The Hurdle

According to Men's Health we have different levels of Motivation from level one up to level five. One being the lowest and five being the highest.

As with every gradation, there is an explanation involved just to check how in sync you are in terms of feeling good about yourself as a whole when it comes to working out or just plain being fit and healthy.

Level One: You have no particular reason for working out. AMOTIVATION. No external or internal factors influence your activity, so no activity occurs.

Level Two: Other people like you better when you're in shape. EXTERNAL REGULATION. The mind responds to outside stimuli, though no internal motivation exists.

Level Three: You would feel bad about yourself if you didn't. INTROJECTED REGULATION. Internal motivations begin to form, but limited positive outcome occurs.

Level Four: You believe it's important and beneficial for health and lifestyle. IDENTIFIED REGULATION. Motivations become more positive, resulting in prolonged positive behavior.

Level Five: You Simply Enjoy It. INTRINSIC MOTIVATION. Positive activity is performed for extended periods because of pleasure response.

I believe every guy starts at Level One. I'm discounting the ER's who play basketball on an open space for the whole day, bodies grinding, sweats exchanging, and friction intensifying. Hahaha! I wish I could join them if only I know how to play basketball.

Growing up as a couch potato, I don't see any reason why I should exercise and also, no one influenced me to take on any type of physical activity. Even masturbating?! I started when I was 20! See! No influence of some sort. But anyway, I had no type of motivation hence I ballooned to a blob. Even stretching became a chore for me. Yes, I was that lazy. 

It became Level Two when my Mom saw that I was getting stouter everyday. I would eat six times a day, these are heavy meals and not what fitness experts say of six light meals. Every meal includes heaps of rice, viands fried or not, and a dessert. One on breakfast, one meal on lunch, one on dinner, another when my aunt arrives from work, next meal when my Mom comes home from work and last one when my Dad arrives from work. So as you can read, I have a voracious appetite. Given a chance, I think I'm close to eating 5,000kcal a day. With little physical activity. And with that little physical activity, I try to become a better person for my Mom and not for myself, there is still an absence of internal stimuli. My thinking was that I want to make her happy and proud but not for myself, yet.

My motivation rose to Level Three when I stepped into College. I attended a coed University thus the population is larger and more diverse. It provided me that sense of inferiority which I think is a good thing because I tried my best to drive myself to be at least on par with most students. I became jealous and insecure. A negative force trying to turn it positive.

And this is where reality sank in. I have to get a form of physical exercise just to feel good when going out especially if I'm going in malls or going to clubs. I have to make sure I'm all pumped up and ready to flaunt my stocky body. The principal rule is: If I don't get any type of exercise. I don't go out the house. So it drastically made my life drab and dull. My social life nearly halted and my personal life is nowhere near compared to today. Thank goodness.

I initially thought that Level Four is the Level Five but I was wrong. It was actually, enjoyment first and health benefits second.

The Personal Positive Internal Motivation started when I went to the gym. Being the underdog and the mediocre among fellow gym mates. I strived. I challenged the odds. I took my trainer's criticisms into something constructive.

Lean your back!

Don't curve your back!

Straighten your arms!

Bend your knees!

Feel the stretch!

Feel the burn!

Feel the crunch!

And the best I have received is: Please make me feel proud to be your trainer.

These are just some of the statements I have received when starting out. The last having a double meaning because I was doing bad at the treadmill that time. I think I was in bad running form and he kept correcting me but, you know me and my ever hard head. ;)

I pushed the envelope. Every repetition, every set, every second is an achievement and everything counts. That was my mind set. And you know what? It helped me enormously.

Where am I now? How Motivated am I now? What Level am I in currently? Who is the Guyrony now?

Honestly?

The Brutal Truth?

Frankly?

I'm in Level Three. I regressed. I went down a notch because I still haven't achieved what I wanted to during my more than two years of sweating it out in the gym plus the fact that newer gym mates keep popping in like mushrooms but have massive biceps, gorgeous pecs, broad shoulders and abs of steel to flaunt.

I know it's just temporary for me. In a few months, I hope to see myself jump to Level Five and have this perfect ideal of: I pushed, I pulled, I lifted, I perspired, I finished, I felt good, therefore I enjoyed.