A note on negative feedback loops in training motivation

I've been in a real trap as far as my training goes lately. I've been keeping up with it, but it's been forced, and it's been weak. There are a variety of reasons this negative feedback loop--and that's exactly what it is--got started, and unravelling it by studying some classic motivation theory seems to have done the trick to get me back on track.

The problem with negative feedback loops is that they tend to cause you to go into a downward spiral. In terms of motivation to train, this can be really, really detrimental to overall progress and thus to development. Without getting into the nitty-gritties about how this particular feedback loop started for me, let me explain the forces that have been maintaining it (and thus increasing its pull on my motivation to train).

Essentially, it comes with associating negative emotional responses, instead of positive ones, with training. Something negative started the cycle, and here's how it's been playing out, gradually gaining strength over the past few months. There have been two major ways that negative emotions have been reinforcing themselves with regard to my training:

1. When I do train, I immediately recognize my sessions as not being optimal in some sense--I didn't train as hard as I could have, didn't hit all the things I'd like to get to, etc. A lot of times, both of those factors played a part: I'd plan a workout and either run short on time or run short on energy/motivation and skip part of it, or I'd realize that I have the capacity to do better and, for whatever reasons, didn't. Enter negative emotions.
2. "I'll train later"--not really. I can't tell you how many times in the past couple of months that I've thought "tomorrow I'll do a killer training session and cap it off with a nice, hard conditioning workout." Then I get up and think, "I'm going to get right to it." Then I don't. Then I think, "This afternoon, I'm going to do it!" Then I don't. Then, "This evening, I'm on it!" But I'm not. Then I'm thinking it's too late, so I either do a half-assed job or don't work out much at all, and I go to bed thinking I failed--and that tomorrow I'll do a killer training session and.... Yeah, right. Enter negative emotions.

This is a negative feedback loop because it trains you psychologically to associate negative emotional responses with the thought of training. Then that lowers motivation, willpower, or whatever else goes into making a great workout, and the workout comes out lackluster, creating more negative emotions to associate with training. Down, down, down the spiral it goes until not only is your training seriously suffering, you feel crazy guilty about it. Enter even more negative emotions associated with training!

The result is that your motivation goes directly down that drain and doesn't just come back out. Your training rides the coattails of your motivation straight down there too, and it's a very defeating cycle.

Here's how to break it.

Every source about motivation I consulted said exactly the same thing:

Just go do something right now.

That's step one. It's not enough, though, to get out of the negative feedback loop, though, because once the negativity is swirling around your training, you're likely to land right back in case #1 above--and that's exactly what was happening with me. I'd go do something, right now, realize how pathetically below my usual standards it was, and then kick myself for the shitty "something" I dragged myself (mostly unwillingly) through.

Here's the trick to making it work--you have to break the cycle of negativity. There's no option on this. You have to do it, or you'll stay in your slump, maybe even drive yourself deeper into it. That's what was happening with me.

The way to break the cycle of negativity is actually pretty easy: get positive. An old trick I learned when I was learning to meditate years and years ago is "let whatever happens be okay."  This works here too. You cannot compare yourself against the you of a few months back, when your training was good and serious. You have to realize that person is way back then, and you've slid in terms of conditioning, ability, willpower, and positive momentum since then. You've got to get positive about what you're going to do as measured against the you of right now.

The way I did it was by just getting up and doing something, putting a little bit of planning into it, making it just a little bit challenging but by all usual standards quite easy, and then absolutely crushing it. Then I got excited about crushing that workout--even though it was kind of hard for my state of fitness and by all usual means "shouldn't" have been. Then I rewarded myself with a treat.

The next day, the plan wasn't to "make a killer workout and...." It was do something roughly the same difficulty as yesterday, plus a little bit, and crush it. A few crushed workouts into this cycle, and I was back to wanting to challenge myself, to see what else I could crush. Motivation: back online. Positive emotions are in gear, and I've established a new positive feedback loop with regard to training. That's doing an awesome job of keeping me motivated.

What if I can't crush a workout that I plan? So what? To stay positive about it, that's when you can give yourself an E for effort. You still trained, and you trained against adversity, and you did something toward getting your training back on track.

It's pretty surprising how powerful this little insight has proved. If you get feeling stuck, give it a try. Plan a rather easy workout, let that be okay, and crush it as well as you can. Then feel good about that and move forward. In fact, keep moving forward. Surprisingly, this can help.