Hermes

Here is an article from the New York Times (behind a paywall but may be visible even to non subscribers) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/w...r-trainer.html. Some may enjoy this article.

" Accountability is the key to a sustainable workout habit...When you need an extra nudge, tie your exercise routine to someone or something."

And

"Find a buddy who's more committed than you are..."

My entire athletic life for 6 decades has centered around that idea. For me, sometimes it is a buddy, team, group, coach or whatever. And I like to train with people who are better than me.

Iride01 

I rode more back when my son had more time to ride. When he'd call and ask if I wanted to ride, I couldn't refuse. Likewise if I ask him he couldn't or wouldn't refuse. Since he's gotten busier with work, he now has little time to ride. So now I can make little excuses to not ride. Too cold, too dreary looking, might rain and etc. I find that my riding miles are suffering badly.

So I'll agree with you.

MoAlpha

When I was an age group runner, I had a young child, an international academic career, clinical responsibilities, and a training buddy who got me out on the road or the track at 5 am on weekdays. I didn’t even like the guy that much, but it worked.

MinnMan

Interestingly, Strava can be a motivation aid. Showing your community of Strava followers that you got out and did your ride, that you are putting in the miles (or putting out the watts, or....) may not be the most enlightened motivation, but yet, it influences people to do more and more regularly.

Doesn't work for everybody

Turnin_Wrenches

I wasn't able to access the article due to the paywall, but based on the two quotes referenced in the original post I came away with mixed feelings about the advice given.

On the positive side, I totally agree that coaches and/or local teams / clubs can be great resources to increase motivation and advance your training. When you hire a coach, join a team or a local club, there is a pretty clear understanding of accountability and who sets the rules. When you train with a buddy things get muddy. Rules, roles, and responsibilities are less clear. And when rules, roles, and responsibilities get blurred, feathers can (and do) get ruffled. My advice is to do your more committed buddies a favor by finding other ways to increase your motivation and advance your training.

Carbonfiberboy 

I don't rely on others for accountability in all the various corners of my life. In cycling, I ride instrumented, power and HR or just HR. I post every ride, walk, workout, hike, ski, etc., etc., on TrainingPeaks. It gives me a training stress score and keeps track of my accumulated training stress. I get a number. I try to keep that number increasing from October to August when I back off and let that number drop way off. During my long training period, if that number doesn't keep slowly going up, I'm not happy. I like to be happy, so I mostly stay with the program.

If you want riding partners who will make it more fun, you simply lead the ride. If they don't like your choices, find partners who will. I've found that most folks would rather shuck off responsibility onto someone else, so riding partners are not really that hard to find. You just have to be the responsible one and communicate with them, not that difficult. Having riding buddies who depend on you rather stiffens your spine.

To put it a little differently, I instrument myself in order to create a mechanism for accountability. If I weren't actually training, but just riding around, I wouldn't bother with the instruments. Many people prefer that, but I find that I stay healthier if I am accountable to myself and have a mechanism for that.

My wife and I both go to the gym and workout together, mostly twice a week for about an hour. There the accountability comes from our method: we lift to exhaustion, i.e. we know we couldn't do another rep. We keep those numbers increasing. Gym twice a week, they'll increase. Once a week and they'll just stay about the same, which is fine during the riding high season. It also helps that the gym is full of people just like us, so the positive atmosphere is helpful.

kinnessa60

Great article! I completely agree that accountability is key for building sustainable workout habits. It's so easy to make excuses to ourselves, but when we have someone else depending on us, it motivates us to show up even when we'd rather skip a workout.I've found that finding the right workout buddy is key. Some people thrive on competition, others prefer a more supportive friend. It's worth trying out a few different options to see what works best for you. U can also read this article https://betterme.world/articles/dail...enics-routine/ to have a nice wotkouts with ur buddy!

work4bike

Go to Walmart and see all the overweight people with canes/walkers/e-scooters and that's plenty of motivation for me.

Also, when I see other people my age (hitting the big Six-0 this year) and how much less mobile they are than me, that's icing on the motivation cake

RH Clark

Jughed

I just watch a bunch of David Goggins videos...

RH Clark

I'm a fan. Personally, I have to add in some vids of older people doing amazing things. The Huberman vid I posted is very interesting in how to hack dopamine. It seems that something as simple as a cold shower can help to get out of the low dopamine swing.

terrymorse 

If you want some outside motivation, announce to your friends that you have set a goal for the season. Whatever it is.

One year, I told a couple of ride buddies that I was thinking of doing 1 million feet of climbing. They told a few friends, and soon people were randomly asking me how my plan to do 1 million feet was going. That kept me going, and I ended up with about 1.2 million feet for the year.

Jughed

I'm going to sit down an watch that entire video... I definitely have some form of issue with dopamine imbalance or whatever it can be called. I simply feel flat out numb in the brain all the time. Nothing really changes my demeanor - I'm at constant level of meh.

The potential joy of some future event, the excitement for that event, the motivation for that event - doesn't really exist. I used to go apesh1t with excitement and anticipation over special events or happenings - now I'm just blah.

A past 5 year span of cycling on/off steroids, muscle relaxers and pain meds for my broken back - along with drinking - just muted my senses. Never had any form of addiction issues, never took anything long term, just in cycles - but something in that cocktail changed me.

I struggle to find motivation for just about anything.

RH Clark

Sorry to hear about that. Huberman has more than one vid on how to increase- regulate dopamine. He is about as dry as toast, but he is a college professor after all. I enjoy his vids, but I don't mind listening to an interesting lecture for 2 hours.

He has a vid on how alcohol effects the body too. Don't watch that one if you ever want to drink again. I started drinking too much during covid and found it more difficult to taper off than I realized. Alcohol can definitely screw up your motivation levels, even changing brain patterns over time.

I find that the more I force myself to create better morning routine habits the more motivation I have for necessary tasks. I try to get out and do a leisure ride around the neighborhood right after daylight. I learned from Huberman that early morning sunlight viewed without sunglasses as you move drastically help hormone levels to help you feel better all day. Extra hot or cold showers help too. Basically, anything I can do early that feels difficult to me can help me have motivation for other things later.

The big thing for me is controlling my thoughts. It's a huge revelation to realize that you can actually choose what to think about. A bit of quietly sitting and deliberately thinking positively can do wonders.

If you don't find any help from Huberman please look into Wim Hoff breathing. There is truly something amazing happening through his process. Best wishes to you, my friend.

Jughed

I stopped drinking 3 years ago this August. I was always a weekend drinker, but like you I ramped up during Covid... Never did have the full blown disease, but I did like to drink. I just up and walked away from it...

Alcohol used to cause me the biggest rush in life - instant takeoff into what was probably a huge dopamine rush. Even planning for a drinking event would put me into another level of excitement/euphoria. For me, it was a hugh motivator.

Since stopping the booze - I don't want to use my boat, go fishing, have cookouts at the house, go to parties or out to bars with friends...after quitting is when I started to feel numb.

Thanks for the material - I will try and absorb as much of it as I can.

RChung

Sierra_rider

I guess I have some motivators at both the "strategic" and "tactical" levels. Big picture...I genuinely enjoy riding, so that might be my biggest motivator. It's almost borderline addictive, but it beats other things I was doing...so I carry on. Secondary to that is my desire to be competitive in XC mtb and gravel racing...that at least motivates me to do the workouts I don't want to do, like indoor sessions and strength training. This one is a distant third motivator and kind of a dumb reason, but I feel accountable to ride just by friends/family/Strava followers.

As far as continuing to enjoy riding, I do try to "hack" my dopamine to a certain extent. If I stick solely to riding outdoors, I constantly have to keep "upping" the rides to "maintain" having fun at them. So I incorporate about 2-4 boring zone 2 trainer rides in a week...I don't enjoy them, but I feel as if it "resets" my dopamine base. It allows me to keep enjoying my outdoor rides without adding unsustainable amounts of additional volume, intensity, new miles, etc.

At the "tactical" or small level, I do employ some "tricks" for when I don't want to do something. I don't particularly enjoy the indoor sessions, but I'm able to remind myself that it's only an hour or two, and that it will be over soon enough...basically that an hour is a pretty small amount of time, even compared to just the rest of the week. This is even a concept that I apply to hard climbs on outdoor rides or tough races. My other motivator is that I imagine the future success or fitness I'll have if I can just get through this "meh" workout. My final on-bike motivator is just self-coercion...basically, I employ my fear of looking weak or soft, in order to finish a tough ride or event. It's not my main motivator, but is a good last-ditch tactic for when all else fails.