Losing the drive to workout

[revexrevex]

For the past week I haven't been in the gym due to injuries. I binged out on junk food for the whole week, and really have no desire to comeback to the gym. For the past 3 years I just had a single minded drive of just going to the gym, never had I missed more than 1 week, except for the planned breaks. I guess it is because the visual results are so slow to come, that the idea of just going to the gym no longer gives me the necessary drive. Anyone else had a problem like this? I guess these injuries are bumming me out and not letting me get to the gym so I can forget all about this nonsense.

 

[louden_swain]

Rev,

I have faced this problem a number of times!! Believe it or not, when I first started graduate school, my motivation for training nearly disappeared. . . my priorities were shifted.

I was on the 2 on 5 days off schedule.

Sounds like you have a clear case of burnout, which is common. The only thing you can do is listen to your body and figure out what you want to do.

Watch some motivational videos, or read some motivation self-help books. Redesign your goals and focus.

 

[NWinters]

Rocky!!!!!!!

 

[b fold the truth]

If I PM you my home phone number...will you call this weekend sometime? Maybe we can talk about what is going on and how we can get you back on track.

If I have to, I'll see if I can get the money to buy a phone card and call you...if that is what it takes.

B True

 

[RusPA81]

If I PM you my home phone number...will you call this weekend sometime? Maybe we can talk about what is going on and how we can get you back on track.

If I have to, I'll see if I can get the money to buy a phone card and call you...if that is what it takes.

B True

Bfold, you are good bro. Not many people would make an offer like that to their best friend, not mention an online board member(You guys may be good friends, I have no clue.) Anyways, I think this happens to anyone that does something for a long time, especially something as demanding as training. It has happened to me many times, especially after stoping lifting and having to come back. I sometimes wonder why in the hell am I doing this? What helps me is go back and think about how great I felt after busting through a plateau or getting a new PR. It could also be mental burnout and you may need sometime away from the gym. Usuall after a week, I have to go back to gym. Anyways, good luck to man. I am sure this is a temporary thing.

 

[Devastation]

For the past week I haven't been in the gym due to injuries. I binged out on junk food for the whole week, and really have no desire to comeback to the gym. For the past 3 years I just had a single minded drive of just going to the gym, never had I missed more than 1 week, except for the planned breaks. I guess it is because the visual results are so slow to come, that the idea of just going to the gym no longer gives me the necessary drive. Anyone else had a problem like this? I guess these injuries are bumming me out and not letting me get to the gym so I can forget all about this nonsense.

after watching your vids i know many of these injuries were preventable rev. plan where you want to be 4 to 6 mos from now. focus on form. read something different about lifting that you may not have considered before. spend your downtime learning and getting motivated. there was a period of two yrs i didn't lift after i got married and i was very depressed. i'm also pissed off i missed two yrs of lifting and am on a mission to make up for that lost time. i know how bad you want it. don't waste time like i did. keep that fire burning inside bro. you can pm me as well if you want to talk about stuff

 

[PolishHammer1977]

My lines are always open to you.

 

[Citruscide]

Time for some tough love buddy.

First off, I don't want to come across like a dick, so I should probably ask what kind of injuries you have? I've endured compresssed disks in my spine, a pretty badly sprained right knee, a broken wrist, injured ligaments in my wrists, and a shoulder that will dislocate when I throw a punch. -- I find a way to get in the gym my man... or at least do something. I believe that you can too.

Don't let the injury get the best of you... you control your injury, it does not control you. You dictate how quickly you recover and what you can do to train or what not while you have your injury. Have a broken arm? Do the stationary bike or walk on the treadmill for an hour a day. Hit the leg press, leg curl, calf machines... Studies have shown that the atrophy of a broken arm will be 50%+ less if you do exercise with your legs and opposite arm.

This tells me something, it tells me that we should work through our injuries.

If you want to talk to me about it, and things I do... and maybe tell me about your injury (if I missed it on the board, I apologize) -- feel free. my AOL name is the same as my EF username.

C-ditty

 

[Zander1983]

Hopefully I can catch you on AIM sometime soon.

The hunger won't leave you bro, you've just got to stir it up a little.

 

[TheProject]

First of all, IMO, there's nothing wrong with taking it easy for a while to heal up if you feel you need it.

It's hard to hit the gym every day, eat clean, eat as much as you need to...it can get grueling.

For me, having good training partners makes it easy to get in the gym. Very rarely is there a day that we all don't feel like working out, and once I get downstairs, the rest is easy.

I've noticed too that watching other people's comp videos, or listening to people talk about training really gets me fired up to get in the gym. I can pull up my comp vid from February, watch that for a few minutes, and I'm ready to squat!

Do you have good training partners on a regular basis?

 

[HotDamnItzDavid]

I felt the same way when I had my shoulder injury. I was at about 170 when I hurt my shoulder then I took 5 months off. In 5 months I dropped to 153. I was pretty much frail again. When I started working out f again I was struggling to put up 5 reps of 185. I used to put that up 10 times easily. So I left the gym and never looked back at it again. Then I met my friend who needed a partner to work out with again and that got me all motivated to go again. I'm slowly gaining my weight and strength back.

 

[Citruscide]

I felt the same way when I had my shoulder injury. I was at about 170 when I hurt my shoulder then I took 5 months off. In 5 months I dropped to 153. I was pretty much frail again. When I started working out f again I was struggling to put up 5 reps of 185. I used to put that up 10 times easily. So I left the gym and never looked back at it again. Then I met my friend who needed a partner to work out with again and that got me all motivated to go again. I'm slowly gaining my weight and strength back.

If you need help in rehabing your shoulder, let me know... I've totally dislocated mine out of the socket three times now. I have been told by doctors I'd never lift heavy again. I've been told i'd never bench over x amount of weight... each time I have come back and near tripled the weight they said I wouldn't be doing. -- Recently before my last injury (Sept 18th) -- I was doing 80lbs on db military presses... a weight 4x that the doctors said I would be able to do without my shoulder redislocating.

You can overcome any injury... work around and through it...

C-ditty

 

[Mike_Rojas]

Hang in there Rev! Maybe you need some time to recover. Maybe you need to workout light for a couple weeks. You'll bounce back in no time. Sometimes I obsess about my workouts too much - it helps to spend some time doing other things to get your mind off it. Good luck! Never quit!

 

[Boulder257]

Try these things:

1. look at pictures of physiques that you want to have
2. music that motivates you
3. movies that make you feel good
4. get your ass kicked by a big guy (always works for me)

Also, don't forget that you have to get the juices and endorphins flowing before you may want to feel like getting back into the swing. My personal advice is close to cits, just get your ass to a gym and get working. You WILL feel better the longer you get back the motion.

Good luck and God Bless.

 

[Arnold'sApprentice]

Sounds a bit like overtraining...i know i lost all interest in lifting when i was in an overtrained state..i always ached and saw no changes in the mirror...the iron game seemed a pointless game to me. Loss of training anticipation is a text book overtraining symptom.

Bro,I say pig out on junk for a bit..stay outta the gym another week and day by day you will feel your desire for the weightroom coming back until you're climbing the walls to get back

peace

 

[Exodus]

take a month off, let your shoulders heal, and other injury's, spend some quality time with your girlfriend ( or if you dont have one, use the arm without the shoulder injury). read.

your getting into strongman training with t3c right???........ go and to www.elitefts.com and read all the articles, then study on strongman, find out why these guys are so big, and what kinda workouts they do.

go to www.irongame.com and watch all those videos for inspiration.

force yourself to stay away from the gym for 1 month, but surround yourself with stuff that makes you fired up for training. go with t3c, PH, and LS to train with them on event days, but dont train, let them tease you about wanting to do stuff but DONT TRAIN...........

find out the passion you have by forcing your self to be involved, but not actually get to workout. this will make you go into a rage, but then after 1 month you will be so swelled up with anger and rage and excitement and that love to train, you will look back on this post and laugh at your old self.

X

 

[HotDamnItzDavid]

If you need help in rehabing your shoulder, let me know... I've totally dislocated mine out of the socket three times now. I have been told by doctors I'd never lift heavy again. I've been told i'd never bench over x amount of weight... each time I have come back and near tripled the weight they said I wouldn't be doing. -- Recently before my last injury (Sept 18th) -- I was doing 80lbs on db military presses... a weight 4x that the doctors said I would be able to do without my shoulder redislocating.

You can overcome any injury... work around and through it...

C-ditty

Thx for the offer but I'm prefectly fine now. The hard part is getting back to where I was.

 

[PolishHammer1977]

Thx for the offer but I'm prefectly fine now. The hard part is getting back to where I was.

If you're "fine now" you are invited to come meet us in the parking lot in Westbury for some strongman.

You down?................................

 

[sk*]

For the past week I haven't been in the gym due to injuries. I binged out on junk food for the whole week, and really have no desire to comeback to the gym. For the past 3 years I just had a single minded drive of just going to the gym, never had I missed more than 1 week, except for the planned breaks. I guess it is because the visual results are so slow to come, that the idea of just going to the gym no longer gives me the necessary drive. Anyone else had a problem like this? I guess these injuries are bumming me out and not letting me get to the gym so I can forget all about this nonsense.

Dude, i'm gonna smack you. That motivate you enough?

Shut up and deadlift.

-sk

 

[Cuthbert]

It happens to the best of us bro. It's just a matter of how you respond to it now.

 

[c3bodybuilding]

Rev, remember when this happened to me? I had that injury, and I after a while, I just didn't want to return to the gym. I took one extra week off after that, and then I FORCED myself to go back. One workout was all it took.

Take another 1-2 weeks off. Stay away from the boards even. Just enjoy life, and have fun. Then make yourself get in there. Try some new lifts you always wanted to. It doesn't matter if it's cleans or cable crossovers, try something new. Don't worry about pr's, or anything like that. Slowly work back into it.

I look forward to soon hearing about your new adventures in the gym, and how you are happy to be back.

 

[Becoming]

Dude- All I can say is sometimes you need to take a little time to heal up and that is ABSOLUTELY priority numero uno.... but once that is done and you are healed, get your a$$ back in the gym...

I fractured a vertebrae in HS in my junior year, this caused a disk to slip and jacked up my back muscles real good... had to go to a couple months of rehab, but during that rehab I was in the gym, benching, doing any leg stuff I could, shoulders, tris, etc, even some plyos with less downward impact. Anything that did not hurt or did not put pressure on it I was doing.... Even injured I worked out more than anyone else, come the end of therapy, I was back squatting, doing deads and cleans, and come spring, I had a break-out season in track,a nd by fall again, I destroyed everyone in my way...

Knowing your attitudes from the board, I know this statement will be motivating enough.....

Everyday that you slack off, everyone who is training is either 1) gaining on you, or 2) putting you further in the distance....

Here is a story, one of those cheesy motivational things I know, but we used to have it up on the board in the hall by the weight room... I passed it a couple times a day, and I would stop for 30 seconds every time I passed it and read it, and I would think about the opportunity I had everyday to put others behind me, instead of the other way around....
****
Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning in Africa a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve.

It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.
****
All I can say is you better be "running" dude, or doing what ever you can while you heal up, cause the rest of us WILL be and if you are not, your ass will get left behind....

you can PM me if you need anything...

 

[Citruscide]

Thx for the offer but I'm prefectly fine now. The hard part is getting back to where I was.

This doesn't sound like you are perfectly fine now...

For the past week I haven't been in the gym due to injuries. I binged out on junk food for the whole week, and really have no desire to comeback to the gym. For the past 3 years I just had a single minded drive of just going to the gym, never had I missed more than 1 week, except for the planned breaks. I guess it is because the visual results are so slow to come, that the idea of just going to the gym no longer gives me the necessary drive. Anyone else had a problem like this? I guess these injuries are bumming me out and not letting me get to the gym so I can forget all about this nonsense.

I looked on the boards and i couldn't find a post where you were injured, other than some muscle soreness... so I'm going to assume you are having rotator cuff problems.

A rotator cuff problem is something that you need to work at... and rehab. sitting at home and eating crappy isn't going to solve it. If you've read any of Zyg's post on active recovery... sitting out for a week or two could just make the problem worse... you need to strengthen those rotator cuffs with specific exercises.

The DAY after I dislocated my shoulder I was doing light rehab for an entire week... I can't tell you the difference it made. Keep it in a sling for 2 weeks? LOL -- Get surgery? hell no.

Dude, if you were perfectly fine you wouldn't be posting this here, you'd be in the gym. And if you want to get back to where you are, you are going to work at it and not sit at home and mope.

You want motivation, we've given it to you. You've had a week off and it's still bothering you. I'm betting 10 cents to Monday that you've hurt your rotator cuff... only way to get around it is to start rehabbing it... the sooner the better amigo.

C-ditty

 

[Lord_Suston]

1) research type of training you want to do in the future
2)research type of diet needed
3)redifine goals
4)redifine weaknesses and strenghts
5)access form on lifts
6)wacth videos and learn
7)rest up and heal
8)come back with a fury

 

[DrBones]

Exodus gave some GREAT ADVICE!
I remember when I used to play hockey...
I got suspended a bunch of times for fighting... and nothing would make me regret it more, and want to play SOOO BADLY then sitting in the crowd watching the game from the other side... seeing everybody else get to do it......

 

[Scotsman]

I took a couple of months last year where I basically was taking time off. I was missing days, going out too much, and just generally losing ground. Then when I started to think about it more I became enraged by thinking about the gains I could have made. It is important to let injuries heal but getting bummed out and not going to the gym will become a cyclical problem. In other words just get madder and madder till you can't sit there anymore and go tear that shit back up.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[Becoming]

Nice post scots....

 

[anabolicmd]

Its time to learn how to train around injuries, plan ahead and train smart. Youve been in the hardcore gung ho mode full bore for a looong and hard three years. Time to shift gears bro, switch things around, think outside box, all that shit. As intense and explosive as training can get, its a really marathon if you want to do it for life, which I know you do.

 

[Backlash]

C-ditty - you took posts from two different bros and confused them I think Look at your post again and see who you quoted...

 

[IronLion]

Rev I am going through the same shit right now.

In fact I have been training around injuries and playing with pain almost as long as I remember. It sucks but I don't really think about it anymore because I can't control what is wrong with me, but I can control how I react to it.

I went to the gym and tried to squat and bench semi heavy for the first time since I tore up my intercostals. I struggled to bench 275 for 6 sets of 6. I was pressing 455 for 5 less than a month ago.

I then warmed up for squats....i did 245 for 6 and tried to hit 335 for 6 and only got three. I was box squatting close to 7 a couple months ago.

I am frustrated and depressed by the fact that when I pick up a weight that wasn't even a warm up a little while ago I am struggling to rep it.

So today I had a choice....I have two options. I can say fuck weightlifting and fuck this lifestyle and never look back or I will train my ass off every damn day until I am better than i have ever been.

Today I ran hills like I have never ran them before....60 degree incline 60 yard sprints. I don't fucking care if i overtrain, I don't care if my side is killing me when I run. I will not take a day off again until I feel strong...fuck it, I don't belive in half measures

 

[big_bad_buff]

If you need help in rehabing your shoulder, let me know... I've totally dislocated mine out of the socket three times now. I have been told by doctors I'd never lift heavy again. I've been told i'd never bench over x amount of weight... each time I have come back and near tripled the weight they said I wouldn't be doing. -- Recently before my last injury (Sept 18th) -- I was doing 80lbs on db military presses... a weight 4x that the doctors said I would be able to do without my shoulder redislocating.

You can overcome any injury... work around and through it...

C-ditty

Hook a kneegroa up....I tore my R cuff and cracked my shoulder blade, never been the same.....you just have certain lifts to gain stregnth back or what?

 

[strangebrew]

Rev I am going through the same shit right now.

In fact I have been training around injuries and playing with pain almost as long as I remember. It sucks but I don't really think about it anymore because I can't control what is wrong with me, but I can control how I react to it.

I went to the gym and tried to squat and bench semi heavy for the first time since I tore up my intercostals. I struggled to bench 275 for 6 sets of 6. I was pressing 455 for 5 less than a month ago.

I then warmed up for squats....i did 245 for 6 and tried to hit 335 for 6 and only got three. I was box squatting close to 7 a couple months ago.

I am frustrated and depressed by the fact that when I pick up a weight that wasn't even a warm up a little while ago I am struggling to rep it.

So today I had a choice....I have two options. I can say fuck weightlifting and fuck this lifestyle and never look back or I will train my ass off every damn day until I am better than i have ever been.

Today I ran hills like I have never ran them before....60 degree incline 60 yard sprints. I don't fucking care if i overtrain, I don't care if my side is killing me when I run. I will not take a day off again until I feel strong...fuck it, I don't belive in half measures

thats good stuff right there. karma for you.

 

[jackangel]

I don't know about your injuries and what kind of approach they require, revlon, but if it's a question of motivation, I do have one thing to say.

Even if you don't feel like working out right now, sooner or later you will. It has become part of your nature, right? You want that feeling of having made progress, because you're addicted to it. If this is true, then accept that it's only a matter of time until your mindset comes back around.

Unfortunately, no one knows how long that may take. If it does take several months, and you don't maintain in the meantime, you will almost certainly lose strength and size. That happened to me over the last 2-3 months, because I grew tired of eating enough (getting enough food to grow is much harder than lifting weights, imo). But now I'm getting back to where I was, and that includes eating this shit day in and day out. I'm happy to make progress again, but it really pisses me off that I'm still not back to where I was 3 months ago. What a fucking waste! I hate it. Going forward only to go back is insane, but it's also human.

If you let it go for even a few months, you'll probably be pissed off at having lost some of your gains. If you realize that, and accept it as true now, then perhaps you can prevent its happening in the first place.

Try to stay in the gym, if only to keep yourself from losing any ground. You'll probably thank yourself later, when you're ready to push forward again.

Good luck.

 

[Devastation]

nice post jackangel

 

[b fold the truth]

Still waiting for the ok to either buy a phone card...or PM you my number...

B True

 

[revexrevex]

Thank you everyone you are very supporting. I will take some more time off, and will definetely get back to the gym. It is just that this is a very unfamiliar feeling to me. Project, I do not have consistent training partners.... I always motivated myself to do this. Bfold thank you bro, but it is not necessary. Anyway I will do what Exodus and Becoming said and just try to heal up, maybe will go Sunday's for strongman and do what limited events I can. Right now I feel as if I haven't worked out a day in my life

 

[SAGAT]

Right now I feel as if I haven't worked out a day in my life

been there myself a lot of times over the years. a couple of things that can motivate you are thinking about the gains you've made (before/after pics, increase in lifts,etc etc), seeing other people lift, finding something as a distraction while your injury heals....when i get like this, i always say to myself; fuck this, i've been lifting for this long now, i can't go back now! works every time.

 

[t3c]

dont you dare quit on us revex. come this sunday and hopefully i can talk some sense in to you.

 

[sk*]

Right now I feel as if I haven't worked out a day in my life

I feel that way a lot man, and I don't even have any injuries.

Whenever this happens, I try to look at my pics from a couple years ago or compare my strength to back then. Seems to help ...

-sk

 

[oledawg]

It will all work out in the end. You will fall back in and become better than be4

 

[argent]

Sounds like overtraining. Drop off in motivation can be a big sign of that.