How do you motivate yourself to train?

[HispanicCausing]

i guess another thing that motivates me is the people that doubt me and say i can't, fustrates me a little but the anger drives me to push further

[Pork Chop]

Whoever said energy drinks.... What? How does an energy drink motivate you? Surgar and caffeine are crap for your system. H20 all the way...

wasn't really referring to anybody on this thread, but we get threads all the time asking which energy drink is good to use before a fight and crap like that.

I like music and highlight videos, but you shouldn't need anything to stay motivated, coz you're not going to have anything in the fight.

[#1Assassin]

wasn't really referring to anybody on this thread, but we get threads all the time asking which energy drink is good to use before a fight and crap like that.

I like music and highlight videos, but you shouldn't need anything to stay motivated, coz you're not going to have anything in the fight.

ofcourse u have things that motivate u in the fight. maybe u have family and friends watching, just the hatred of losing, not wanting to get your ass whupped in front of a crowd of ppl.

but i feel u though. u gotta love it. thats were it all comes from, love for the sport. but everyone has times when its a bit harder, when u need some extra motivation to get your ass in the gym. once u have to dig deep u need the love for the sport though, its just about the fighting.

[Pork Chop]

ofcourse u have things that motivate u in the fight. maybe u have family and friends watching, just the hatred of losing, not wanting to get your ass whupped in front of a crowd of ppl.

but i feel u though. u gotta love it. thats were it all comes from, love for the sport. but everyone has times when its a bit harder, when u need some extra motivation to get your ass in the gym. once u have to dig deep u need the love for the sport though, its just about the fighting.

I think we're on the same page.
Even the external stuff that motivates you is still due to an internal feeling.
You care about your family and your pride in front of them so you work hard.
It's not like you go out and make family to make yourself work harder.

You always want to work hard in the gym.
But if you gotta go out and find something external to motivate you to put in work, you gotta question your passion in the first place.
I mean, if you hate hitting stuff and hate throwing down with folks, then very little's going to change your mind on that stuff long term.

A coach of mine gave me advice one time, when I asked him this very same question. He told me that fighting is really an extension of who you are, at the most it makes you more of what you are deep down inside.

He was of the opinion that nothing's gonna make you want to fight, at least not for the right reasons. So if you need a pick-me-up, you really need to look inside and see what's going to cheer you up and get you going.

If you hate fighting in the first place, then no amount of external influence is going to change that long term - yeah, you can get ticked off for whatever reason and bring that anger to training. But what happens when that anger's gone after the first few rounds?

It's gotta be deeper than that, either you're a fighter or you're not.
If you're a fighter and you're feeling run down, then what's causing it?
If you're burnt out, maybe you ought to get some rest.
If you know you're a fighter, but you'd rather be outside playing, ****in chix, or getting drunk; then maybe you gotta reevaluate your priorities.

Sure, certain things will get you in the mood. A good song, a great highlight, dreams of glory, solid goals of success, and even an angry disposition will surely help you stay on track.

As far as the anger goes, I came from the kung fu world. They believe that always fighting angry will cause damage to your liver and bring about early burnout. I mean, what happens when you're a dad, or you meet the love of your life, and you have no reason to be angry, will you just stop training?
Not if it's a part of who you are...

For me, there's a line in the movie Gattica that I replay in my head during training. This genetically "imperfect" guy sneaks his way into a job reserved for genetically perfect test tube babies. He relates a story of when he was a kid and he beat his genetically perfect test tube baby brother in a swimming race. The race eats at the perfect brother his whole life. Eventually he asks the imperfect brother how he won. The imperfect brother says something to the effect of "You swam that race thinking you had to have enough energy to make the return swim home. I swam with the determination that I wasn't going to swim back and that's why i won."

That's how I approach training.

I want to pass out, I want my heart to explode, I want to see if I push my body so hard I collapse right there in front of the heavybag.
It always motivates me to push hard, and somehow I always find reserves I didn't think I had.

If you spar/fight always trying to conserve energy then you're always going to be finely attuned to how tired you are - if you're more tired than you feel you should be, you'll over react to it and automatically slow down. If you go out there with the mindset that the work should make you pass out, then you'll be surprised when you're able to access energy you didn't think you had.

More often than not though, it's a fine balance between working hard enough and burnout. Soreness is okay, but sharp pain needs rest or it will nag at you and get worse over time. So you gotta remind yourself, especially as you get old like me, that you're not indestructible and that consistency is often more important than intensity - so the occasional rest day is not a big sin.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but that's what does it for me.

[boxingp4p]

if your feeling down on trainig just go to your dvd collection and pull ot a Rocky film. That ****'ll have you doing some crazy stuff in training!

[ashis]

I listen to hiphop music

[burstsh0t]

non point- alive and kicking
great pump up song

[andalusian81]

I guess I must experience a beat down first before I get awakened by the fact that im still so weak. My first real amateur fight is gonna be in november, I hope I get beat up so badly hahaha

[Spartacus Sully]

"You swam that race thinking you had to have enough energy to make the return swim home. I swam with the determination that I wasn't going to swim back and that's why i won."

good quote.

kind of like fighting a match all out with the thought that you only have to last long enough to knock the other guy out instead of conserving energy so you can last 12 rounds.

[sukhenkoy]

"You swam that race thinking you had to have enough energy to make the return swim home. I swam with the determination that I wasn't going to swim back and that's why i won."

good quote.

kind of like fighting a match all out with the thought that you only have to last long enough to knock the other guy out instead of conserving energy so you can last 12 rounds.

Although this quote is a bit realistic in the context of an actual bout because if that's your strategy, chances are you will be made to look like a fool against a good fighter. You have to push yourself in a fight - no doubt - but if you go ape**** looking for the KO, you'll find yourself exhausted inside 2 rounds.

This quote more applies to training.