Motivation for Exercise: How to Get Moving and Keep Moving a Personal Guide

When it comes to regular exercise, a lot of people aren't moving much. Despite being nagged by their loved ones and hearing enough "rah, rah" slogans to last a lifetime, they remain overwhelmed by motivational challenges. Evidence-based research indicates that those people who are not overwhelmed, and who instead develop the motivation to get moving and keep moving, tend to have six important elements working for them: (1) hopes of long-term "benefits" from exercise; (2) choices of exercises that are within their current ability levels; (3) short-term benefits from exercise (including enjoyment and satisfaction) that exceed short-term "costs" (including discomfort and fatigue); (4) ways to reduce or eliminate exercise-related conflicts and inconveniences; (5) ways to overcome common obstacles to exercise routines; and (6) ways to adjust exercise routines to changing circumstances. Many people view motivational problems as character flaws. Dr. Trimble disagrees. Instead, he views society as often failing to teach us how to put the above six elements into play. Learning how on your own can be a pretty tall order. Drawing from evidence-based research, his years of work as a clinical psychologist, and his experiences as a life-long fitness practitioner, Dr. Trimble has written MOTIVATION FOR EXERCISE to help fill the gap.

Ralph W. Trimble, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, retired from the Counseling Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His formal training, his continued study, and his many years of work with students and faculty facing a variety of problems, motivational and otherwise, have all served to deepen his understanding of how people develop motivation, how they maintain it, and how they turn it into constructive action. Ralph and his wife, Carolyn, are also long-time beneficiaries of a fitness lifestyle that includes regular exercise and a Mediterranean diet. Now in their mid-seventies, they continue to enjoy health and vigor on a daily basis, as well as European hiking and biking excursions on an annual basis.