Sounds, faces, smells and places.

When you first started exercising, what was the one thing that motivated you to keep on doing it?

Do you remember certain feelings? Was it the sensory things in the gym, the sounds and smells or the people you met? It may be something as simple as the way the gym was set out that you remember, or the beeps telling you another set was on the way. Maybe you remember the staff member who pushed you to do just one more rep, the drink you bought from the machine or even the walk home!

Look back

My first memory of what used to motivate me was back when I first started exercising properly. The sights and sounds of good old Buckley sports centre in North Wales. You’d enter the sports centre and pay at this per-specs desk that was to the right. Immediately you’d be hit by the smell of deep heat as the changing rooms were directly in front of you. The desk was where you’d also get the keys to the sports hall (if you’d booked in to play 5 a side football), or keys to the gym as quite often they’d be quiet and you’d have the place all to yourself. You’d also have to ring up to book on your home phone too, no one had mobile phones in those days!

It was quite an old sports centre too, what I remember were the stale old smells of sweat, the mats stacked up in a corner and the echoes of the huge sports hall as we’d batter the ball against the walls. The memories come thick and fast – My first Boxing club was Buckley and that took place in the smaller hall next door. The worn flooring, techno blaring away and wrapping my hands sat on the bench near the door. Faces, movements, friends long gone.

Memories and feelings

What I’m getting at in this blog is the memories and feelings of exercise and how they are your primary reasons to train. I’m willing to put money on the buzz that you get when you train, its that moment your brain will remember, the exact same smells and sights are the things that eventually remain. The snapshot. When you finish a tough strength set for example, it won’t be your massive arms that you remember, it’ll be the sun glinting through the window or how the song made you feel.

As recently as yesterday I went cycling. I can remember getting to the top of Cheddington hill above Crewkerne and the amazing view back down hill into a huge valley. I won’t remember that I was at 180bpm and my legs were screaming at me, it’ll be the cathartic emotion that remains. It’s the same when I do road or circuit racing, I forget the results and the short term stuff almost straight away and I’m left with vivid memories. Racing down a dappled tree lined descent, the sun flickering in my eyes. Rain fizzing off my wheels. The smell of coffee in the cafe!

Keep them close

What’s great about focusing on feelings is that I have books and books of them inside my head, not one of those books has pictures of me flexing my pecs or completing a set either! The next time you train, think about what I’ve said. If you’ve been going to the gym and are more concerned with how you look then your going to miss out. The great gifts of life are simple, you shouldn’t be taking hoards of pictures of yourself every time you train either, don’t let them dominate you. The amazing memories that I have of Buckley sports centre, the races and the hills are simply locked inside my head.

Your feelings are yours, I believe the great vibes you get from training are very personal things. The visions, thoughts and feelings are what make you, you! Hold onto them, keep them close and cherished. Who cares about results and how we look anyway. Those things are just by-products of the journey. Gifts that you are given on the adventure of life, so don’t miss the glory whilst you were looking at yourself. At the end of the day, we all just want lots of nice pictures of the road we’ve been on, I’ll take those over memories of flexing my pecs any day.