- Think of Someone you Dislike: Hate can be a fabulous motivator, believe it or not. Also, notice how mean people seem to live longer. How many total pricks do you know that are still around? Every one of them, it seems. They'll outlive everybody, just for spite! This is only true if you have any enemies, or people that have wronged you, and gotten away with it. If you're a "mister nice guy" and have nothing but friends, this will not work for you. The method goes something like this: During the last few repetitions of an exercise, or during the all-out phase of interval training, picture your worst enemy practicing harder somewhere with the express purpose of eventually kicking your ass. Works amazingly well.
- Think of a Love Interest: Maybe you're trying to win over that little hottie in accounting with your hard-body, or possibly you want to rekindle your marriage by taking a little pride in your appearance. Method: Visualize your subject ogling you as you walk by with that slim body, bulging biceps, or six-pack abs, etc.
- Think of the Health Benefits: Exercise has a lot of instant and long-term health benefits. Sweating helps detoxify the skin, and gives it a healthy glow. Full oxygenation of the lungs promotes anti-aging and blood flow to the organs. Weight-bearing exercise thickens the bone structure, and prevents osteoporosis. Exercise helps keep you active long past the day when your sedentary counterparts will be unable to care for themselves.
- Set Goals/Track Your Workouts: You should keep a journal of what you did on what day, so you don't repeat certain exercises unnecessarily, and don't leave out any muscle groups either, which can lead to injury later. Also, you can track your progress (or regression!) over time. You can carry the journal with you in the gym and quickly write stats down between exercises, or after completed sets, if you can remember everything you did (not me). What I do is carry an old PDA (personal digital assistant), where I just copy and paste routines from the second to last workout, in a matter of seconds, or whichever workout routine you feel you need to catch up on, and just blank out the old numbers and replace with today's results.
- Vary Your Workouts: If you're doing the same exercise to target the shoulders for the 89th time in a row, maybe it's time to switch to a different exercise that targets the shoulders from a different angle or resistance curve. For example, if you're tired of doing dumbbell front raises, switch to the barbell military press for a while.
- Make it Convenient: Sometimes, it's just the logistics of going the the physical location of the gym that kills your motivation. Perhaps traffic is bad, or it's late, or the gym is closed. Maybe it's too crowded with those pesky 20-somethings, hogging the weights. Try putting your gym in your house. Go to Play It Again Sports to find affordable, used gym equipment. Or, get your local friends to go in on renting gym space right down the street, where everybody gets a key to the place, and shares in the cost of buying the equipment. Put a TV in there too,with cable, and a fridge, and a pool table, and a bar, and a stripper pole, just like that place they used to hangout at on the Sopranos.
- Take a Nap First: Sometimes, you're just beat from work, or just a long day. Try flopping on the couch for a 30 or 40 minute nap. Then wake up, have a coke or coffee, and go! Works wonders.
Fitness Link of the Day:Updated Atkins Diet
Fitness Link I: Look Better Naked
Fitness Link II: Men, Get the Bod of a God in 28 Days
Fitness Link III: Ultimate Upper Body Workout
Fitness Link IV: How to Harden That Saggy Old Ass
Fitness Link V: 6 Exercises for 6-Pack Abs, Fatboy!
Fitness Link VI: Best Muscle Building Moves of All Time
Two new studies report that regular consumption of omega-3-rich food could prevent age-related cognitive decline. The first study, led by researchers from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, used a longitudinal assessment of 210 men without Alzheimer's disease, collecting dietary data via crosscheck dietary histories in 1990, when the subjects were 70-89 years old. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The authors conclude that over a period of five years, consumers of approximately 400 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) per day had less cognitive decline than those who consumed only about 20 milligrams per day. A second study from the University of North Carolina used a prospective design to investigate the potential benefits of omega-3 levels in the blood with cognitive decline in 2,251 white adults (average age 57 at baseline). Blood fatty acid concentrations were measured in all subjects at the start of the study and correlated with cognitive function assessed three and nine years later, assessing verbal learning, recent memory, psychomotor performance, linguistic impairment, and global cognition. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the researchers report that global cognitive decline was not associated with omega-3 blood levels at baseline, but a subgroup analysis examining specific types of cognitive decline found that greater blood omega-3 fatty acid levels may prevent a decline in verbal fluency. (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, volume 85, pages 1142-1147 and volume 85, pages 1103-1111) 
