Motivation is absolutely priceless when it comes to sustaining a healthy lifestyle and sticking to an exercise routine but it can elude a lot of us. We reached out to one of our awesome partners, GB Active to speak to some of the most motivated people in the fitness industry, professional athletes to get their top tips on how to stay motivated.
First up we're talking to Great British Kayaker, Jonathan Boyton.
Image courtesy of www.britishcanoeing.org.uk
Jon started kayaking at the age of 10, not a natural athlete by his own admission, staying motivated has been key to him continually improving to the point where he has represented Great Britain more than 20 times, including at World and European Championship level, and has won 26 national medals and been national champion 16 times. He's also an instructor at GB Active.
Q1 – What keeps you motivated and keep giving a 100%?
Jon: I enjoy what I do and the feeling of achieving something. Whether that be on a big scale like an international result, or a smaller one such as hitting a target time, or process goal of a session.
Q2 – When you are having dinner with your friends (who are not pro athletes) how do you motivate yourself to stick to your own diet without giving into the temptations of others?
Jon: It's not about making a choice that is either healthy or non healthy, there's always a scale from bad to better to best. Some things I can easily make from a bad to better choice without even feeling like I'm missing out, like swapping chips for sweet potato mash, or picking a steak instead of battered cod.
Q3 – When you have a tough workout or drill how do you push through it?
Jon: The mind gives up before the body. Focus on the process of what you are doing, exercise by exercise. If you think it's going to hurt and you are going to give up then you probably will. If you remain positive it's likely to hurt a lot less.
Q4 - Do you have any personal mantras that keep you going?
Jon: As I said above, the mind gives up before the body. I Focus on what I need to do to get better, as opposed to how fast I'm going, taking a goal from an outcome goal to a process goal.
Want the chance to be trained by Jon? Then check out GB Active now!
Look out for the rest of our motivation series where we talk to other professional athletes on how they stay motivated!
