotes Directory and Overview

In years past I posted numerous Exercise Quotes pages, mostly as a resource to help people to motivate themselves. The quotes on various pages are from a variety of people, including celebrities, athletes, scholars, philosophers, politicians and more.

Before and After Photo

2012

Motivational Exercise Quotes - March 2012

Motivational Exercise Quotes - April 2012

Motivational Exercise Quotes - October 2012

Hard Work Motivational Quotes - November 2012

Motivational Exercise Quotes, Part 1 - November 2012

Motivational Exercise Quotes, Part 2 - November 2012

Motivational Quotes - December 2012

Popular Before and After Photo

2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes for New Years - January 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes, Part 1 - January 2013 - This one is so popular it is currently one of the top 10 most popular posts on Cardio Trek. I think it is largely due to the before and after photo of the redheaded woman [shown on the right].

Motivational Exercise Quotes, Part 2 -  January 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes -  February 2013

Bruce Lee

Motivational Exercise Quotes - March 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes -  April 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes - May 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes - June 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes + Bruce Lee Quotes - July 2013

"One must eat to live, not live to eat." - Moliere.

Motivational Exercise Quotes - August 2013

Food Motivation Quotes - August 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes - September 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes - October 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes - November 2013

Motivational Exercise Quotes - December 2013

Robin Williams

2014

Weight Loss Motivational Quotes - January 2014

Motivational Exercise Quotes - February 2014

10 Exercise Quotes by Women - March 2014

Motivational Exercise Quotes - April 2014

Motivational Exercise Quotes + Im Dong-Hyun - May 2014

Motivational Weight Loss Quotes - June 2014

Motivational Exercise Quotes + World Cup Quotes - July 2014

12 Archery Quotes to Help Motivate Beginner Archers - August 2014

Motivational Exercise Quotes + Robin Williams Quotes - September 2014

Funny Quote about Exercise and Fat - September 2014

Exercise Quotes Hall of Fame - November 2014 : This was the last of the series of Motivational Exercise Quotes. I was basically running out of quotes to use. After this point I rarely posted exercise quotes and focused on other topics.

Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger

2015

Pumping Iron, 1977 Documentary + Arnold Schwarzenegger Quotes - October 2015

Pumping Iron is a fascinating documentary and a glimpse into the world of bodybuilding. Within the documentary are numerous quotes and comments by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno and other body builders who were popular during the late 1970s.

Muhammad Ali

2016

Post #700 + Exercise Quotes - April 2016

Muhammad Ali is dead, boxing legend, age 74 - June 2016

A Journey with Pebbles in your Shoes - June 2016

A surprising number of celebrities have died in 2016 so far. I hope there is no more, but such a hope is done in vain I am afraid.

Pokémon Go as a Workout Plan - How to get the Most Exercise and the Most Pokémon

First, what is Pokémon Go?

Pokémon Go is a free-to-play location-based augmented reality mobile game that works on both Apple and Android devices (smart phones and tablets). The game uses real world exploration to collect Pokémon in the game, and later to battle Pokémon against each other.

Note - The game has become intensely popular, as the Pokémon Go craze has swept the USA and Canada. For some people it is now more popular than Facebook. It isn't just for kids either. Many adults, usually between 20 to 40, are now playing the game. But that doesn't mean that elderly people cannot get into it too, and are doing so - partially for the fitness benefits.

The goal of the game is to physically get the player to go from location to location, collecting Pokéballs, Pokémon, and other objects within the game. This means that people are walking, jogging, running, cycling, etc to get from location to location as part of the goals of playing the game.

Pokéstops are real world locations, varying from park benches dedicated to people, statues, museums, art galleries, historic sites, etc. At each Pokéstop a person visits they can then slide the icon sideways so it spins and they then get free Pokéballs and other stuff that are useful for playing the game.

Being close to Pokéstops also means that you are also in a great place to catch random Pokémon. They will randomly appear on the screen, usually with your phone vibrating or making a beeping noise to alert you that there is a random Pokémon nearby. Click on the Pokémon and you can attempt to catch it by throwing Pokéballs at it. (Which feels a bit like basketball, but once you get the hang of it throwing the balls and catching them is pretty easy. The only trick is if you miss, that Pokéball is gone and you can run out of Pokéballs very easily if you are struggling to get good accuracy with your throw.)

Pokégyms are unlike real gyms, in the sense that you don't normally fight people at gyms. When you visit one you can try to defeat the current defender(s) of the gym which works a bit like the old "King of the Castle" game you might have played when you were a kid. You fight your strongest Pokémon against whichever Pokémon are guarding the gym. If you manage to defeat all of the Pokémon guarding a gym, then you capture that gym and you can leave a Pokémon there to guard it. You will get your Pokémon back after they are later eventually defeated.

Pokémon Go's Augmented Reality

So why is Pokémon Go good for Fitness?

This game has been surprisingly good at getting people outside exercising when they would normally be indoors watching TV or fooling around on the internet. It is arguably a Competitive Sport.

The more you exercise, the more Pokémon you get, the more powerful those Pokémon become, the better they do in battles, etc. Thus it is a surprisingly powerful and easy way to motivate people to go outside and exercise.

That motivation factor is one of the biggest reasons why some people succeed at losing weight and others fail in their attempt. A game which helps motivate people to go for walks outdoors certainly scores points on the motivation factor, even if it does seem childish.

Now it is possible to gain various things within the game, like Pokéballs, just by paying for them. However even if you pay for the Pokéballs you still need to go outside and walk around to find and catch Pokémon - as they are rarely going to be on your doorstep. Thus while some people might choose to spend money in an effort to reduce how much exercise they have to do to play the game, they still need to exercise a fair bit just to find Pokémon.

Furthermore you cannot cheat during this game. While it is possible to catch a few Pokémon while in a car or on a bus, most of the time the speed of the vehicle will cause you to miss things, such as Pokémon and Pokéstops that are too far away by the time GPS catches up to the speed of the vehicle you are in. Thus the ideal speeds to be going is somewhere between walking and bicycling.

What I find fascinating is that this game has done what no sport has done before - get millions of people to suddenly go outside and exercise, with little more motivation than the attempt to find fictional non-existent pocket monsters who only exist within the game. You don't really get much out of the game beyond the fun of catching them, and the journey of catching them becomes the really fun part instead - in other words, walking around and exploring becomes the real challenge and the whole point of the game. The journey becomes both the means and the end goal.

10 Ways to Lose Weight using Pokémon Go

1. Family Fitness - Take the whole family with you and you can all play the game together as you explore. Friends who are also into the game means more people to talk to while you explore, so it becomes a social activity for everyone involved.

2. Jogging - Get from Pokéstop to Pokéstop faster by jogging. Dress for the occasion and take water with you! (Or plan your route so it goes by libraries with free water fountains.)

3. Cycling - Get there even faster on a bicycle. See more Pokéstops and catch more Pokémon in less time. Many bicycle trails will also have various Pokéstops along the way too.

Map of Pokémon locations in downtown Toronto

4. Walking - Take the easy way and just walk it. Very relaxing. In Toronto a simple walk around the downtown area will garner you quite a few Pokémon. See map on right.

5. Hiking - Hilly parklands can sometimes have lots of Pokémon. In the last two days I have visited two parks in Toronto and came away feeling invigorated from walking and exploring, and catching quite a few Pokémon.

6. Focus on Cardio - Don't be afraid to alter your speed now and then. Rotate between walking and jogging between Pokéstops the same way people do using HIIT (high intensity interval training). This way you get to enjoy the best of both worlds between walking and jogging, getting more Pokémon faster, but with breaks that allow you to take it easy once in awhile.

7. Stay Safe - Don't take silly risks. Pay attention to where you are going, what is around you, avoid cliffs or steep ledges, take the long way around, avoid dangerous shortcuts, and take your time. Also you don't need to look at your phone the whole time. You can ignore it while you walk from location to location.

8. Go to the Beach - If you want to swim, then do it safely. All of the Pokémon will be on the shore however as they usually dot places of importance, historical or otherwise. Many water-based Pokémon can be found near lakes, rivers, and ponds - and Toronto has plenty of rivers and water features to check out.

9. Rollerblading - Again, watch where you are going and be careful. Rollerblading will let you get from place to place faster, which saves on battery life - and you get to capture more Pokémon faster.

10. Skateboarding - Not for everyone, but still a decently fun way to get around Toronto.

Note - Fans of the Pokémon TV show will also note that one of the main characters also used a skateboard frequently to get around.

Six Rules of Success - Motivational Tips from Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger is an inspiration to many. Including myself.

Among the many speeches he has given in the past, is the video below during which he explains Six Rules of Success - which are excellent tips for people who are exercising and seeking to accomplish a specific goal.



The Six Tips are:

#1. Trust yourself. Follow your own instincts.

#2. Break the rules. Be a Maverick. Don't break the law, but don't be afraid to break the rules and try something new.

#3. Don't be afraid to fail. Failing is okay. It is quitting that is wrong.

#4. Don't listen to naysayers. Because if you only ever listen to negative ideas, you will never accomplish anything.

#5. Work your butt off. Because nobody ever accomplished anything by being lazy / doing nothing.

#6. Find time to give something back. To your community, to society, to your chosen sport or activity.

A Journey with Pebbles in your Shoes

"A journey of a thousand miles will inevitably include having pebbles in your shoes. Bend over, take off your shoe, shake out the pebbles and put your shoe back on. Keep walking, you will get there."

18 Tips for Long Distance Walking / Walking in a Walk-a-thon

Every few months Toronto has various organizations that organize walk-a-thon style events, usually raising money or awareness for cancer or various other ailments. Some of these activities include walking extremely long distances over 1 day, 2 day or even 3 day periods. However to do those kinds of extreme walking distances not everyone is up to snuff and perhaps should be warned that they should be "in good shape" before the Big Walk and should be trying to be "a bit more energetic and healthy" in the days leading up to the big event. Thus here are 18 tips for taking part in such a long journey. Many of the tips below are also handy for long distance hiking.

I have split these tips into several categories, what to do "Before the Big Walk", what to do the "Day of the Big Walk", and "After the Big Walk".

Before the Big Walk

1. Keep a balanced diet. At least one item out of every meal should be vegetables.

2. Start going for walks every day to get yourself in shape (and double check the condition of your shoes, see #11 below).

3. Start eating smaller more frequent meals. Four to five are better for you than three big meals as it is easier for your body to digest smaller amounts.

4. Aim to eat fresh produce, especially fresh veggies - the more colourful the better, as unusual colours have a greater variety of nutrients.

5. Eat a variety of meat products. Beef, chicken, pork, fish, liver, oysters and mussels. This way you are getting a wider variety of nutrients.

6. Hydrate every day. A long journey is harder on the liver and your sweat glands, so it is important for both that you are well hydrated on the days before the Big Walk.

7. Make sure you have cushioned, breathable socks. Aim for comfort.

8. Moisturize your feet regularly. Check for any recent injuries and make sure they have healed fully.

9. Do NOT have a pedicure before the Big Walk. You are not there to show off your feet.

10. Clip your toenails short. Lots of long distance walkers lose toenails if they are too long due to the constant rubbing of the inside of their shoes on their toes.

11. Make sure you have TWO sets of comfortable walking / hiking shoes. If you know the terrain is going to be more rugged, be practical and get hiking boots. Having a second set is smart in case the first set has any problems.

Mr T during an United Way Walk-a-thon in downtown Toronto

Day of the Big Walk

12. Take time once in awhile to stretch your legs a bit so you can avoid cramping.

13. Hydrate at least every 10 minutes. If going up rugged terrain, hydrate every 5 minutes.

14. Bring food and eat some of it while you walk. Don't worry about the calories, bring something that packs lots of energy in it.

15. Pace yourself. You don't have to be the fastest person in a walk-a-thon. It is not a race. Travel at a reasonable pace and take your time if need be.

After the Big Walk

16. Finish your walk with a cool-down. Stretches. Brief jogging in one spot. Talk to other people while hydrating / stretching.

17. When you are finished walking, drink a bottle of juice, chocolate milk, something with lots of vitamins in it. Korean vitamin drinks with ginseng in them for example are awesome. Even V8 juice is good if you like that stuff (I cannot stand V8). My personal preference is chocolate milk.

18. Daydreaming about a hot shower afterwards? Make it a cold shower or a cold swim instead. Having a cold shower reduces any swelling that may have occurred during your walk. Myself a cold relaxing swim is best, followed by a BBQ in the backyard.

Don't forget to eat afterwards!!! Preferably something with lots of nutrients and vitamins in it.

Happy Walking! :)

The Pet Project, Part Five - The Scaredy Cat

If you have not been following along, "The Pet Project" is my humourous yet somewhat serious project to help our cat, Victoria, to lose weight through a combination of exercise and diet. You can catch up on this by reading the posts in order:

Part One - "Our Cat is Fat"
Part Two - "Kitty is on a new Diet"
Part Three - "Cat Walking"
Part Four - "Conquering Failures"

Last week I talked about how I got a laser pointer and how I was going to use the laser pointer to tempt the cat into going outside in the hallway for walks.

Today I finally got the cat outside in the hallway, although not due to the laser pointer. I had to physically carry her out there, and then she immediately bolted back to the safety of our apartment. She is utterly terrified with going outside apparently, which is at odds with the fact her favourite hobby (ignoring sleeping and eating) is sitting at the window and watching the world outside.

So she is utterly fascinated by the world out there... but terrified of it too.

Which might make sense when you consider she is a rescue. We never learned all the details of what happened to her before the Toronto Humane Society rescued her, but our understanding is that she might have been abandoned on the streets by her previous owner.

Thus me picking her up and setting her down in the hallway might have been a traumatic reminder of the day she was abandoned, even though the safety of the apartment was right there, she had a leash on (although she doesn't understand the purpose of it - she thinks it is something to play with and bite), and I had zero intention of abandoning her. She immediately bolted back into the apartment, trying to get away from the dreaded hallway.

(It is also possible she smelled the scent of the neighbour's dog in the hallway, another cause for fear.)

Conquering fear isn't like conquering failures. You can't just solve it easily with ingenuity or some gadgetry.

For many people, not just cats, fear can be one of their biggest obstacles in life. Fear of failure. Fear of being embarrassed. It isn't so much the fear of death people are afraid of either.

Topping the list of phobias people have is the Fear of Public Speaking (glossophobia).

Many people would rather be operated on by a dentist while inside a pit of snakes that have to stand up and make a speech in front of lots of people.

Arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes and serpents) are such common fears that many animals are likewise afraid of these creatures. Hence all the videos of cats jumping and running away at the sight of a cucumber - even cats that have never seen a snake (or cucumber) before still jump and run away at the sight of them because their DNA is wired to be afraid of snakes.

Many fears/phobias exist because they are for our own protection - fears of predators, fears of heights, fear of being trampled by large numbers of people, or fear of being trapped in a small space, fear of the unknown, etc.

However it is when those fears become irrational and interfere with our ability to live happy/normal lives that we have to start thinking of this on a therapeutic level.

A person who is afraid of open spaces (agoraphobia) is going to have issues with going jogging, cycling, mountain hiking, swimming and doing various sports. Treating that problem is the tricky problem...

Steps to Conquering Fear

#1. Get help from an anxiety coach - basically a specialist who helps people conquer their fears. However that isn't going to help Victoria, because she is a cat.

#2. Learn how to respond to a panic attack - basically learning to relax and realize you are not in any real danger. Breathing techniques that help you to relax is useful. Again, not useful for a cat. Learning to anticipate the panic attack and then not give into it is also part of this process.

#3. Increase exposure to the things which cause your panic attacks. This we can do with the cat fortunately, possibly by taking her to the vet, on car trips with us, outings, and eventually she will learn to relax after she is exposed to the Great Outdoors enough.

The purpose of exposure practice is not to enter into a feared situation, like a room full of snakes, and not have a panic attack. The point of the exposure is to have some experience with panic symptoms and learning how to control it slowly over time. You do it a step at a time, at a pace that's acceptable to you, but always aiming to practice with the panic. Thus a "room full of snakes" might be rather extreme. Looking at photos of snakes would be a better first step, followed by maybe seeing them in person, and slowly reaching a point where the person is no longer fainting at the sight of snakes.

#4. Don't just pretend to not be afraid. Learn to be completely unafraid. With enough exposure to something you eventually become utterly fearless of it. That doesn't mean you don't respect that the object of fear isn't dangerous however, you should still respect something that has the potential to harm you. That is basically how Steve Irwin died, he failed to properly respect the killing ability of a stingray. (This doesn't help our cat Victoria, but it may help people out there.)


#5. Understand and learn more about the nature of phobias. Learning how they work gives the person a better understanding of how best to treat themselves. As humans we grow up in a culture where people are taught not to be afraid of things, and chastised or mocked if we are afraid of such things, and as such nobody teaches us how to deal with panic attacks or anxiety.

The purpose of panic attacks is to ensure our survival, part of our "flight or fight" response that is coded into our DNA. However panic attacks are a bit like a fire alarm, warning us when there is danger, but the fire alarm itself is not actually dangerous. Having panic attacks over things that are not normally scary however is a bit like false alarms going off, it turns out to be harmless because there was no fire - but it is still psychologically damaging because it creates a sense of fear where there should not be... Which brings me to #6...

#6. Embrace other kinds of fear. Watch scary movies, try indoor rock climbing, take up public speaking, visit a snake farm or spider zoo, watch the movie "The Walk" (2015 film about a high wire walker who walks between the Twin Towers of the WTC), watch the classic film "Jaws", zombie movies, try skydiving, etc. How and what you do is up to the individual, but basically the idea here is to embrace new kinds of fear - and learn to fear them. How you handle your feelings of fear in those situations will allow your mind to better equip itself when dealing with your phobias.

In Victoria's case the solution for her is ultimately #3, Increased Exposure. I am confident that some day she will be able to go for walks outside. It will just take time and lots of effort on my part.

Note - Last week I forgot to weight Victoria. Today she weighed in at 11.9 lbs. Progress!

Classic Scene from Indiana Jones / Raiders of the Lost Ark

Aim Higher

Sometimes one of the best things you can do is give yourself a lofty goal. The act of "aiming higher", to give yourself a challenge not only boosts your confidence when you reach that goal, but it makes you realize that other lofty goals are also attainable.

The photo below is from a few days ago during which it was a windy day and I decided I wanted to hit the bottle cap on the bottle, which was dangling from a string and blowing in the wind. I have done this feat before, aiming and hitting a small moving target, but never before in such windy conditions. Hitting it was largely due to patience and timing - but lofty goals are like that. You need patience to keep trying despite failures (or in this case, misses) and with time, effort, patience and good timing you can succeed.

You can apply this to almost anything in your life, whether you are working your way through university, trying to lose weight, or trying to achieve excellence in a sport or discipline.

Training Montages - What they get right and get wrong

"There is a saying, a very old saying: When the pupil is ready the master will appear."

- Zorro, played by Anthony Hopkins, in The Mask of Zorro

Movies in my experience are the worst ways to learn anything. They trivialize the act of training for months or years down to a training montage that lasts less than 4 minutes. Like in the montages below for The Mask of Zorro, Rocky Balboa and Captain America.

The Mask of Zorro Training Montage


Rocky Balboa Training Montage


Captain America Training Montage


Now how many things in the above 3 montage videos did they actually get right?

#1. Attacking in anger is apparently something not to do, and a bit of a trope.
#2. Lots of physically challenging stuff.
#3. Stay aware of your surroundings.
#4. Use brains over brawn - the flagpole exercise in Captain America is actually supposed to be a team building exercise, wherein they form a human ladder to get the flag.
#5. The videos work as motivation inspiration for people who want to exercise / train for a specific sport or activity.

Watching the videos won't make a person a better swordsman, a professional boxer or a super soldier - that much is clear. Most of what you see in the videos are just there for entertainment purposes - designed to look good, funny, impressive, all the while ignoring the long training process it actually took to get there. After all - they can't bore the audience with 3 months worth of footage. They have to boil it down, which is why training montages typically last 3 minutes, the amount of time that a typical audience can watch something without getting bored.

In contrast some TV shows actually get more real exercises into their shows, mostly because of two things: 1. They are not crippled by a 120 minutes of normal film run time and instead have perhaps twenty 44 minute long episodes to work with. 880 minutes means they can get a fair amount of training time in, a little bit in each episode. Take for example the compilation video below from the TV show "Arrow", in which they often mix training scenes with dramatic dialogue in order to convey the idea that the hero is continuously training, and they save time regularly by mixing the training scenes with dialogue. Bonus - Many of the training things, like handstand pushups for example, are actually doable by people looking for a challenge.

Compilation of Workout Scenes from the TV show "Arrow"


There is one issue that many training montages either skip over or pay only lip service to:

The need for an instructor.

Some training montages skip having an instructor entirely, some manage to have one but take more of a "wax on, wax off" approach (as per The Karate Kid franchise), and then wanders off while the student trains alone.

In The Mask of Zorro, we have Don Diego De La Vega, who takes a more hands on approach - but apparently also spends half the time drinking wine and smoking cigars.

In Rocky Balboa he has multiple people helping him train, but they're not really teaching him anything new that he doesn't already know.

In Captain America the instructor is replaced by an army drill sergeant who really spends more time yelling at and insulting his troops rather than teaching them anything.

In Arrow, the hero has multiple different instructors - who all inevitably seem to end up dead, and then he ends up training others.

The "dead instructor" is even a bit of a trope in films, as they often train the hero of the story and often ends up dead either after training the hero, turns out to be the villain and then dies, dies halfway through the story, etc. In films meant for children the instructor is often injured or kidnapped instead of dying, as death is considered to be too much of a downer for kids.

Examples:

Obi Wan in Star Wars, dies after he only partially trains Luke Skywalker.

Yoda in Star Wars, dies after he finishes training Luke Skywalker.

Splinter of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, is kidnapped during the first film.

It is basically classic storytelling: The master / instructor / teacher is kidnapped / injured / killed and then the hero(es) must go and rescue / avenge their fallen master.

Now in real life, if you get a trainer / instructor, they don't normally die unless it is of old age*. (In which case, if they are that old, why haven't they retired yet?)

They train you, often once per week or maybe several times per week, and the only negative part of this relationship is that they send you a bill for their services once per month roughly.

In conclusion training montages are really only good for motivating yourself to go exercise, train, perhaps even have fun while training - but you aren't going to learn anything truly valuable from them.

Most of the value and wisdom you gain will be from having an instructor, a personal trainer, your own personal Jedi master essentially. So regardless of whether you are hoping to lose weight, train in a sport, or become a superhero - having an instructor certainly helps.



* The example I am thinking of is the case of Awa Kenzo, who kept training people in Kyudo despite becoming old and sick. He probably should have retired, but he kept training his students anyway. There is a story told by his students of how he went for a walk one wintry day with several of his students and they noticed he was dripping blood in the snow. He responded by saying:

"This too, is training."

Using Negativity to Challenge Yourself - Coaching and Motivation

One of the biggest tricks to getting better at something is to come up with new challenges - new ways of making it interesting, partially so you are motivated to try and achieve that goal during the process.

From a coaching / personal training perspective, knowing how to challenge the athlete / client in front of you means trying to get inside their head and understand what makes that individual person tick - what motivates them to try harder. Is it pride? Anger? Shame? Possibly even greed? Or (egad) narcissism?

A person who doesn't have any of the seven deadly sins is truly content and doesn't really want anything. Such a person must be sublimely happy, so why would they bother to hire a personal trainer? They're already found contentment and happiness. The only reason I can think of such a happy person wanting a coach or personal trainer is because they are amused by the idea of it. They want to do something and they're doing it for fun*. I will come back to that idea later. See the * further below.

It is the person who is yearning for something who really needs help achieving it. They are struggling for whatever reasons to achieve a goal that is beyond their reach. Perhaps it is a very common goal, like losing weight, and they are struggling because of their diet and lack of exercise, but also because they lack willpower - and quite possibly other factors as well. This is a quite common goal. But why do they want to lose weight?

Vanity? Pride? Anger at people who bullied them about their weight? They feel ashamed of their appearance? Or maybe they made a wager with a friend as to which one of them could lose the most weight, and thus they are motivated by greed?

Knowing what motivates yourself, what the primary reason you decide to exercise - especially if it is on the spur of the moment and you get the sudden urge to exercise, think carefully on that experience. What was it precisely that caused you to get the urge to exercise?

And don't be afraid of negative emotions. To paraphrase Darth Vader, let your negative emotions out and let them give you power - the power of your dark side! Mwahahaha!

People rarely get the urge to exercise because they are feeling charitable or humble - although it would be awesome if more people were so easily motivated. "Oh look, a marathon that is raising money for charity. I think I will start jogging regularly so I can help raise money." How is rare is it that people take up marathon running just for charity? Extremely unlikely. More likely they were already into running marathons and they saw one that was raising money for charity and wanted to join.

Back on topic, once you know what things motivate you - truly motivate you - then you can use those negative emotions to focus your mind on the activities you want to do and get better at. Over time those negative emotions will fade and be replaced by feelings that are more positive, and you will eventually be doing the activity hopefully because you just plain enjoy it.

Which brings me full circle back to the Asterisk...

* Recreational activities are awesome in my opinion because most people do them without any goal in their mind beyond having fun. Take recreational archery for example. Recreational archers don't go to competitions, they don't bowhunt or bowfish, they simply do archery for the fun of it. I argue that recreational archery is actually the purest form of archery - because it is archery for archery's sake. Not for ego. Not for food. Not for bragging rights about bagging a "big buck". Purely for the enjoyment of the activity.

For example, I enjoy writing - but sometimes I am suffering a bit from writer's block and I have to find inspiration to write. One way for me to combat that and find inspiration is to find something funny to write about. In this case it was because I was thinking about Star Wars and Darth Vader memes while I was writing. It not only gave me some inspiration, it helped motivate my writing.

So it isn't just for exercising. It could be for doing any number of activities you should probably be doing. It does not have to be yoga while dressed like Darth Vader, but hey, nobody is stopping you from having a little fun.