This is a short post-ette on seeking out acoustic motivation, in whatever form works for you! I’ve written extensively on the importance of setting goals, checking in on oneself, and measuring progress, but I believe that to achieve all of this, motivation is something that must be sought out every single day; as Zig Ziglar observed, ‘People often say that motivation doesn’t last – well, neither does bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily!’. I wanted to share with you one of the major ways in which I encounter and extract health and fitness motivation on a daily basis. The best bit is that you can do it anywhere, anytime and it costs nothing – whilst commuting, walking to work or the gym (my favourite), whilst cooking, cleaning or even whilst working. Podcasts not only deliver awesome and focussed motivation, but they’re informative and keep me entertained. As with everything, there are parts of certain pods I agree with and others I don’t, but it’s always interesting to hear different views. I’m broadening my horizons whilst accomplishing things I might not have wanted to accomplish, spurred along by this! Click MORE to see my top podcasts and my two items that deliver me pure audiophile bliss
First up, a small confession; I’m an audiophile! Like many, I find music to be such an evocative force, it can bring me to tears of joy and then sorrow, and back to joy again within mere minutes. My ears constantly crave high sound quality, and to that end my friends at Amazon made something pretty incredible happen via their #ShoptheFuture store: I am the very proud owner of a pair of Japanese hand-crafted Sony MDR-Z1R ultra-high-def headphones, which is the acoustic equivalent of a petrolhead procuring a Ferrari F40. The rendering of sound is quite literally as good as I’ve ever heard, throughout the entire register, with a warm rich bass, perfectly balanced by crisp trebles and impossible amounts of character and presence in between. They reveal details I’ve simply never heard in familiar songs, so that I can enjoy my favorite motivational tunes in the best quality I’ve ever experienced. It is delicious, sumptuous audio quality, and parallels eating chocolate with your ears! Not only that but the butter-soft sheepskin padded muffs almost make you weep with the comfort – this is gearhead utopia. Having a huge array of diverse playlists to cycle through, consisting of new tunes, old favourites, up-tempo genres, and chill out standards – all of which enthuse and energise me, is a necessity. Training in a gym at 06:00 can at times feel lonely, but having someone wailing in my ear about their latest breakup in 4-part-harmony in HD clarity is like having a good friend giving you that extra bit of drive!
Another favorite is heading down to my local park at sunset and just busting out some Beyonce to get me through an outdoor session! For this purpose, I’ve been experimenting with the Bose Soundlink Revolve Bluetooth speaker, which is perfectly suited to the task. It’s cradle rechargeable, instantly connects to my phone first-time-every-time, and delivers 360-degree sound with substance and presence. From something so small and readily portable, I am super impressed with the punch from this little package – perfect for when you and a few mates decide to go for a park session!
WHAT DO I RECOMMEND BY WAY OF PODCASTS?
Well, there’s always the classic TED Talks Health. If through some misfortune, you’ve not encountered TED Talks, they’re short erudite soliloquies lasting approximately 18 minutes or less. The TED Talks Health show some different subjects varying from body image, motivation, mental illness and nutrition.
There are so many to listen to, but some of my choicest favourites that have made quite an impression on me:
- Sandra Aamodt: Why Dieting Doesn’t Usually Work (see item #69 in the list that comes up)
- Why fitness is more important than weight – Leanne Spencer, at TEDxWandsworth
- One which touches more perhaps on organization (a key ingredient for goal setting) and one of my favourites; partly because it’s so funny and if you have a tendency to procrastinate you’ll relate. https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator
- And a key talk, Simon Sinek’s ‘Why, How, What’ thesis, which rose to prominence in his celebrated TEDx talk, about which I wrote in my recent post HERE.
ALSO, HERE ARE 4 MORE GEMS…
- Shredded by science Radio – Humorous but scientific. It’s informative and makes light of another wise at times; industry; which takes itself very seriously and is riddled by ego.
- Food for Fitness – Scott Bapties a Physique and sports nutritionist discussed diets, food shows, training.
- Podrunner – I recently discovered this is a podcast channel that’s established for 10 years+, and which delivers free music for anyone training – running, power-walkers, weight training etc. I find that anything between 120-130bpm (ideally 128) is ideal for the purpose! Power it out on the Bose Soundlink and you’re in business
- Barbell Shrugged – Find up to 250 episodes which interviews experts in specific different fields. It’s super informative and the sort of stuff which can be super helpful to improve your training. There’s a lot of x-fit stuff but also a lot of other bits too – something for everyone.
Enjoy the tunes & learnings!
Faya x
Liked the products? Buy them here:
– Sony MDR-Z1R ultra-high-def headphones – HERE
– Bose Soundlink Revolve Bluetooth speaker – HERE
______________________
This post is a sponsored collaboration with Amazon as part of their #ShopetheFuture campaign. For more about why I take on such projects, please see my DISCLOSURE page. Thank you.
