The other day someone asked me what my goal with exercise was, to which I replied, “To keep training.”

Which might sound silly on the surface, but let me explain.

Firstly, I’ve been training consistently for the majority of life, and in different phases, my relationship and motivation to exercise has been dramatically different.

Early on, I listened to my coaches, and trained simply because I had to.

I was working towards my sporting goals, and this was simply what I had to do to get there.

However, as I got older, and my aspirations of being a professional athlete faded, my motivation shifted, and as most guys do, I started training to try and impress the girls.

But eventually, I did impress a girl, and ended up in a long-term relationship with her.

And then slowly, my motivation dried up, and I stopped exercising as much. I fulfilled that burning desire that unconsciously drove me to work so hard, and started falling into bad habits because I’d built my drive on something outside of me.

I realised being driven by external goals, like validation and sex, was great to get the engine started, it wasn’t enough to keep the momentum going long term.

Whereas now, my goal is sustainability, because to me, the reward for work, is more work.

And while, there are of course added bonuses like the improved confidence, and external validation. It isn’t the driving force at the wheel anymore.

Now, the person I want to impress most, is me.

Which is why I find it much easier nowadays to slow down not only in the gym, but in life.

Because I know when I need to rest, and I know why I’m doing it.

This is simply the routine maintenance my body deserves.