Well, it's one way of going about forcing yourself to work out, certainly. Personally, I've found that if I'm forcing myself to do exercise, it won't last. It's got to be enjoyable to me, and that's why I've never signed up to a gym – it's not a particularly enjoyable experience. I do think part of this is that it's a really artificial environment. Not wanting to get too biological, but our ancient ancesters probably evolved using physical activity as a means to an end – hunting. And they always did it outside, of course. So I think there's something unnatural about exercising on a treadmill inside. That's not to say it doesn't work for loads of people, but for me I prefer to do something that is outside
and that I enjoy.

I think life is too short to keep forcing yourself to do things you don't really want to do. There is, of course, a time and a place for this, but I don't think it should be a frequent occurrence. You're great at what you do precisely because you love it so much. I'd bet that although you work really hard, you don't force yourself to do this most of the time (although of course there are moments for every entrepreneur where they have to push through fear and doubt). So what I try to do is find an activity that I enjoy. For me, this is running. At school, I was always last to be picked for any team and I hated sport with a passion. As an adult, I've discovered that a lot of my hatred wasn't related to the activity, but more the mentality that grew around it. When I got running on my own I found that it's a really great way to kick off your day and it feels great to be outside, connecting with the outside world, especially as I spend so much time on my computer.

Is the gym system still working for you? Have you tried different sports? I've found that something like tennis is fantastic fun and gives you an incredible workout. And being so tall I bet with a bit of practice you could really toast most other competitors. There are so many options out there to try – last year I took a Street Dance class and it really was superb fun.

One last thing – the Nike and iPod combination for running make it fun and let me see how many calories I've burnt and how far I've run. Fantastic!

Working out is something that, at first, is a pain in the ass for everyone; but if you commit to consistency, it becomes a repose from the everyday stresses of life – and you end up feelin so damn good when you're done.

Last year as my wife and I were planning our wedding, I was so discouraged because of how much I had let myself go. I made a massive commitment to myself to start living a healthy and fitness oriented lifestyle.

There are two things that I did that were HUGE:

1) I set measurable and identifiable goals & recorded my progress.

Without some metric (I suggest body fat %) with which to judge your success within a few months you may get discouraged and lose motivation.

2) TAKE PHOTOS!

Some dude told me to do right when I started because he said that my mind would play tricks on me at some point, but if I had proof to verify my progress I would be in better shape. It's the equivalent of a company trying to compare this year's Gross Margin to last year's except all they have is this year's financials. You can "feel" and "think" you were more profitable, but unless you have a snapshot of last year, you can't really prove it to your investors.

Here is my Before & After set (http://tinyurl.com/9q83bv)

Some cool tools that I am using this year to help keep me on track are:

http://www.thenakedtrainer.net(by the founder of Plan HQ)
http://caloriecount.about.com

Sorry for the ridiculously long post :)

Money just doesn’t motivate me.

I find it much easier to do things when there is a clearly defined goal and the steps to get to there are defined as well. I'm currently doing the hundredpushups exercise and really dig the way that works, it really tickles my inner "workout geek" with the game elements stuck in there.

Can’t think of anything worse in the current climate than burning money. I hope that was a joke.

Jason

If people come back a second time (which so far everyone else has) we start to fine them £2 if they don't turn up at future sessions. So far we've not had to issue fines but if we do all the proceeds go behind the bar for a social.