I often tell people, my hypocrisy knows no boundaries. The other day someone asked on the the q&a about how to get motivated. All I could think was wtf? Really, someone needs motivation to train. I am very intrinsically motivated. I have to be, I do a lot of training by myself. I thought if you can't be motivated to train, you are in the wrong game.
Fast forward just a few days and guess what? I had zero interest in training. I was dragging and it was a squat day to boot. From rehabbing various issues from my back, hip, and most recently, an mcl tear, I'm not exactly killing it under the bar. I was slated for 10 sets of 10 with the safety squat bar with 225, don't laugh. It's a grind right now.
Luckily, as I train in my basement, I write motivating stuff all around me on the walls and the ceiling. I'm not sure what popped into my head, but I realized I will be competing against two really strong guys at my next meet in Travis Bell and Brian Carroll. There was my instant motivation. I indeed needed some extrinsic motivation. Embrace the grind of some 10x10 squats which will make me stronger, to bench more, and compete against some of the best.
So it doesn't really matter where your motivation comes from. Just make sure to find it. Grab some nose tork, guzzle a cup of high octane coffee, and crank your favorite tunes.
Here's the song that got my juices flowing. It's awesome that I train in my basement because I cranked it up to 10 and the windows were rattling."