In today’s log I am going to tell a story about a conversation I had with one of my staff and how he needs to apply the Old Man Conjugate: Finding Your Motivation rule to his training and outlook on things. Let’s call him Training Buddy.
Training Buddy has been in the gym and on the playing field his whole life and is now a little beat up from it. He’s about my age, and while he looks to be in great shape, even for someone 20 years younger, he is pretty banged up and feels it.
We talked the other day about how he cannot find the motivation to train anymore and wanted some advice on how I did it over the years through all of my injuries. He went on to tell me that it seems that each time he takes a step forward, something breaks or tears and he has to take two steps back.
Further, he stated that he can’t get it out of his mind that he wants to return to Football, at over 50 years of age and that it is burning in his mind?
Does that sound familiar?
I bet it does for many of the Old Men.
I explained that finding motivation was never the issue for me until very recently. This will sound like a recap of a few articles I have written lately, but it is not. It’s more of a reinforcement to the followers of Old Man Conjugate.
Let’s talk about Old Man Conjugate: Finding Your Motivation and why It’s hard for some people to find the motivation to train. And why it hits the lifelong athlete/lifter harder than the recreational lifter.
I explained to Training Buddy that finding motivation was never an issue for me. I always had the feverish desire to be better each day, to get stronger and smash PR’s.
I was never motivated by others.
I went on to tell him the as a coach, I am not a motivator.
Sure, many clients may get motivation from me, but it is not something I overtly try to do. I try to teach them to be self-motivated. When we do things because we want to, it is better that if we do things to impress others. At least for me.
I told Training Buddy that I am not the right coach to ask for motivational tips. This was not said to blow him off, but rather to try and get him to establish some new goals and find a motivation to achieve them.
The lifelong athlete has trouble with the next section because it frequently makes you realize that at 50+ we can't always do what we want (our chosen sport) and we may have to let it go. Or at least modify it.
We also talked about establishing new real and attainable goals. And adjusting the lens he looks through at his training and himself to the current situation.
I used myself and an example to illustrate. I told Training Buddy that it is pretty unrealistic for me to keep going in the gym and trying to get that 1000 pound Squat when I can’t even tie my own shoe due to the mobility issues I am working to fix. And that when I try to bring the Bench Press back up to PR levels it knocks my pain reduction and mobility improvements from Physical Therapy way, way backwards.
I had to readjust the lens I look at my fitness, and strength through and do things that improve them without making me take two steps backwards.
This was a very difficult thing for me to do. As you may know, I have not been lifting much at all. I’ve been doing a lot of work with the sled and a weight vest.
And!
It is working.
The downside is that for the first few weeks I felt very guilty about not training.
The Old Man Conjugate rule of Find Something You can Do Today took a few weeks to sink in.
When it did, the Old Man Conjugate: Finding Your Motivation rule kicked in for me.
After a few weeks of adjusting my lens, I discovered that I am actually excited to see my fitness and mobility improve. This was not apparent to me until I went to look at a large parcel of land to purchase so I can build the TPS Method Tactical Shooting Range on.
The land parcel I was looking at was about 3/4 of a mile off the main road and we had to walk it over a rough, backwoods road. At the end of the 3/4 mile walk, I was not limping or out of breath.
This walk would have had me sucking canal water through my ass two months ago. But, all of the GPP work and NOT beating myself up trying to do exercises that are out of my pay grade paid off and I did the walk in and the walk out pain free and NOT out of breath.
This made a cartoon light bulb go off in my head.
I fully realized that I was on the proper path for what I NEED to do versus what I WANT to do, and I relayed this to Training Buddy.
So, using the Old Man Conjugate: Finding Your Motivation rule, I told him to take some time and adjust his lens and realize that the things he WANTS to do are possibly not what he NEEDS to be doing. Find something that he can excel at and it hopefully will give him the motivation to excel at it.
This may not have been what he wanted to hear, but it is probably what he needed to hear.
I hope the Old Man Conjugate: Finding Your Motivation story helps him and any of you that are affected with this.
Did you miss last week’s log?
Read it here.
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
September 8, 2022
