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What Motivates You To Workout? What Are Your 2020/2021 Offseason Fitness Goals?

radiman said:
That sounds like something I go through too. The second I take an extra day because I don't feel like going, it's almost like having to reboot and start the motivation process all over again.
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My wife and I started walking outside regularly about 15 years ago and it's been an easy thing to keep as a regular part of our exercise. Typically we go 5-7 miles 3-5 days a week from April through October here in MN. Both of us use the treadmill or Peloton during the winter months. When we are in Florida like we will be from Nov. 18th-29th, those long walks happen pretty much everday. It's now just habit when on vacation for us to wake up, have a coffee, and go on our walk. Those morning when I'm headed to the course she walks with a friend, one of our daughters, or alone.
 
No motivation really other than I would like some more flexibility.
 
Ugh, I hate that I let myself get this out of shape. I feel completely worthless lifting, lol.

Sticking with the starting strength routine for now and just easing into it. I went 3 sets and upped the weight tonight. Nothing crazy mind you. I took it really easy last time and still ended up with some pretty good doms. Glad I did take it easy though because they did clear up after two days. We'll see how the old body responds and adjust accordingly in a few days.

Thinking about adding some cardio between each of the 3 exercises next time. I don't know, maybe run a mile and do squats, run another mile and do press, run another mile and do the rows. Two birds with one stone and it breaks up the monotony. Plus it'll keep my heart rate up. We'll see how much motivation I have next time.
 
What motivates me..

1. I want to live
2. I want to be as active, pain free, and happy as possible while doing it

I could go on forever about the littler things, but that's the gist. I haven't actually missed a workout since the day they first let me while I was still in the hospital (Dec 5, 2018 I think). I'm sure I went longer stretches before finding an excuse back when I was a trainer, but my motivation has definitely changed since then. My fitness is what holds me together now.

But I got a little too thin this summer. Had to live Clubber Lang style for a couple months, then got an infection and the vid19 in quick succession, and I got scary skinny, so my goals are to rebuild and pack on more insulation this winter. Started an adjusted program a couple weeks ago for that and have started putting together some flexibility and swing work goals to go with it. And I want to get back on track with some regular bodywork. It's a lot easier for me to maintain a consistent push towards my fitness goals with some structural and tissue maintenance. I feel like it frees up my swing a little too.

And to be smart and have patience and realistic expectations with it all. Those should have probably come first. Sounds like you've got some of those well in mind, @radiman . (y)
 
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Honestly I’ve been lacking any motivation lately. My job has been crazy busy since re opening in May. I work long days so lately by the time I get home I’m toast. I do get in some random workout but nothing consistent lately. For me it’s the consistent factor that needs to happen. I’m thinking this week I will be mostly caught up at work and most of the home projects will be winding down. Why do it? To feel better, less risk for injury, and I prefer to be active.
 
Trying to get back into it now. For a few reasons.
1: my neck/shoulders. Need more stability there as I get back muscle entrapment around the area
2: wanting to swing faster
3: will finally be divorced soon and gotta trim the dad bod down a little. Not to get cut (I don’t eat well enough for that haha) but firm it up a little 😉
 
I was digging around on the fitness app on my iPhone and discovered there is more information on that app than I realized. My average miles per day correlates perfectly to when the golf season starts and ends and also shows when I was vacationing in Florida, lol. Here's a graph of my average for the last year. It shows I've been a slacker recently but this just tracks walking and doesn't pick up my 6 Peloton rides in the last 8 days.

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So, I didn't sleep well the other night. Still a little sore yesterday so I just planned on taking the day off to rest. But, around 8pm last night, I seemed to get a second wind. Legs felt better after a theragun session. So, I went into the gym. This time I ran a mile, did squats, ran another mile (which was no treat right after the squats), did bench press, ran another mile. Then basically had to crawl out of the place, lol. So out of shape. But, it did feel pretty good to have had my heart rate up for about an hour. The down side is that I could not get to sleep last night. Now, today I am just spent. Legs are jello. Today, I shall rest. But, it was nice to feel that extra surge of motivation last night. Hopefully it will lead to more and more evenings like it.
 
radiman said:
So, as with most years, I found myself finding excuses to cut my workout routine out of the equation through the Summer. This year was a lot easier with Covid restrictions in place. The gym was absolutely packed every time I went in. I don't like my golf game to be effected by doms since my season is so short. Rather than just scaling back my workouts, I kind of lose interest.

Anyhow, here I am staring into the abyss of winter and now I want to get myself back in shape. But, this year I am having a hard time finding that one thing that motivates me to go in when I don't feel like it. My pants fitting a little tighter and my belt getting a little smaller isn't doing it this time. Last week, I saw a picture someone took of me that day. It's not like I packed on 20 pounds. But, the pandemic and my tendency to drink Busch Light has made an obvious impact on my appearance. I finally found it. It's time to do something about it.

The local city course opened up again for this week with highs getting into the 60's. So, I am playing 1-2 rounds this week. Once golf is out of the equation, I am getting my fat a** back in shape. I just joined a huge gym a few blocks from my house. And by huge, I don't mean busy. It is just a large facility. They are limiting the amount of members to help them remain open through the winter. So far, the plan is to start with 3 days a week. In the past, I have tried to push myself too far too fast and burned out. I will start by "waking up" my body. I still want to do compound lifts. But, I will get nowhere near my max. Probably limit myself to 1 or 2 sets for each group then work up from there. Nothing worse than jumping back in and hardly being able to walk up and down stairs for a few days after, lol. I may even work with a trainer after a couple weeks to make sure I am on a plan that I can stick to.

So, I am excited to get things going again. What about the rest of you cold weather THPers? What do you have on the off season agenda?
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This off season I need to do a bunch to fix some nagging issues. I need to do more yoga. I always feel my best when I am doing yoga regularly.. That and I just want to get stronger..
 
My motivation is there for hopefully getting back to competing in some long drive competitions next year. Offseason typically consists of strength gains and then slowly transitioning that in to speed work/explosive moves come early season start. Things were trending great, until I caught Covid about 2 weeks ago. All back to normal now, but definitely put a damper on my workout routine. Will be back at it next week, until a shut down comes again which is seeming more and more imminent.

I also am going to put a lot of effort in to trying to rebuild a few key parts of my golf swing to hopefully get my handicap back down to 4-5 range come next season. I put together a small little putting area in my covid cubicle, and have been trying to hit about 10-20 putts a day. Just a simple yard stick to putt off the end of it to know I am rolling it straight.
 
So, I finally got there. I am now to the point where I am getting to the gym almost every night. Last couple of times I went I felt great after I got done. The only missing piece is some form of cardio that is actually interesting. This week I have been just hitting up the bikes. Watching Masters videos or highlight videos of different players. So far, that's been working well to distract me.

The bad news is that this happened right as our governor (MN) is set to announce a closure to all gyms and wellness centers today. :mad: So, I am about to lose my one outlet that keeps me active during the winter. I would be lying if I said that this doesn't have me really really down at the moment.
 
I want to get stronger. Stronger is good.
 
I've been dealing with some back and knee issues that have been painful and caused me to miss about a month or two of golf each of the last few years. I'm working on flexibility first with a little bit of strength training as well. As the back and knee improve I want to get more into strength training. Plus, I could stand to lose a few pounds.
 
So, in typical fashion. Right as I'm getting back into the swing of things, the road blocks start showing up. Gyms in the state of MN have been shut down for at least a month. Then, yesterday, while rough housing with my daughter I felt something tweak in my lower back. Today, I'm barely able to stand. The back is out. So, get to try and rehab this, again. At least it wasn't during the playing season.
 
My 2020 goal was to be around for 2021. I expect it to be the same for 2021/2022

I just stay active as much as possible. Swinging golf clubs, hiking, short walks around town, and other hobbies.

My wife puts healthy foods on the table. Being a semi retired nurse, she also keeps track of both of our over all health numbers.

We just take care of ourselves.
 
Surprised I haven't seen "DeChambeau" yet.
 
My motivation is my health. I need to be at a lower weight for a few things I have going on. My goal going into the new year is to get down to 230# by next summer, ultimate goal is around 200#.
 
radiman said:
So, in typical fashion. Right as I'm getting back into the swing of things, the road blocks start showing up. Gyms in the state of MN have been shut down for at least a month. Then, yesterday, while rough housing with my daughter I felt something tweak in my lower back. Today, I'm barely able to stand. The back is out. So, get to try and rehab this, again. At least it wasn't during the playing season.
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Maybe it'll turn out to be a good thing that you won't be tempted to push it too hard at the gym while you heal up? Trying to find the bright side because all that mostly sucks. Good time to find a lower impact home routine that you can slip in when things are better but a hopefully rare life/time constraint still keeps you from getting to the gym.
 
Being shown the way, knowing the answer, and then willfully going against what you know as the truth.
Ever since I was a young kid I was also the “husky” one. Then husky turned into a few extra, then in HS it was fat but not the Dr sounding the alarm fat. It just got worse and worse.
Two years ago I flipped the switch and found the path for me. I started Black Friday 2018 at 270 lbs, a year later I was 165. I held that 165 plus 10lbs until COVID came and I lost control again. I’m still in ok shape at 195 but bad habits creep back in and I see the 30lb difference in pictures.

what’s my motivation ... my 9 month old son, first and foremost. A less important motivation: economics. I used to take pride on my fashion sense and closet but as the lbs flew off me I faced a crossroads: donate or hang on to the clothes. A part of me didn’t want to keep a thread because it felt as if I didn’t believe in myself and by keeping the clothes meant “well when I go back I’ll have clothes”. So the closet got dumped and all new clothes came in. I simply can’t afford to buy anew set of clothes of the lbs keep creeping up.

Now I’m just battling other issues, binging and some body dismorphia.
 
radiman said:
So, in typical fashion. Right as I'm getting back into the swing of things, the road blocks start showing up. Gyms in the state of MN have been shut down for at least a month. Then, yesterday, while rough housing with my daughter I felt something tweak in my lower back. Today, I'm barely able to stand. The back is out. So, get to try and rehab this, again. At least it wasn't during the playing season.
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Keep up the faith man... while working out is important, so many things can be done at home with body weight. Also, I feel like exercise is the toppings to a sundae, excellent and important, but ultimately ice cream is the star of the show and the ice cream here is nutrition.
 
Offseason? I’d like to be down another 20# by spring gearing up. That’s really my only fitness goal with my lungs tapping out in the 50% range.

If it’s a quick recovery I may have the offending rib removed. I don’t like not being able to carry for 18. Outside of a few very hilly courses on hot/humid days it’s never been a problem. This past year with 50% lung capacity it’s not fun. A 400 yard uphill par 4 feels like the Baton Death March. I called uncle on hole 3 (by saying I was only playing 9). The rest of the nine wasn’t too bad, pretty level.

The back nine though? Yeah I’d have croaked somewhere just off 13’s FW.
 
Great thread with loads of motivation here. Have always been active, addicted runner for years until my knees said "enough" about 12 years ago. So I took up golf and pretty quickly that became my new addiction. However, living in Ohio, the golf season is too short, so joined a 24 hour gym and would spend at least 2 hours in there just about every day. Then covid came along and that closed the gym , so started working out at home with a modest amount of equipment. My work outs are geared toward improving core strength and flexibility, and being retired, help with the covid isolation. It can be difficult to begin a program, but, if you will stay at it, it will become a habit in no time.
 
How I feel on days after working out vs how i feel on days I don’t is very different and I feel so much better.

High stress days are great days for workouts as well.

It’s not even really golf related even though the better shape I’m in the better it transfers to the course
 
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