Rob
Hello. Hello and welcome to the paddle My Way podcast account. How you doing?

Mukund
Hey, Rob, how are you? I’m doing well.

Rob
Ohh really good. Really good. Yeah. I think last week where we. Left off I was interested. To hear about your experiences on the bike and we were talking about. How we approach our different sports you’re on the bike and me and my team sports and soccer and I’m interested in the the psychological element of that and the psychology behind it, how you stay motivated. Is there something that you know, when it’s cold in it, in in your part of the world when you’re getting out on the bike? Early morning. Is it something that motivates you to get out there and do that persistently or is it just I want to stay healthy. I want to stay fit. Is there an overarching goal for this?

Mukund
Man, that’s a loaded question. The reason being how to stay motivated when it’s cold outside, when you’re supposed to workout going for a ride so. Motivation. I think it’s kind of inbuilt I believe. The reason I have always been working out and kind of trying to stay fit is because I don’t think much into it. I’m not a competitive athlete, but in in, in any measure I do it for my own satisfaction, for my personal goals. I will definitely lose if you’re in a competitive setting, but I don’t think about it when I’m doing stuff right. I believe for 80 percent, 90% of the people out there who are not competitive athletes. Motivation is a problem. Just because they know that they have to workout or at least get some exercise in for their overall well-being. Right. There’s no one solution to. This feeling.

Rob
Right.

Mukund
So what I do is it’s my personal thing. If I don’t workout for a couple of. Days I kind of go crazy. I think I mentioned those to you in a previous a couple of episodes ago. So so I have it’s it’s it’s my release, it’s my stress release, right mentally and financially. To kind of get out every day, do something. It doesn’t have to be a ride or lifting weights, you know, I go for a walk. My sandbag. It’s my time. That’s kind of my zone where I kind of refresh it kinds of resets.

Rob
It it’s sort of well, I think. We’re talking about sort of like a biological and a like. A. A psychology. Psychological benefit, right? We’re talking about the the neurotransmitter benefits and also like the psychological stress relief of getting out from everyday life and sort of the. The mundane activities that you have to do your you know whether it’s work or whether it’s, you know, washing the dishes or whatever you have to do, you’re getting away from those activities for an hour or so and just get to be outside and and be in nature and running around on your bike, using your body for an activity. For which basically the humans are designed, right? We’re trying to sort we’re talking about. Reconnecting with what we’re supposed to be using our bodies for rather than for of, like how society is. Built right now.

Mukund
I didn’t know know about the mind body connection or the good effects of a workout. Obviously, when I was much younger, kind of, you know, in high school college now. The knowledge is much more prevalent, you know. Even in high school they kind of stress the importance of. Exercise and working out and physical fitness for overall well-being. At that point, we didn’t know, or rather I didn’t know. And the more I read about it as I kept getting older and the reason I kind of, you know, complemented both my cycling with working out is I found that one helped the other out.

Rob
Right.

Mukund
For example, if I am able to lift, you know, heavy squats or lower body workouts, that kind of help me go faster on the bike. And getting the cardio workout from a bike ride. Help me. With my endurance during lifting, right? So and it also gives me a different flavors of weightlifting with cardio and not get bored with just weightlifting. You know, all the time or just cycling all the time. So it kind of gave me a well-rounded fitness. Which fit my lifestyle right? This can. This won’t be there for everybody, but this fit my particular lifestyle, right? What I want is fit.

Rob
Yeah, it’s sort of holistic way of approaching fitness, right? It’s it’s it’s looking at it from how does this have a knock on effect from the thing that I want to do, how do I improve my cardio to improve my lifting to improve my biking and you’re looking at it how how all those pieces fit together, which is interesting. I don’t think. I don’t think a lot of people especially if.

Mukund
Exactly, yeah.

Rob
You know you’re a cyclist, you’re not really thinking of. Like I guess, but a lot of cyclists are also not weight lifters. It’s an interesting sort of dynamic between the two right most people who are cyclists, you know, it’s a lot of lean muscle. It’s a lot of like leg workouts, but there might not be weight lifters. You, you have that sort of a unique duality to a way you’re sort of looking at it from both perspectives. Interesting.

Mukund
So some people ask me, I want to workout, but I don’t feel like it. So their definition of workout from what I hear at least is go to the gym, go one hour or whatever and come back home. I tell them well, working out is not just going to the gym and lifting weights, right? Think of it as part of your lifestyle, right? Going for a walk is a very good workout, like going for a walk for even half an hour. Thinking of it as a chore is much more harder to do than thinking of it as you time. As something that you can do whenever you want it, you can do it. You know, after dinner, for example. You know, if it’s a nice evening, you know, you can go for a walk, you know, relaxing walk before you go to sleep in the morning. You know, you can go for a quick walk around your neighborhood if time permits during lunch time, for example, you can go for a walk. You know, I keep saying work because that’s the easiest thing anybody can do anywhere they are.

Rob
Walking is like the the Gateway drug to other exercises basically.

Mukund
Exactly because after a certain amount of time, through repetition, you get bored. That’s human. Mature at that point you can start adding in more complex or more challenging. Add-ons like for example like I mentioned you a few times. I carry sandbag with me. Yes, I do. Go for walks. You know, I just listen to podcast or music while I go for my walk. Sometimes I’m like, you know what? I kind of, you know, want to take a sandbag with me kind of thing, you know? So that’s kind of a two to three variations right there in terms of just a regular walk. Exercise right and. Or either what will help them is if they think of it not as. A chore. To do but rather an activity that they like doing right and again again. Now the definition of workout is the gym lifting weights running on the treadmill. You know that is workout that people, that is what people think of or workout.

Rob
Yes, 100%.

Mukund
It’s not. It’s nothing wrong with doing that. But people get burnt out by just thinking about. It yeah, a different variation is to just, you know, for example do a do fiber piece that’s a full body workout. People don’t realize that, that that works your your lower body, upper body, back core everything that’s one of the workouts that has gained popularity of late.

Rob
And it’s tough, right? It’s tough to do. Consistently and yeah.

Mukund
It’s not easy. So I mean, you know, just, you know and and I’m deviating a bit, but just for a quick challenge for purple challenge, right is a burpy a minute. And minute 2 tuber piece. Minute 33. Burr piece. Right. So that’s a challenge. It’s a fun way to do it because. You will see how fast you have to move to maintain like 10 burpees in minute 10 for example, right? So it’s going to be hard, right? So that’s because you can you can do it in your room. In your in your, in your bedroom you even have to go anywhere. You don’t need any special equipment for that. You don’t need any special attire for that. You know you can just do it as you are.

Rob
And it’s a full full. Body workout that you can do before that, yes.

Mukund
It’s it’s an amazing full body workout. You’ll be burnt out by by minute 5 because by minute 5 you have done at least what 15 burpees by then. So. So it’s a it’s a 10 minute, 8 minute workout. That’s it. And you and you’re done. So if people kind of think about quality rather than quantity. And quality also in terms of what they like doing.

Rob
Right.

Mukund

Right. You play soccer, you love playing soccer as a byproduct of it, you have to love run. Right. Because if you don’t like running, you know there’s no point.

Rob
Yes, yes.

Mukund
Running behind the ball.

Rob
No. Or you can be a goalkeeper.

Mukund
I guess, but even then there you have to be. Like faster flickers.

Rob
Yes you do. You have to. There’s a lot of standing around, but you do have to be very good with your hands and also very brave in terms of blocking shots out there and expecting to get hit in the head a lot.

Mukund
Exactly. So you know. So your specific sport requires the need for people to like kicking a ball and running behind it, right? The sports I do you should be comfortable being uncomfortable on a bike because that’s not a natural state to be in, but what you get out of is a rush of going fast on a 2 Wheeler down a road or on the gravel. And the after effects of you know the. The adrenaline rush you get out of it and then the cool down period is when you start thinking clearly, because for me at least, the blood flow to the brain or whatnot, right? So that kind of helps me think clearly after a work. Yeah. So for motivation part of it, I think quality is much more important than quantity. You don’t have to be at the gym for one hour, slogging it out, doing something you don’t like. You can for example do pull-ups at home. There are lots of pull up bars at home. You know you can put it on your door. You know complex, you know, not complex like the like. The circuit type of workout 5 pull-ups, 5 push-ups, 5 air squats. You can do it right where you are in your own room. Right. So lots of different things that you like doing. You don’t have to do something. You don’t like. Doing you know, just to challenge yourself, you can try different things out.

Rob
And it’s also it’s that’s very true in terms of the fact. That what you start to think before you start working out can impact a how much you work out and B the experience you get afterwards. If you think you’re going to be in pain beforehand, you will be in pain afterwards, generally because your brain. You’ve created that idea in your brain and you associate that that feeling with what you’re going to feel afterwards. It’s really about, like you said, it’s if if you create the identity of I’m not an athlete, I don’t wanna work out. You will. You’ll suffer more than the person who enjoys the moment and is in that moment. And. Is, you know. Benefiting from the adrenaline response, like you said. If you’re biking. Or whether they just enjoy the sport in general, whether. It’s football or. Rugby or tennis or whatever they’re playing. If you enjoy that moment and you’re in a sort of a flow state as they call. You’re not going to be thinking about. Ohh, my knee hurts or my ankle hurts. You’re gonna be thinking. About I’ve gotta go get. That ball, I have to go. I have to think about what I’m gonna do next once I get the ball. Your brain is more involved in it. You don’t. A lot of the. Time speaking for myself. You don’t even notice, really, that you are working out. It, doesn’t it? You don’t think about it as a workout. You think about it as I’m with my friends. I am playing a sport that I enjoy playing and then, you know, it’s you’re thinking about. Things you should have done differently on the field rather than like my body experience to work out you’re thinking of psychologically. What should I have done it in this scenario rather than what you actually did? And I think it’s interesting the dynamic between. How your brain associates your identity as an athlete with the sport that you’re actually doing, like how do you associate? Am I an athlete? Am I a bicyclist? Am I a soccer player? Umm, I think the the the general idea is you can be you can be those things like you like. I could be a cyclist. I could be a. Rugby player tomorrow I could start playing. Rugby. You can just sort of. UM. Create that identity for yourself by by trying these things right and seeing what you. Enjoy like you said.

Mukund
The other thing I want to mention was I have gotten lazy, you know. I’m. I’m not the person who’s going to be like I work out every day for the past so many years. You know, I’ve never had motivation problems, which is which is not true. Right. I kind of slacked off sometimes here and there. Right. Especially in the cold room. And, you know. Just cold and go into the garage and I don’t feel like. It I feel like going for a walk. Let me, you know, let me do it tomorrow. I have. I have booked it off right.

Rob
Yeah, mean. We we both live in you in the Northeast. You asked me in just outside Toronto, Canada, we are in like colder temperatures in the winter. It gets dark. It gets cold. It’s it would be. Not human to stay motivated when it’s pitch black at 5:00 in the evening and you, you want to work out. But there’s just no it’s freezing and it’s dark. Look, and it’s just nature is telling you. Stay inside. It’s safer. You have Netflix, enjoy it. Relax.

Mukund
Netflix, and especially the holiday season with all the food around. Right.

Rob
And then, yeah, and then you’ve got food you. You’ve got, you know, your. Family’s coming over you. You know your. You have different competing interests. When the seasons changed, and obviously there’s different psychological elements that that go. Into that but. Really. Like you said, like you said with the burpees, it’s really just about having that thing you can do. If 1015 minutes, half an hour a day. Just to sort. Of stay in that moment and keep yourself at a basic level of fitness rather than, you know, you don’t have to break your body trying to to to become an. An athlete in any. Sense you have to sort of just. Keep a basic sense of motivation so that you stay on that baseline, stay on that level of comfort for yourself and. As we age we we need that level of basic average performance, right? We just sort of work out in a way where it works for us and it’s steady and you know there are days when it’s hard, but you kind of have to sort of. Understand that it’s literally hard for for every athlete, every star athlete you’ve you’ve ever seen on television has had a day where they’re like, I don’t wanna, you know, Michael Jordan probably had a day where, like, I don’t wanna play. Basketball today I want. To do this. Like everybody’s. Having that right. So yeah, it’s interesting how that psychological element. And so it plays a role in it.

Mukund
So going back to motivation, right, at least for me, I remember a couple of years ago, I I said that let’s let’s see if I get a six pack by summer, yes. From what I have understood from what I read, it’s a months long process, right? I’m not a fan of this diet, you know you know 6 packs in two weeks. You know you restrict yourself calorie intakes and everything.

Rob
Of course, yeah.

Mukund
It’s achievable through. Those means, but there’s not sustainable, right? Right after you hit your. And I’m just saying, if you hit your 66 pack in a month after all the calorie restriction, high protein diet and all those things. You can’t sustain that going forward for the next year or two years. I’m just right. So you can’t be in a calorie restricted diet without affecting other parts of your, you know your mental and physical aspects of your of your life. Just because of the way it is, you don’t need a well balanced food, you know, at least from what I have read up and what I have. Heard from people so.

Rob
Yeah, yeah.

Mukund
So in in so in my case. That’s what kept me going. This was, I know when it was like winter of 2020. You know, preparing for summer of 2021. So I was like, you know what, let me do this. I’ve been wanting to do this for a decade now. Let me at least, you know, let’s see. If so, I started out at least in October during. The winter. Months. So what kept me going was my visualization of myself with the six pack, right? I did. I had. I had gotten a rowe. Then at that point to us during the pandemic, I had gotten a Rover. I have a bike trainer also like into putting my bike on a stationary trainer. And of course, you know about my sandbags. And everything so. It’s a lot of cardio workout just because the understanding is that at least from what I what I read up on was reducing as much fat as possible body fat, because that’s what is kind of your ABB hides behind the the belly fat. Right. So and you can’t target fat loss in a particular part of your body. That’s how it is. You can’t it. Has to workout throughout, so cardio was the best way to do it. And given the lack of options, I was going behind drawing and cycling every other day with weights thrown in, right?

Rob
OK.

Mukund
So did I get a six pack now? Right. So I mean, it’s just just human thing. I’m not. I don’t. I’m not. Hollywood Avengers. Kind of a person, you know, where the where? The only job is to train for the movie. And get a six pack, but that at least kept me motivated to being active, right? I know it’s a very, very, you know, stupid thing to aim for.

Rob
But I don’t think any of those, any of those motivations are particularly stupid. If it works for you and it gets you out there and it gets you going like to do that. Then you know like. Aesthetics in general are. It can be dangerous, I think, especially if. Because because once you. Get a six pack, for example. What’s the next? Thing like you know what? I mean like and as you. Were talking about with with aesthetics. It’s not necessarily within your control to get a six pack, it’s to do with Physiology. And your biology and and.

Mukund
Right.

Rob
And all all sorts all. Sorts of different interconnecting factors that necessarily you don’t control. You know I can I I’m pretty good at Photoshop. I can I can give myself A6 pack within about half an hour on on any any sort of device you give me so. I you know it’s it’s. And by the way, I would imagine the vast majority of even Hollywood actors that you see the very next day after they’ve they’ve finished film. Thing the the movie, they don’t have that six pack anymore because they’re not dehydrating themselves anymore. They’re not doing that. They’re just going back to their regular diet and their bodies just gonna look like everyone else is. It’s it’s an interesting.

Mukund
Exactly, yeah. Right.

Rob
Motivation, like the aesthetic part of it, right, it’s. It it’s it’s. Achievable, but then it’s not sustainable. So how do you, you know what, what? What decides when you’re finished, you know?

Mukund
So, so the interesting thing is. This I did not get a six pack, but what it helped me do was get faster during the summer months. The workout that I did by the way, these are all kind of what I thought worked for me right. There’s no real rule. I did what I like doing like I liked cycling. I like rowing. I like lifting weights. Right. Right. I’m in no way a pro at any of these things, but these worked for me because I tried then tested these out throughout the years. I do these watch right workout of the days. You know, kind of more CrossFit style. I kind of have a timing of every work that I do. Yeah, I realize I got better and faster at these things during the summer months. The workout I planned for to get a six pack not only let me get stronger. In general, and also kind of gave me a better physique, like going back to aesthetics, right? And that actually helped me my lifestyle a little better because I was much stronger for everyday activities, right. So it’s your aim for one thing, people don’t realize that, you know, hey, I want to kind of, you know, lose 20 pounds £30, which is good but.

Rob
Right.

Mukund
They only target that and not pay attention to the other parts of what they would get that if they have a holistic approach or holistic understanding of it, their motivation would be even better to kind of hold on to if that makes sense.

Rob
Yeah, I yeah, absolutely, like. You’re talking about. Having one particular goal and then understanding the knock on benefits of achieving that goal in your everyday life for other things like your yeah, when when you’re talking about functional strength that you get from, from from so you so you did achieve to the six pack getting to that point. As you said, gives you functional strength for everyday. Activities that you would. Do with your son. Your. You know you’re able to do different things with. Your family, you’re able to. Sort of achieve a different level on your bike when you’re working out because you’ve lost a little bit of weight that you would have done when you’re trying to get a six pack. So it, yeah, you’re right. There’s there’s definitely there are functional benefits from an aesthetic goal that you might not. You might even if you you might not achieve that.

Mukund
Of course.

Rob
Aesthetic goal that you had, like you said you to lose a particular number of pounds or whatever it is over over a certain period of time. Then you get the functional knock on benefits. I think a lot of people. Oftentimes they don’t even realize they’ve gained these functional benefits from from this thing, they just look at that goal and they say I didn’t achieve. That and then they. That has a psychologically negative effect because it reinforces the idea that they weren’t able to achieve that goal, but really, even going for that goal in the first place. Is an achievement. It’s it’s the idea of. You’re making progress regardless of whether you hit that goal or not. The the progress itself is is, is the achievement and moving forwards.

Mukund
Right, exactly.

Rob
You then you then. Have another baseline. Once you’ve hit that hit that you know whether it’s to lift £100. Now you can lift even if you can lift £75. Now you’re the person that can lift £75 and then it becomes so much easier. To get to that next level, you’ve scaled up in trying to get there. There’s no point. I’m sorry. There’s no. There’s no harm going for a much higher goal than you think you can achieve if you can achieve a goal that’s better than you are now, you can get further. You can make more progress, you just might not necessarily achieve the goal that you thought you were going to get. At the start of the process.

Mukund
Actually you you said a good thing. I’m going to steal it. You said progress is a achievement. I think that’s a. Good. Kind of. A statement or. What we call it a mantra to have every day you kind of do this, that’s progress, you know.

Rob
100% I can give you an example. So we we play soccer regularly every weekend, right? Me and my friends when we’re all healthy and we can all get out and play. We have some people that have never played soccer before that come join us sometime. And what I’ll say to them, they’ll they’ll get disappointed in themselves if they like, miss a pass or they don’t get the right connection with the ball or they’re not able to reach the ball because they’re not in in a in the position to do it. But what I’ll say to them is you, you came out like you’re already here, you’re you’re you’re better, you’re better than you. Not better. But like you are. In a better position than you were a couple of days ago because you want to. You’re out here. You’re enjoying it. If you enjoy yourself and you, you wanna come out next time? That’s it. That’s what you should be doing. Whether you didn’t get the ball this time. That that’s fine. Like it’s it’s. Really just about. Deciding for yourself what how you want to be better and and getting better at it. Step by step. Right. There’s people that are not able to. Motivate themselves to come out and play soccer anyway, and but part of it is they feel like they can’t, so they don’t. Right. So it’s like it’s. Like if you. If you don’t say I’m I. I can play soccer like you’re not gonna. Go like, oh, I’ll. I’ll join that. Game if you. See people playing soccer. You don’t say like, hey, can I join you cause you’re not a soccer player, right? But then if? You go out once you’re like, oh, I. Played soccer that time and I really enjoyed. It maybe I’ll I’ll join in next time. So it’s it’s. Really about making sure that you are. Part of that you open to that experience and opens trying a new thing and and getting better at it step by step and whether you, you know miss a pass or you don’t hit the right weight goal. Training you now have a different baseline to to launch the next goal from. So I think it’s really it’s interesting how. Yeah, it’s interesting how we sort of. Decide for ourselves and amongst other people, we say like, well, you and I have in a conversation like this. And we say that like, I’ll be disappointed in myself as a soccer player if I don’t do a certain pass. But. Really, you’re not. You’re not disappointed because you didn’t do it. You just you. You have the idea in your head that I am, you know, Cristiano Ronaldo or I am Leo Messi or whatever soccer player you want. Would be you have that idea in your head and when you don’t reach that goal that that, that, that identity you’ve had for yourself, you get sort of disappointed in the fact that you couldn’t do it. Obviously I know that. I’m not as good as those guys. But in your head, you’re like I can do this, and that’s what you need. You need that, even if it’s misguided. You need that belief that you can do this thing and. Then you get. Out there and you make progress as you as a player at yourself, right?

Mukund
So, UM, you bring up a very good point. That’s what I was kind of, you know, mentioned earlier is you imagine yourself being there, right? Like you said, you imagined yourself being Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi. You know you won’t be there. You won’t. You won’t be Ronaldo or Messi. But the thought that you have a chance in your case will enable that person to put in that extra effort to chase the ball or, you know, get fit after the after or before the game. Similarly, when you are trying to lift weights, you know I’m not talking about like you know, World championship, you know, weightlifting, championships, anything. But at least the beach body or, you know, go going as fast as you can on the bike, you know, imagining yourself to be in, in the Tour de France. So these are not unrealistic goals because those are because people doing that are human too. They trained their life to get there, right. So the other thing I want to mention was in terms of not being conscious of others, because that’s also one of the. What we call it the determining factor that hey, no, I’m too overweight. You know, people make fun of me kind of a thing, even if you’re not.

Rob
Ohh yes.

Mukund
Even if you don’t thinking aloud, you’re thinking that inside yourself, right? No, they know what? You know. I don’t have any gym clothes. You know I can’t go in this. You know, I don’t look good. Kind of a thing. But people don’t realize that nobody cares about the. Others in the in the gym you only worried about, you know how you’re lifting your form, for example, or. Or your own personal goals, right? People should know that. They are in the gym for a reason. The same reason as you to get fit irrespective of you know how heavy or you know how what their images of the is of themselves. That’s one of the things I also tell people say, are you worried about what people think they said? Well, you know, I have not worked out in, you know, in two years, you know, I don’t feel like going back. It’s like nobody cares. Yeah, right. Even you know, you are in your own corner doing your own things. Either you’re lifting weights or on the treadmill or Rover or, you know, it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter. You know if. They think something. You know what they’re thinking? So how can you assume that they’re going? They think about you.

Rob
I I think. Even even the other side of that is a lot of the people, like if I’m out for a run and I see people, people running and maybe I. See people, some someone that. Is a heavier guy running. I’m I’m. I’m so happy for that person because I’m like, thinking good for you. Like that’s fantastic. You’re out here. You’re running. It’s it’s hard, but you’re doing it like I think a lot of the time when I see people in the gym and I see people running that, you know, maybe. Maybe the the the their heavier or they’re working towards a certain goal. You gotta. Courage and effort and energy to get to that point for them to go, go out and do that and and then they’re trying to make a positive. Change and I think most people in that are. Environment are thinking similar things as to as I am they’re thinking good for you. You’re you’re doing. This and and most people aren’t going to be helpful. You’ll be, I think people will be surprised to find that most people, when you go to a gym, a lot of people are gonna be helpful if they are regular gyms, though, and they’ll they’ll help you use the weights. They’ll help you use the machines. They don’t want to. They’re not going to make fun of you for trying to better yourself. They’re going to say I tried to better myself. And this person is trying to do the same thing. They’re gonna have, like a kinship with you and associate themselves with you and understand that you are trying to get into a better position than you than you currently are.

Mukund
Yeah, I even the gym I have. I mean, I’m not, you know, I’m not all knowing I have messed up in the gym with using equipments. I’ve asked people, hey, can you help me with this how to use it and people are more than willing to come and you know show you how to use it they have, you know, kind of those one of those complicated machines, your chest or your your back or something like that. I never use those, so you know so.

Rob
Yeah, and it’s. The It’s it’s it’s a. Lot a lot of the the thing that’s holding you back from doing an activity is the fear of failure and really that fear of failure is within you. It’s not the actual reality of the situation you you can only fail a thing that. You’ve set yourself. You. You’re not. You’re not failing at anything. You’re just, you know, you. You you may improve at a certain pace. It might not be the pace that you want to, but going out there, as we’ve said is is the first thing getting out. On the field in the gym, going for a walk, whatever it is that is a forward step. And that’s not, you know, the next thing doesn’t have to be going for a marathon after a walk. It it can be going for a walk the next day and just keeping on going. It’s not a failure when you set yourself too high a goal, it just means. You can still achieve it, you just have to. Get to the next step.

Mukund
So have you had? Motivational issues, Rob, when you were playing soccer.

Rob
Of course, of course, because what, what the? Interesting thing with Team Sports in particular is. I don’t necessarily have a motivational issue with a team dynamic because. When you’re playing in a group like that, you you sort of see people around you and you’re trying to sort of do your best for everyone else. So you know, if I’m, I know that we are playing at a certain time and it’s not like I’m going to be, I’m going to be late or I’m going to try to, you know, cancel at the last minute or whatever like I know everyone is sort of depending on. Me to show up and be there. So I can sort of. Rely on that sense of obligation, or really to to motivate me and that thing of like all my my not all my friends, but a lot of my. Friends are going to. Be there, they’re all they’re. If I’m not there, we you know that they’ll have fewer people. It’ll be a different thing. They’ll. Have to organize it differently so you. You’re sort of obligated. And there’s a responsibility and you’re sort of held to to account when you have that sort of group dynamic there. And on the field too, when you’re playing, it’s sort of like. It’s a it’s a. It changes how? You feel when you see, for example, when you’re playing soccer and you’re playing in defense, for example. And there’s the opposition has the ball and you know the the your, your responsibility is to stay on on a certain part of the field or on a certain opposition player. You can’t let your team down and and allow that that player past you or to get to on on another part of the the the field you have to sort of understand that that is your role in the team is to try to stop that player from progressing with the ball. And so of course you have to spread you. The you have to try to get your body in the way between them and the ball and this kind of thing. You have to sort of put yourself through a certain amount of pain and a certain amount of discomfort in order to do things that will benefit the team, even though obviously these are not professional. Sports by any means. We’re not. We’re just organised as as a friend group. We’re not playing, you know, in the MLS even and in the premier. League or any other? Big Soccer League. We’re just sort of playing for fun, really. But you’ve still got a responsibility there when you’re on the field and you see you want to do well for your, for the people on your team. So yeah, that’s for me. That’s a different thing than individual sports, where you have to psych yourself up to get on the bike or to go out for a run because. Nobody. Nobody’s going to know if you. Did run or you didn’t run. Right. But I’m going.

Mukund
Right.

Rob
For a run, it’s just sort of. Like, well, you know, it’s a. Nice day outside and I wanna you know, I want to enjoy the day. I wanna listen to the podcast or this music that I want to listen. Do I want to get out there and enjoy it and go for a run? And I I I’m lucky that I generally feel better after I go for a run, so my brain works in such. A way that allows. Me to be, I guess sort of chemically motivated. You get the the neurotransmitter. You get like the the feeling. Of I’m I’m I’m feeling much better. After I run a lot of people don’t feel better after they run, so they don’t do it, and that’s a whole different thing. But yeah, so the the the motivation is slightly different when you’re going for a run and and you’re going to play a team sport, but. I think I definitely push my smart self more in team sports. I know that myself well. That’s just because I enjoy the camaraderie of it, like the the, you know, everyone’s together, going through the same thing. I don’t know. But it it.

Mukund
And you’re indirectly competing with the others, right? With your team members, it might not be the main aim, but you’re subconsciously like hey, I want like, I don’t know, you know, go have one more goal than than Mark for example, right?

Rob
Yeah, kinda that. That’s not not. Really my thing in terms of like outscoring the people on my team, I’m usually ones I I try more of like a. Like I said, I play in sort of the right. It’s called right back position where I’m sort of defending, but also setting up chances for my attackers. So it’s more about staying on track in terms of what I should be doing on the field and staying in position and staying ahead of my the person that I’m marking on the opposition. So it’s really about trying to. Stay focused in your brain about what’s going on in. The field and. Then afterwards you know, sometimes you feel absolutely knackered. Absolutely. Like, really tired afterwards. You’re just sort of overloaded with all the information, all the things you thought on the field. Your brain is tired because you would, you know, is a billion different things happening on the field at once. Your body is tired because you know you’ve you’ve run whatever it is 1012 K during a game. You know you’ve you’ve. Also gone into tackles, so there’s impact injuries sometimes too. You get kicked a lot, you get sort of like people standing on your feet so you realise like, Oh my, my foot is bruised after this. I’ve gotta figure out like, where my my toes are after this, I’ve gotta figure out what’s going on. But yeah, there’s there’s. All that going on afterwards, but you don’t. When I’m playing, I have no idea. What’s going on in my body to? Be honest with you. I don’t. I think a lot of people when they’re playing those sports, they don’t realize. Until afterwards they if you you’ve hurt yourself or you’re injured, or you know you’re just sort of. You don’t realize what you don’t think about. Oh, I should do this. Because I feel good, it’s. Just I want to win this game. I’m going to. Try and win this game with my team.

Mukund
That’s a good deal. Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good description. Right. You’re right. Also in your, in the zone. I think the body is working towards the common goal of you winning that particular sport or winning that particular game.

Rob
Yeah, in a certain sense, it’s like fight or flight, right. There’s a sort of like, a psychological response of, like, you know, a a group of people are running towards you. You’ve gotta figure this out quite quickly. There. You gotta figure out what you’re gonna do. There’s no threat there. But in a sense, psychologically there is a threat because you’re just in nature. You’re not used to like that kind of experience. Right. So it’s a. It’s an interesting dynamic where you’re sort of like. Trying to figure out how I’m going to react in that moment and you’re trying to think about it and plan ahead, but. It’s not always easy.

Mukund
So Rob that. Was a great conversation on motivation and what helps people in our you know, for me individual sports and for you in a soccer setting, in a team sport environment, what makes people motivated? What makes people go on, you know, but on the flip side, I’d like to see. What barriers there are that prevents people from working out, right? It can be both end of a situational barrier, for example, or it can be anything else, mental barrier, or you know something psychological. I’m just curious. Right? So I had some people come approach me and tell me about their problems. What preventing them from working out. Maybe we can get into it. In the next episode, if you know if you have some.

Rob
Some time sounds great. Sounds great. Yeah, there’s definitely been. Personally, a few a few. Situations where I’ve faced some mental health. The the challenges to to working out and I think absolutely it’s an important topic and I think it’s it’d be a good discussion point to get into when we’ve got more time next week we can get into that and talk more about the, the, the blockages and the the the elements people put in front of themselves, the barriers that. People face before they. People that want to work out and maybe they for whatever reason they cannot. Yeah, we can definitely talk about that more next week. Sounds good.

Mukund
It’ll be interesting conversation, Rob. So till next time you have a good week and we’ll come soon. Thank you.

Rob
Sounds good. Have a good. One bye for now.