When I was in my teens and early twenties, my life would consist of working out, playing computer games, and watching films. It may seem surprising, but I got a lot of my workout motivation from my sources of entertainment. In most of the entertainment I watched, the characters were strong, fit, and capable. Action films inspired me to take up kickboxing, which led me to pursue strength training as a means to improve my performance.
By contrast, Inception may seem like an odd film to draw workout motivation from. While it is action-packed, the film doesn’t handle action with such physicality as a Schwarzenegger film, for example. And yet, Inception taught me one very important lesson about workout motivation. To be specific, it taught me a great deal about motivating my clients to work out.
Why Did Inception Make Me Think about Working Out?
Inception is a story about ideas. In the film, thieves infiltrate people’s dreams to implant ideas that make characters behave in ways that they normally wouldn’t. The main example of this is an idea that is planted in a man’s subconscious that drives him to destroy the multi-billion-dollar company he was due to inherit from his father. The thieves plant this idea while the man is dreaming. This process is called inception.
If inception is successful, the target wakes from their dream, having wholly adopted the idea, which can go on to define their actions and their character. Do you see what this has to do with workout motivation yet?
How Does This Relate to Workout Motivation?
I am a trainer who has conducted hundreds of training consultations. Over the years, I’ve met many people who wished they could just wake up one day with their mentality transformed. They wanted to be motivated to go to the gym consistently, change their diets, and never quit.
This desire to make different decisions and actions is often so strong that the client looks to outsource the decision-making to someone else. This is why many people look for authoritarian coaches, who will “make them” work out. It’s also why you see memes like this:
Obviously, this is intended as a joke. However, I think it speaks volumes about how people perceive the role of a personal trainer in relation to willpower. We want someone to implant workout motivation within us in the same way that ideas are implanted in Inception. We want to wake up one day with a transformed mindset, having completely changed the part of us that struggles to go to the gym and reach our fitness goals. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that.
One Scene in Inception will Change How You Think of Workout Motivation
There is one scene in Inception that perfectly explains why workout motivation doesn’t work in the way that I’ve outlined above. It may be a tough pill to swallow, but motivation is a lot harder to come by. Don’t worry, though; there is an upside to all of this.
I go into full detail on why workout motivation doesn’t work like Inception (and why that’s a good thing) on Youtube. You can watch the video below:
This isn’t the first time I’ve written about Inception in relation to fitness. I actually discussed this in one of my first blogs, which also revolved around motivating yourself to go to the gym. If you’re having a crisis of gym motivation, I recommend that you check that series out now.
Alternatively, you can talk to me about your gym motivation woes! I have been helping people get started in the gym for over a decade. Many of them are still training to this day! If you want to build a long-lasting gym habit, get in touch below to arrange a free telephone consultation.