PF Episode 25: Fitness Motivation Hacks (And Why You Shouldn't Try Fitness Wagering)

Jen: Well, guess what, Alex?

Alex: What?

Jen: I can no longer complain about my tiny apartment in San Francisco.

Alex: Wow, why is that?

Jen: Because I moved into a bigger apartment in San Francisco — get this, I actually have a whole extra room I can use for working out.

Alex: Wow, so you have a home gym now?

Jen: Not quite there yet, but definitely extra space for a yoga mat and some weights. I'm coming up in the world here.

Alex: That's amazing. So my big news of the week is I finally found a setting where I'm not competitive.

Jen: You're kidding.

Alex: Yeah — indoor go-karting.

Jen: Indoor go-karting? I cannot believe that — I could totally see you being competitive at that.

Alex: No, my wife and I did it this weekend with the kids — they went on the junior track, and we went on the adult track, which was a bad move, because you'd think these people actually thought they were in the Indy 500. There was a rear-end incident. It was bad. After about the second lap I realized, I don't care about this — pass me, whatever. It's this narrow little track, I don't even know how you're supposed to pass. I was just not competitive at all — it surprised even me.

Jen: Wow, that's amazing — and probably a good life choice, too.

Alex: Yeah, exactly. My wife currently has a minor case of whiplash after being basically run down by one of these hyper-competitive people. So there you go. Welcome to Practically Fit, Real Fitness Over 40. I'm Alex Johnson.

Jen: And I'm Jen Chamberlain.

Alex: And today we're going to talk about some practical ways to motivate yourself psychologically to achieve your fitness goals.

Jen: Yeah, we've talked a lot on this podcast about finding your inner fitness "why," your intrinsic motivation, and we believe that's always where you should start when it comes to your fitness goals. But today we're going to look at some additional ways to motivate yourself to get back in shape, especially if you're sedentary or thinking about getting back into working out after a long layoff.

Fitness Wagering: Why You Shouldn't Try It

Alex: That's right, Jen. We did some research, and we've got four different concepts around motivation to explore today — we'll get into those in a moment. But first, I thought we'd start with something we think you shouldn't do when you're trying to motivate yourself. This is a newer trend called "fitness wagering," and it's actually what got me thinking about this concept for the podcast. We wanted to cover it because it seems, shall we say, a bit immoral, and it's starting to gain real traction. I first came across it the other day watching a basketball game, when an ad popped on for something called HealthyWage.com.

Jen: Okay. Hmm — "wagering, immoral" — I've got to hear more about this.

Alex: Yeah, and to be clear, I'm not against gambling, by the way.

Jen: Right, right.

Alex: But this particular TV commercial was endorsed by a major fitness personality, Jillian Michaels, of Biggest Loser fame. I don't think we want to spend today's episode getting into how toxic and unhealthy The Biggest Loser was, but let's just say it goes against our fitness fundamentals here at Practically Fit. And honestly, given Jillian Michaels' approach to fitness and weight loss on that show, once I looked into this, her endorsing this app made total sense. There are a number of these health-wagering apps that promote the idea that a financial incentive can help you lose weight, and at its core, that's actually based on some real research — an interesting idea, in fairness. HealthyWage, for example — there are a few of these sites, but this was the one I saw advertised — cites a JAMA study that found, quote, "the use of economic incentives produced significant weight loss during the 16 weeks of intervention that was not fully sustained." So they're framing this as the way to go for losing weight: you make a wager with yourself, essentially assessing yourself a financial penalty. In practice, though, I'd compare using a service like this to going to a casino — if a company is promising you a chance to win based on a betting-style system, I think you can safely assume the house always wins.

Jen: Yeah, that's right, absolutely. We found a great article by Olga Lysenko over on a site called The Outline, titled "Weight Loss Wagering Apps Are a Game You Can't Win" — exactly your point, Alex. It walks through how these apps actually work: at the start of your wager, you bet on how much weight you'll lose in a given time frame, and you literally hand the app your money. You only get it back if you hit your goal. You can win extra money if you beat your goal, or through pooled pots where the winnings get split among the group. There are various parameters, like height and weight, that factor into how much you can win. But the core problem, as the article points out, is that studies show 95% of diet and weight-loss attempts don't work — so you can see how lucrative this business model is for the companies running these apps. There's a really telling passage in the article, if you're ever considering one of these — honestly, it's a must-read. I'll quote it: "One of the most controversial aspects of apps like HealthyWage is that they have a strict no-refund policy. 'Part of our job is to prevent you from giving up, so you can't quit,' the company claims on its FAQ section. Scrolling through the online reviews, it's clear why this is an unfair system. One user writes in a Better Business Bureau complaint that HealthyWage wouldn't give them a refund even after they were diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease that causes hormonal fluctuations and weight gain. Others report having to quit their bets after realizing they were engaging in unhealthy behavior to try and meet their goals. Almost every plea receives the same reply from HealthyWage, reminding them that the no-refund policy is clearly stated. And of course HealthyWage can't offer refunds — people who lose the challenges are the ones who keep the lights on."

Alex: Yeah, it's a really telling passage from that article. Again, if you're considering one of these wagering systems, I'd recommend reading it, because I agree with the article's take 100%. The house always wins.

Jen: Yeah, and not just that — I was really concerned by the person who said they'd engaged in unhealthy behavior. I watched a different news segment over the weekend about a teenager caught up in something similar. It wasn't exactly wagering, but it was one of these TikTok-fueled trends showing young women on extremely restrictive, low-calorie diets — like 300 calories a day, having water for lunch, that kind of thing. Seeing those images over and over really pushed her toward unhealthy behavior. There's just so much of this toxicity out there.

Alex: Yeah, like I said, I'm rarely one to go around calling things immoral, but from a business perspective, this really does seem like it. That's what sparked the idea for today's episode, and we wanted to share our thoughts on it — it's basically guaranteed to print money for these companies. But as I mentioned, beneath the surface there's an interesting idea here, and I thought we could turn that into something genuinely useful — our practical tips for motivating yourself toward your fitness goals. So let's dive in. We've got four concepts we think can help motivate you, whether you haven't worked out in a while or you're trying to break out of a fitness funk. We think these are all great for people over 40 too.

Concept One: Create a Fitness Contract With Yourself

Alex: So, tying back into that wagering discussion — our first concept is creating a fitness contract with yourself. This is similar in spirit to what these wagering companies are doing, but much less toxic, in our opinion, and there's a lower chance you'll simply blow your money. It's a more positive way to think about betting on yourself — instead of paying a monetary penalty, you incentivize yourself, for example on the back end, after completing a challenge.

Jen: Yeah.

Alex: This comes out of behavioral economics — we found a working paper published through the National Bureau of Economic Research titled "Committing to Exercise: Contract Design for Virtuous Habit Formation." The economists behind it set up a study to see whether they could use economic concepts to nudge people into longer fitness commitments. One thing I didn't love about the study was that it did include financial penalties, similar to the wagering concept — you lose money if you don't work out a certain number of times a week, which again feels like a negative frame to me. But the study did find they could nudge people into longer contract periods, which was the meaningful takeaway for me, penalties aside. The study noted, quote, "Commitment contracts are low-cost, voluntary means of linking future behavior, which would be difficult to sustain otherwise, to present intentions. Successful application of commitment contracts to exercise for individuals who find it hard to form exercise habits is an important addition to the range of tools available to improve health outcomes." So that got me thinking: how do we turn this into something more positive — get rid of the financial penalty and flip it into something psychologically healthier? And just poking around online, I found something great — and our friend Travis is going to love this — Kansas State University had the answer. It came up in a random search while I was researching fitness contracts: a genuinely great example of a positive fitness contract on KSU's website. Maybe we'll link it in the show notes, which will make Travis happy. Let me walk you through it.

Jen: Yeah, what does it basically look like?

Alex: So at the top, you fill in your name and commit to, quote, "a healthy and active lifestyle." I really like the opening statement — it says, "I realize that I will experience various life events which will conflict with my exercise schedule" — which we've all experienced, right, especially the past couple of weeks — "however, I pledge to do my best to stick to my plan." Really positive way to open a contract. The example goal on this one is walking 30 minutes, five times a week — a great beginner fitness goal for any age group — and you fill in your own time frame, say three months. Then you write in your reward: this is where you flip the penalty idea on its head and make it an incentive. This particular example says if they walk 30 minutes five times a week for three months, they get to buy a new pair of athletic shoes.

Jen: And who doesn't love a new pair of athletic shoes?

Alex: Exactly — so they incentivize themselves with a little shopping, which I love. It's external motivation, but framed really positively. Then it lists the activities that'll support the goal: scheduling exercise sessions on the calendar, walking with family twice a week, wearing a pedometer or fitness tracker daily — that part might be a little dated, mentioning pedometers, but the concept holds — setting out clothes and shoes the night before for morning walks, and logging completed sessions in an activity log or fitness app. Then it lists the barriers that could get in the way: if it rains, you use the treadmill at work during lunch instead; if you have a packed day, you split it into three 10-minute walks throughout the day; if you're on a business trip, you bring your old shoes since you haven't gotten the new ones yet, and walk first thing in the morning. And I really love this line: "This contract will be evaluated every Sunday and adapted if necessary."

Jen: That's nice.

Alex: Right, it fits our whole philosophy of assessing your fitness goals and adjusting based on reality. The other great thing about this contract is that it's signed by both the participant and a witness — which could be a fitness friend acting as your accountability partner. Jen, what do you think of this concept?

Jen: I love this so much. Actually, doing research for this episode got me so motivated that I'm going to try something similar myself, combined with another idea — this business concept of "sprints," where you work toward a very concentrated goal over a set period. So I've decided I'm going on a fitness sprint, starting now through the next six weeks, using a contract just like this one to lay it all out. I love that it spells out potential barriers and how to work around them — it's just a genuinely great concept.

Alex: Way to go, Kansas State. And Jen, it sounds like you're combining the fitness contract with agile project management.

Jen: Oh, yeah — that'll resonate with everyone in business, probably. So expect to see my contract coming your way for a signature soon. The other thing I wanted to mention is that a lot of the ideas in this kind of contract are also drawn from behavioral therapy. I actually wrote a blog post about this, touching on some of the fitness apps out there — there's good and bad to them, you can get pretty obsessive about tracking everything, but some of the best parts, I think, are the elements borrowed from cognitive behavioral therapy: positive reinforcement, and the idea of self-efficacy, which is basically your belief that you're capable of making the change. I think that's really one of the strongest keys to motivation: positivity.

Alex: Absolutely — and I look forward to reading how your fitness contract experience goes. Sounds like we've got that story coming down the road.

Concept Two: Share Your Progress

Jen: I'll share it on the blog too. Let's talk about our second concept: sharing your progress — which I actually touched on in that last blog post too. But I have to say, Alex, this one goes against your rule about gym selfies.

Alex: Yeah, but let's get into the intent behind the gym selfie — keep talking.

Jen: So we found a 2013 study out of the University of South Carolina titled "Weight Loss Social Support in 140 Characters or Less: Use of an Online Social Network in a Remotely Delivered Weight Loss Intervention." Love a clever research title.

Alex: Yeah, and that really takes you back — the whole "140 characters" Twitter thing feels like an eternity ago at this point.

Jen: It so does, it so does. But at a high level, the study found that people who used Twitter to share updates about their fitness progress and workouts were more likely to lose weight over the course of the study. So that supports the idea that social sharing around your fitness routine — including gym selfies, Alex — tracks positively with hitting your fitness goals.

Alex: Yeah, that's what I took from the study too. It's still an external motivator, but I had to rethink my stance on gym selfies after reading this.

Jen: Yeah, and I wrote about this on the blog too — it took me way back to when my first running tracker was this little physical chip you'd slot into your shoe. You could get shoes specially designed for it, or just buy a cheap little pouch to tie into your laces — this was way back in the early days of tracking. I had it set up so all my runs would upload to my Facebook. This is really dating me. But it was genuinely motivating, especially as a new runner at the time — when people commented on my runs, it felt great and kept me going. Eventually I polled some friends and realized it was also kind of annoying to them, so I dialed it back a bit, but I can really see how sharing your progress can be a motivating factor.

Alex: Yeah, and I think if you read the study, part of what stood out was the social aspect — people who were in a challenge together, sharing progress with each other, and that mutual visibility was what motivated them. So that's an important part of the concept. That was Twitter in 2013, but now we've got apps like Strava and Garmin Connect — Strava, to me, would be the modern equivalent of doing this today, along with some of these other fitness apps, as opposed to Facebook or Twitter or even TikTok, which actually has a pretty positive fitness community too. It's interesting to see how this has evolved since 2013 — they were really onto something with the concept. Maybe Elon Musk needs to look at adding fitness functionality to Twitter, since he wants it to do everything, basically be the American version of the Chinese app WeChat. So, Elon, there might be a winner there — go read that 2013 study.

Jen: Yeah, it'd honestly be a lot better than most of what's on Twitter right now, I can tell you that. But yeah, I think with Strava specifically, you get a more targeted audience — because it's other Strava users, versus me just spamming my entire Facebook feed with fitness updates. People on Strava are generally already interested in this stuff, so it makes more sense to be targeted that way. I think it's a good evolution.

Alex: Yeah, and something cool about Strava is you naturally build connections through it — my Zwift is linked to my Strava, and since people on Zwift are from all over the world, it automatically detects when you ride alongside them and connects you on Strava. So I end up with followers from all over the world, and follow them back. It's really cool seeing people you don't know at all posting their rides and runs and walks — someone in England, someone in Germany, someone in Korea, someone in Kyrgyzstan. It's amazing seeing people all over the world enjoying fitness. I think that's a really cool aspect of these sharing apps too.

Concept Three: Practice Positive Self-Talk

Jen: Yeah, absolutely. Let's move on to our third concept: focusing on positive self-talk. This is something I have quite a bit of experience with — actually, I have the most experience with negative self-talk, but it's something I've been working on for a while. I touched on this a bit on the blog too. On the surface, it might seem like being hard on yourself would lead to better results, and honestly, in the back of my mind I still sometimes think, I should be harder on myself, that'll motivate me. In fact, it's incredibly unmotivating — it has the exact opposite effect. On the flip side, I found this article from the Mayo Clinic outlining the benefits of positive self-talk. Listen to this: some of the health benefits linked to positive thinking conveyed through positive self-talk include increased lifespan, lower levels of depression, lower levels of distress, greater resistance to the common cold, better psychological and physical well-being, better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and better coping skills during hardship and times of distress. Isn't that pretty amazing?

Alex: It is — really amazing what they've linked to positive self-talk.

Jen: Pretty incredible. They weren't entirely clear on the specific mechanism, but one theory is that having a positive outlook helps you cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body. So I want to give some practical tips for reframing self-talk from negative to positive — things that have worked for me, and that are also backed by research. First, you have to recognize your inner critic — that voice constantly telling you negative things. You can even have a little dialogue with it: "That's interesting that you'd frame it that way, what's the thinking behind it?" So step one is just recognizing it. One of my favorite tricks after that is asking what I'd say to a friend. If I'm thinking something like, "wow, you're such a loser for not working out today," would I ever say that to you, Alex, or to anyone else? Of course not. So that's been one of my most useful tricks — thinking about how you'd talk to a friend, or even someone you don't like, since you still wouldn't talk to them that harshly. And the third one is identifying a mantra — I know for some people this can feel a little cheesy, but it helps me. It could be something like "I'm doing the best that I can," or "I'll keep working on this," or one of my favorites, "live and learn" — so when I miss a workout for whatever reason, I just think, well, next time I'll try a different strategy.

Alex: Yeah, and you can even fold the mantra into meditation if that's something you do. The other piece of negative self-talk I'd add is the spiraling, ruminating thoughts we've talked about before — you can really cut those off early if you're mindful enough to catch yourself getting into it. A really simple one for me is just, "here I go again," and I stop myself, because I always spiral toward these ridiculous worst-case scenarios — like, I feel a little ache, and suddenly it must be a life-ending tumor. Catching yourself out of those patterns can have a really big impact on negative self-talk. So, Jen, how do we translate all this into something practical people can actually use mid-workout?

Jen: So we found some tips in a Well+Good article from a clinical health and performance psychologist named Leah Lagos, author of Heart Breath Mind. She talks not just about reframing thoughts from negative to positive, but also notes, quote, "on a physiological level, negative self-talk can raise your heart rate, cause perspiration, and increase muscle tension. It's one of the most toxic things we can do."

Alex: Yeah, I'll add to that — how many times have you gone into negative self-talk mid-workout? For me it's maybe once a month, every few weeks, usually on a day I'm already tired, maybe after a long day at work — and you just start thinking, oh, I can't do any more reps, I feel really tired, or on a bike ride or run, I can't go any further. What happens the moment you actually start thinking that?

Jen: You give up. I've had this happen so many times, especially in the early days of running — if I was feeling sluggish, I'd think, wow, your pace is so bad right now, all of that in my head, and it actually makes the workout harder. It makes you work harder to overcome it, which is exactly what that article was describing — such a self-defeating strategy. So how do you reframe it into positive self-talk mid-workout? It can be a small tweak. Instead of "I'm going so slow," I'll tell myself, this is a great pace for today, or this is where I am right now. Instead of "I won't make it," think, you've got this, you've only got a quarter mile to go, you got out here and did this. Little things like that can make a real difference, not just in how you feel, but in your motivation to keep going.

Alex: Yeah, I love "this is where I am right now" — I've seen that one applied in yoga too, like, this pose isn't as strong as it's been on other days, or I can't get as deep into this stretch today — well, this is my body today. I think those are great reframes for working out. For running specifically, I have this weird visualization — not exactly self-talk, but similar — where if I feel myself lagging on pace or getting tired, I picture a jet engine spinning back up. If you've ever sat by the wing on a plane and heard the engine spin up, it's this really distinct sound, and I picture that, and it helps me keep going.

Jen: That's kind of cool.

Alex: It's not exactly self-talk, but it's the same underlying concept — a positive way of framing things. So, let's move to our fourth and final concept for today: using music to motivate yourself. This one's simple, and probably something a lot of us already do without necessarily thinking about why. It's a genuinely fascinating subject. Have you ever noticed, before a big sports game, the footage they show in the locker room — or even at a basketball game, if you've ever been to an NBA game, you'll see a lot of players actually wearing headphones out on the court, even though the arena's blasting music. Serious elite athletes like listening to their own music before games, and there's real research behind why. We found some great material from the American Council on Exercise on the impact of music on exercise — they trace the use of music to motivate performance all the way back to Roman galleys.

Jen: Oh, wow.

Alex: The drummers keeping the rowers in sync on those big warships. According to Costas Karageorghis, from London's Brunel University School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, quoted in this research, quote, "music is like a legal drug for athletes. It can reduce the perception of effort significantly and increase endurance by as much as 15%."

Jen: Wow, that's cool.

Alex: Amazing. So how does this actually work? First, just like those Roman rowers, you tend to bring your exercise tempo in line with the music's tempo — I think we've all experienced that during a workout. Second, music tends to increase arousal, the desire to move — that's why we want to dance. Some of us don't particularly want to dance, or actually, I do, just not when people are watching, because I'm a terrible dancer. But instead of dancing, you go for a run if you're listening to music. And third, music can distract you from the discomfort of exercise itself. All of that tracks for me, and explains why if I listen to Lil Jon before lifting weights or boxing, I have a noticeably better session.

Jen: Yeah, they always play really upbeat music at boxing gyms too, so I'm sure that's part of the reasoning. And I think the distraction piece is a big part of it as well.

Alex: Yeah. So if you're going for a run, pick music that matches the tempo you actually want to run at — if you're doing a slow run, I wouldn't recommend hardcore techno, for example, you want it to match your pace. Also, on a safety note — I love the idea of music, but I don't think listening to music while cycling outdoors is very safe, so we wouldn't advise doing that on a bike. And a small pet peeve while I'm at it: for runners listening to music on multi-use bike paths, or even walkers — please stay aware of your surroundings. I can't count how many times I've been riding on one of these shared paths and someone's veered dangerously into my path because they had headphones in and couldn't hear me coming. That's probably the one downside to this concept, but otherwise it's a genuinely great way to motivate yourself during exercise.

Jen: Yeah, maybe better suited to the gym than to running outdoors — the trails here are pretty packed, multi-use trails too, so I don't think it's the safest for outdoor running here. But at the gym, you've always got to have music on, right?

Alex: Or your home gym — you can just blast it.

Jen: Oh, that's right.

Alex: I just blast it in my garage. So, speaking of the gym — what are your favorite workout songs?

Jen: Oh, that's a good question. I think my favorite workout artist is the Foo Fighters — I like to put on a mix of theirs. For a while I was really obsessed with this idea that 140 beats per minute is supposedly the perfect running cadence, so I went looking for songs at exactly that tempo to build a playlist. It got a little repetitive after a while, though, so now I just listen to upbeat stuff I actually like.

Alex: And you can find those beats-per-minute playlists on Apple Music or Spotify — I've seen specific BPM playlists built for running, which is a cool idea if people haven't thought of it. I like a lot of different stuff too, hard to pick a single favorite song, but I think we both know my go-to race pump-up song, which nobody except me seems to understand, but it just sets the mood perfectly for me: "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins — because it starts out really slow, and if you time it right, the beat drop lands exactly when the race starts, and you just explode out of the gate. It's amazing.

Jen: I don't know, Alex — Phil Collins isn't exactly a top candidate for pump-up music, for me at least. But hey, at least you didn't pick "Sussudio." That's all I'll say.

Alex: No, that one's just very specific to races, for whatever reason — it really gets me going. Otherwise I like pretty intense or upbeat stuff, hip-hop or rock, metal, all kinds, typical guy stuff from the 1990s — that's probably my best pump-up music. Jock Jams, remember that? That was good stuff.

Jen: Oh my gosh, no.

Takeaways

Alex: So, Jen, that kind of wraps up our four concepts — what did we learn today?

Jen: Yeah, we covered a lot, so let me recap the key takeaways: create a fitness contract with yourself — I'm going to be working on mine tonight — share your progress, practice positive self-talk, and listen to music to motivate yourself. Four simple tips for motivating yourself when you're lacking motivation, or trying to get back into fitness.

Wrap-Up

Alex: Yeah, we thought these were really cool concepts. Again, for long-term fitness success, we still think you should look to your intrinsic motivation and find your fitness "why" — but if you've hit a rough patch and are feeling a little unmotivated, these are the kinds of things that can get you going again, especially that contract idea, which I love. We'd love to hear if people try this out and what their experience is with it. Until next week, that's going to wrap it up — as always, please go check out practically.fit, sign up for our newsletter for great content in your inbox every week, and feel free to comment on the podcast there too. We'd love it if you'd share the podcast with others, or rate us on your platform of choice — we especially appreciate ratings on Apple Podcasts. That's it for this week — until next week, remember —

Jen: Fitness is for everybody.