How to be CONSISTENT (even if you don’t feel like it)

What Really Keeps You Going? How Self-Determination Theory Can Change the Way You Train

By Jerred Moon, Garage Gym Athlete Podcast

Most of us aren’t lacking in effort—we’re putting in the work. We hit our workouts, we log our steps, we follow the plan. But despite our best intentions, we can still find ourselves stuck: sedentary for hours after a long run, inconsistent when life gets hard, or just plain unmotivated. So how do we bridge that gap between action and transformation?

The answer might be in your psychology—not your programming.

A New Look at Motivation: What the Research Shows

In this episode of the Garage Gym Athlete Podcast, we dive into a multi-country study involving 4,560 overweight men aged 30–65 who were part of a health initiative connected to European soccer clubs. But this wasn’t just another workout intervention. It was rooted in Self-Determination Theory (SDT)—a powerful framework that looks at how people develop sustained motivation.

The core idea? If people feel autonomy (freedom of choice), competence (they’re improving), and relatedness (they’re not alone), they’ll stick with the process—long after the honeymoon phase fades.

And it worked.

After just three months of coaching and follow-up after a year, participants saw significant long-term improvements—not only in steps per day, sitting time, and sit-to-stand transitions, but also in diet, body weight, and psychological wellbeing.

Let’s break it down.

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1. The Environment Matters: Support Over Shame

The coaches in this study weren’t drill sergeants. They were facilitators. They didn’t dictate; they discussed. They helped participants connect their goals to personal values and life circumstances.

“You don’t need a certified expert. You need someone you can talk to—someone who asks questions, listens, and helps you explore your ‘why.’”

Whether it's a friend, spouse, or someone in the Garage Gym Athlete community, finding a support system that doesn’t judge but instead walks beside you makes all the difference.

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2. Autonomy: Do What You Actually Want to Do

You don’t need to force yourself to run if you hate running. You don’t need to follow a kettlebell program just because someone else said it’s elite. Choose what fires you up. When you choose the method, you’re more likely to stick with it.

“Stop copying trends. Start asking: What do I enjoy? What am I willing to do consistently?”

And when you find something you enjoy, attach it to a deeper meaning. Go five layers deep into your “why.” Want to get fit? Why? To feel better? Why? To have more energy with your kids? Why? To be the kind of parent they look up to? Now we’re talking.

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3. Competence: Set Goals You Can Win

Self-determination thrives when you feel like you’re improving. In the study, workouts were scaled to each individual’s fitness level—no one-size-fits-all approach. The key was to help people feel successful, even with small wins.

You can apply this by:

• Tracking performance metrics (instead of just the scale)

• Scaling workouts appropriately

• Using autoregulation methods like RPE or percentage-based lifting

Jerred shares an example with the Strike Zero program, which adjusts the workout load based on each individual’s capability—no ego lifts, just real progress.

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4. Relatedness: We’re Not Meant to Do This Alone

This might be the most overlooked piece of the puzzle: connectedness. You need people—whether it’s a weekly “Meet Yourself Saturday” group or just your kids joining you in the garage for a few push-ups.

“You don’t need a gym membership. You need someone to high-five after a tough set.”

The podcast team emphasizes that community can be built around your current life, not the other way around. If you’re busy with family or work, invite someone into your workouts, rather than trying to carve out separate “hangout” time.

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The Long Game: Why This Matters More Than You Think

This study didn’t just show better health outcomes—it showed sustainable behavior change. People weren’t just coached for 12 months—they were supported for three months and changed their lives for the next nine on their own.

That’s not hype. That’s habit.

So what’s the takeaway?

• Ditch the white-knuckle approach. Motivation is fragile. Build systems that support you.

• Pick what you enjoy. Forget trends. Find your own path.

• Track your progress. Don’t just show up—improve.

• Find your tribe. Even if it’s just one person.

• Know your why. And revisit it often.

As Jerred says:

“Be more like you. Figure out what really motivates you. And stop trying to fit into someone else’s model of what toughness or fitness should look like.”

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Final Thought

If you’re a Garage Gym Athlete already crushing workouts but feeling disconnected or stuck—take this as your reminder. It’s not about training harder. It’s about aligning your actions with your values, finding people to walk with you, and creating an environment that fuels your long-term goals.

Because if you don’t kill comfort…
Comfort will kill you.

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Garage Gym Athlete Workout of the Week

Podcast Transcript

Jerred: [00:00:00] Alright, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Garage Gym Athlete Podcast. Today we're gonna be [00:00:05] going over a study that really looks at self-determination theory, which is something that we're, we're looking [00:00:10] at more. And the real reason being is because I want athletes to be able to shape their [00:00:15] environment to be able to succeed.

A lot of you are putting in the workouts, you're doing what you need to be doing, [00:00:20] but sometimes we miss the mark. On the daily activity, [00:00:25] the lifestyle stuff, but we might be crushing it in training. You know, a good example of getting 10, [00:00:30] 15,000 steps in in a day is great, but that's not so great if you go sit on your butt for 14 [00:00:35] hours after that, even though you got your steps in with a long run in the morning.

So we're gonna be looking at [00:00:40] a really awesome study that kind of goes over this, this idea and this principle, and I'm [00:00:45] pretty excited to dive into it. Uh, Dave is here as well. What's up Dave? [00:00:50] Jared excited. Let's dive in. Yeah, we're gonna get into it. So I'll go over the, the real quick, [00:00:55] uh, you know, ins and outs of the study, just so people know how big it was.

So it was across four [00:01:00] different countries. Uh, in Europe there are 4, 560 overweight men, aged 30 to [00:01:05] 65 years old. And the big picture, just in my own, uh, you know, [00:01:10] my own terms, what were they looking at? They invited these people to some sort of club. I'm [00:01:15] not real familiar with Euro fit. Uh, club. It's a European fans in [00:01:20] training, so these people who were.

Fans of all these different soccer clubs [00:01:25] across Europe, uh, you can kind of join this program. You get to train with a coach. And these coaches were trained [00:01:30] specifically in the self-determination theory. So a quick refresher on SDT, um, [00:01:35] it's really finding, finding out the internal, the intrinsic motivators for a person.[00:01:40]

Uh, so that normally comes down to autonomy, like being able to select what you do, [00:01:45] competence being good at that thing, and relatedness being able to do with other people. And they, they [00:01:50] trained these coaches on. Really meeting the people's needs of what they wanted, [00:01:55] fostering conversations as opposed to this real hardnosed approach of just, [00:02:00] Hey, you need to get it done.

You suck, get better. All these things. And I [00:02:05] think this is very interesting. I'm gonna pause there because I kind of wanna talk about that coaching mentality. I know you've coached a lot of [00:02:10] people. Uh, what is generally your take that you've seen most successful [00:02:15] with somebody who's not as motivated, but you're still pushing them along to see the results that they wanted?[00:02:20]

Dave: Yeah, the Hardnosed approach really works for someone that, like, I think when you, and that's [00:02:25] where we talked on past podcasts, about like getting to a deeper why of why someone wants to [00:02:30] lose weight or get healthy. There's usually a reason behind it, but there's usually a lot of fear that people come in with and I think, [00:02:35] I think people are more aware than.

We give them credit for, as coaches, sometimes it's like they know they haven't [00:02:40] stuck to things before. They, like, there's doubts coming to their mind anytime they start a new program, whether you're signing up [00:02:45] for, uh, like a membership on our site or whether you're working with a coach or a trainer.

There's, you're like, I've [00:02:50] tried this before. There's, there's all those thought loops going in of like, well, why is this gonna be any different? And you get [00:02:55] excited when you sign up and there's this like, rush of excitement. But then there's the gap between like, okay, now how do I [00:03:00] actually. Follow through, like, oh shoot, now I actually have to like do the workouts and eat healthy.

And the first, the [00:03:05] excitement of the early, early weeks are over. So the like beating someone up over it [00:03:10] and being like, Hey, like why didn't you get a workout in? Why didn't you get your workout? Like, that doesn't help people. They're like, yeah, I know [00:03:15] that. And that's usually when I've seen people withdraw.

Like if you try and

Jerred: a hundred percent, if you try

Dave: and like, you try and press [00:03:20] in and then people pull back and then they end up dropping off because they could blame it on us [00:03:25] as a coach. They could blame it on. The time wasn't right then, then all the, uh, reasons come up of like why it [00:03:30] didn't, why it didn't work this time.

But that's what happens I think when you, when you press too hard and don't really [00:03:35] understand of where someone's coming from and understand those, like the doubts and fears and things that they already [00:03:40] have in the back of their mind.

Jerred: Yeah. And that's, that's the biggest thing I've seen as a coach is, uh, [00:03:45] and you, you do have to tailor your coaching just like any kind of leadership to the individual [00:03:50] and, uh, you can't.

Just say, Hey, you have to come fit into my cookie cutter style. Um, and that's why [00:03:55] I, I'm not a huge fan when. Uh, you know, who's the guy who wrote the book, like [00:04:00] Relentless or whatever? Um, Tim Grover, I think like those kind of books. Mm-hmm. People [00:04:05] looked to that and they're like, that's how you should coach.

And it's like, that's how you should coach if you're, if you're not coaching the 1%, [00:04:10] this is the 0.0, zero zero 1% as who this guy has, has coached. So it's [00:04:15] not an applicable coaching standard for everyone else. When I hold people accountable, [00:04:20] that's the thing that I've noticed is if you get harder, harder press on the accountability, they start to withdraw.

Like [00:04:25] you're saying, they start to, they no longer respond to accountability. They're not showing up for calls. They're not showing up for [00:04:30] workouts. They are no longer interested, and it's because. They're running from accountability. They know that they're not doing it, [00:04:35] and they would rather just run away.

And so that's, that's ultimately what this study, in my opinion is looking at [00:04:40] is like how do we solve that problem? Like how do we not run from accountability? How do we get past this [00:04:45] honeymoon phase that you're talking about where people are really excited for, could be seven days, [00:04:50] could be six weeks, but then the grind eventually sets in where it's like, I just have to do this boring [00:04:55] work for years on n to see results and.

What's interesting about this study is they actually [00:05:00] had really positive outcomes. So they coached people for three months utilizing [00:05:05] these self-determination techniques, and we'll talk about what some of those are. So the intervention period was [00:05:10] three months, but then they followed up over a 12 month timeline a year later to see how people were [00:05:15] doing and everything had a.

Positive correlation. And what they were tracking [00:05:20] objectively were physical activity, steps per day, sit to stand, transitions [00:05:25] in sedentary behavior, sitting time. And I was gonna let you hit on those, man. Like why do you think that those [00:05:30] three things are important and like, why would they be tracked? Why wouldn't they track [00:05:35] something else when it comes to this study?

Like do you, and do you think those are good? Like do you think those [00:05:40] are good things to track?

Dave: I do think they're good things to track and I think, um, I think [00:05:45] they're applicable to people. Who in the study was, you know, middle aged men that were [00:05:50] overweight or obese. So it's like in that population getting, getting that population [00:05:55] motivated.

And we'll talk a little more about some of the motivational things they, they used, but getting that [00:06:00] population to get up and move, just even like basic things is hard. Let alone, hey, you need to go work out three times a week or six times [00:06:05] a week in a gym. They're like, no way. But just getting them to move more and sit less can have a [00:06:10] drastic, your drastic improvement on your health.

So if you're, you know, if you have been away from working out for a while. Uh, [00:06:15] getting into a workout program is a good goal at some point, but even just getting up and getting moving [00:06:20] can have drastic effects on, on your health. And we've talked about it with, with Neat or the non-exercise activity [00:06:25] thermogenesis, which is basically like how much you're moving throughout the day without realizing it.

And even for people that are healthy and [00:06:30] working out already. This is super applicable because that separates the people that are, [00:06:35] you know, pretty healthy and follow a workout routine. And the ones that you see, um, [00:06:40] embodying Health, the ones that you look up to and you're like, wow, that person's just like, they're not, they're not trying to be healthy.

Like they're just healthy. [00:06:45] Those are the ones that are stacking all those things together of they're, they're getting their workouts in, but they're getting [00:06:50] steps, they're getting sunlight, they're eating well, they're respecting their body, they're getting good sleep. So if you're struggling in any of those [00:06:55] areas.

It's a lot of times the, you know, some of these smaller things that can move the needle a lot more [00:07:00] than, than people think. And that's why I thought it was cool that, you know, even though they didn't have exercise in it, those are, in my opinion, still some good things [00:07:05] to track and see improvements on, especially 12 months down the road.

Jerred: Yeah, because this, this white [00:07:10] knuckle approach to health and fitness doesn't really work, you know? And. And we talk about it [00:07:15] and, and it's very, you know, common thing like habit stacking, right? It's like, and, and a very [00:07:20] basic example of habit stacking would be I put my multivitamin on top of my coffee machine.

So when I have coffee in the morning, I [00:07:25] remember to take my multivitamin. And I like that for introducing new habits. But it's [00:07:30] like, unfortunately. You have to do things all day, every [00:07:35] day to maintain health, whether that's your diet, whether that's getting up, sitting less, you know, [00:07:40] moving around more, getting more steps in throughout the day, not in just one bulk of the day.[00:07:45]

Like I, I unfortunately can't sell you fitness in any other capacity. I know a lot of people are [00:07:50] selling like. A 12 week program, a six week program, and that's gonna cure everything. But that's just a piece of [00:07:55] the puzzle. The bigger piece is everything else, it's all of these other things, the physical activity [00:08:00] and all the things that they were measuring.

So first when I read it, I was like, oh, why are we like looking at training time or nutrition? [00:08:05] But they did look at those things through, um, like in, in their 12 month follow [00:08:10] up and they did have improved diet, body weight and overall wellbeing and. They, [00:08:15] their lifestyle, physical activities was subjectively reported, but it was also higher after the intervention.[00:08:20]

And so I think it's good to know that this was actually effective and [00:08:25] maybe one of the most underlooked and under research part of fitness [00:08:30] programming or fitness, uh, research studies that we look at. 'cause normally we look at something and, and they're, they're talking [00:08:35] about how the bar speed increased or someone got stronger or whatever.

This is like. [00:08:40] We actually changed these people. That's, that's huge. And that's why I really wanted to look at this [00:08:45] so we can dive into some of the things that coaches did and, and maybe there's some takeaways for all the [00:08:50] athletes out there of like, okay, what did these coaches do? And like, how can we actually implement it [00:08:55] other than simply just, you know, hire a coach who's good at what they do.

Like, and, and that's [00:09:00] not necessarily my takeaway, but there were four, um, different things. One, they had a need [00:09:05] supportive environment, uh, so. The coaches acted as [00:09:10] facilitators, not experts, and I thought that that was one of my biggest takeaways is [00:09:15] it said in the study that the coaches were trained to facilitate a conversation [00:09:20] as opposed to just tell you what to do.

And that's how, that's how most programs are. [00:09:25] It's like, yeah, hey, do, do X, Y, and Z, and you are fitter at the end of it. [00:09:30] Period. Do what else? What else do you need to know? They facilitated conversations about [00:09:35] linking it to your personal goals, and so I think that that's one of the big things. I always [00:09:40] push people to do the why exercise.

I try to answer five whys deep on why you're doing something, why [00:09:45] it's important to you, and then after you answer that, why answer why that previous thing is important to you and get as [00:09:50] deep as possible. Because if people don't have that big intrinsic [00:09:55] motivator. They're not gonna stick around and they're, they're, you're not gonna be there for a long time.

And to be honest, I [00:10:00] thought this was pretty common in coaching, but the more I thought about it, I was like, that's not, you know, that's not even like, that's not even [00:10:05] com you know, common in influencer culture. Like most people are not like trying to have [00:10:10] conversations about why things are important. And, and I felt like that's a, a major part of, of why this was effective.[00:10:15]

Dave: Yeah, and I've seen that and, and, and people I've coached and, you know, good coaches do work [00:10:20] themselves out of a job at some point. Like that's something that you get people to the point that they can sustain something [00:10:25] independently is like the ultimate success as a coach, not the best business model.

But that's where, [00:10:30] you know, conversations I have with people. It's, it always seems to. You know, [00:10:35] and there's a certain pal personality that does respond better. They're like, Hey, like, I need to be pushed. Like if I miss a [00:10:40] workout or two workouts in a row, like, get on me, send me a text, do that. And that's where knowing how, how [00:10:45] people respond.

But when you, uh, like when you meet them where you're at and have an actual conversation, this isn't [00:10:50] even like, you know, this isn't like coaching Jedi mind tricks or anything. It's just like being a human and having a [00:10:55] conversation of like, Hey, like you didn't log any workouts this week. Not to state [00:11:00] the obvious, but we know that like, like what's going on?

Can we, like, what do you think we should do? Should we, like, we can shorten the [00:11:05] workouts up. We can go down to your, your, your goal is three. Like, do we need to try and just hit two consistently? Like, do we [00:11:10] need to cut the time down, like, is the time too long? And then it makes them feel like they have ownership in it too.[00:11:15]

And it allows them some autonomy of like how to actually work through those problems [00:11:20] of, 'cause then down the road when they're. On a different program or if they're selling your program, like they can [00:11:25] start to go through that thought process of like, oh shoot. Like I haven't, I haven't hit three workouts three weeks in a row.

Like maybe I should [00:11:30] cut it down to two and just like nail that. Or maybe I should do 30 minute workouts instead of trying to fit an hour one in. [00:11:35] And it gives them some, some confidence to make those changes and be able to be more [00:11:40] empowered in their health versus someone just being like, Nope, here's your program.

Like, do this or, and [00:11:45] like, that's the only way you're gonna get results.

Jerred: Yeah. And so the, the first thing that you need to check off, and there are four, just [00:11:50] everyone's following along. I'm gonna go over four things. The first one we just talked about is need supportive environment in, [00:11:55] in which the coach doesn't have to be an expert.

So go like giving this to an athlete who maybe doesn't have a coach, [00:12:00] like a like garage gym athlete who's following the programming, but doesn't have a one-on-one dedicated [00:12:05] coach. All you need is someone who can talk. You can talk through these things with. [00:12:10] And so a need supportive environment can be a friend, it can be a, a spouse.

It 'cause the, [00:12:15] it says very clearly coaches didn't need to act as experts. So once you have the program, say garage gym athlete, [00:12:20] can you talk to somebody about it? You could do that in our community online. Like [00:12:25] there are lots of ways to have a facilitator, so need supportive environment. Very important. The next thing [00:12:30] was having techniques for autonomy support.

And so I talked about that a little bit, how [00:12:35] they were. Uh, linking things to personal values, like I want to be able [00:12:40] to play with my kids. Those kind of deep why exercises. But it also did, uh, goal [00:12:45] setting based on the individual's preferences. And I've talked a lot about this lately. Like, [00:12:50] if you hate kettlebells, don't do a kettlebell program.

If you hate running, don't run. And. [00:12:55] That again, that kind of goes against the grain of like, no, you just have to run 50 miles a week and you'll be a fit athlete. It's like, that's [00:13:00] true, but if you hate running, what? What are you supposed to do? And so going around what your actual [00:13:05] individual preferences are, that way you can actually make progress and [00:13:10] feel autonomous in your decisions.

And then I think having those personal values attaches just gonna be a home run [00:13:15] for, I mean really for any goal that you're doing, whether that's entrepreneurship, fitness, anything.[00:13:20]

Dave: Yeah, nothing, nothing to add there. I know we, we jumped in that a [00:13:25] little bit in the past, but just like, people, people skip that step, I think 'cause it's, it's kind [00:13:30] of gotten over, communicated a little bit and I think people get the like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I, I know [00:13:35] that for some of the people that, you know, especially been around our community for a while, it's like we've, you've talked about [00:13:40] that, like I've talked about that a lot with, with clients and different things.

So it's, but don't, don't skip that step. Like, it's easy [00:13:45] to look over and be like, oh, that doesn't really apply to me. Or like, I think I know my why, but. Like actually block some uninterrupted time to sit [00:13:50] down with it and like get it on paper and really understand what that is and, and don't just gloss over it or, or [00:13:55] think of a vague thing in your head.

Jerred: Yeah. And then the next one is techniques for [00:14:00] competence enhancement. And so this is similar and like, Hey, if I don't like running, I won't do [00:14:05] running. Okay, I'll do what I do like. But then it's also adjusting a challenge to meet your fitness or skill [00:14:10] level with something that they had them do in the study.

And this is where. We have [00:14:15] talked about and we push really hard on like why you should chase performance metrics, right? As like, because you can [00:14:20] adjust your level to match. You can try and get better at something. Uh, but something I like a [00:14:25] lot, I've been doing the Strike Zero program and just a [00:14:30] quick like how that works is you're basically doing max sets to failure, right?

So [00:14:35] say. And it's all body weight stuff. And so let's say I wanted to do a hundred pull-ups [00:14:40] in the workout, and normally you pick multiple exercises and I, I've gone over [00:14:45] the Strike Zero program before. Maybe I'll do another podcast where I detail out every little thing, um, and give it to the [00:14:50] community.

But ultimately, let's say we choose a hundred pull-ups. And the [00:14:55] reason I love this program is 'cause it, it autoregulates to every individual. [00:15:00] So if. Dave, if you can do 30 strict pull-ups on your first set, and [00:15:05] I can do 15, that's, it's autoregulated to our [00:15:10] competency level, like to our challenge level, right?

And so I think that's something that people [00:15:15] don't do enough is like being able to actually make a program meet your needs. [00:15:20] And now this is Max's effort for body weight stuff, but body weight's pretty safe. Um, I'll, I'll go one step [00:15:25] further, like if that was the actual. Dave could do 30 strict pullups and I could only do 15.

[00:15:30] We both shouldn't be doing a hundred reps. Like I should probably be doing 50 and Dave could do a hundred, uh, total for the workout. [00:15:35] But that's getting like into the weeds of that specific, uh, program. But I think things like [00:15:40] that, like adjusting to your challenge or skill level. And I feel like that's something we do also by like [00:15:45] prescribing percentages of your lifts.

Like that's a very common example of like, let's [00:15:50] do 50% of your back squat as opposed to a lot of other programs out there that are like. Do three [00:15:55] sets of 10 of back squat today and you're gonna be good. And it's like, am I like, should I be, should be doing [00:16:00] 50%, 60%. So I think that there's a lot of that that has to be tailored to the individual.

We've always been [00:16:05] trying to do that Garage Gym athlete with our programming, making everything tailored to the individual, whether that's percentages [00:16:10] or RPE, something along those lines, because I think that goes a long way. And you feeling like you're [00:16:15] actually doing something in the program and getting something out of it, not just following the nuts and bolts.[00:16:20]

Dave: I think, yeah, someone could look at, you know, in our programming, like we're going through a cycle on interval weight [00:16:25] training and I think someone could look at that and be like, wow, that's like super advanced. And that's 'cause it's, you [00:16:30] know, like a heavy, say, a heavy barbell lift or an explosive lift and then like two to three minutes of [00:16:35] max effort cardio.

But that's scalable to anyone. Like if someone's just starting out that [00:16:40] percentage on the barbell, it might be an empty barbell for a set of eight and then you row at [00:16:45] a pace that's. See how many meters you can get in in two minutes, where someone else might be, you know, [00:16:50] squatting 300 pounds and you know, busting out a whole, a whole bunch more meters on a, on a run.

But that's [00:16:55] what's cool when you have those things. And that again, it gives people confidence to be like, oh, I can, I can do this. And you can see [00:17:00] progress so much quicker in that versus like we talk about with some of the other body composition goals or something like, oh, I have a [00:17:05] weight loss goal. It's like you may, when you get towards the end of that, be seeing like.

A half pound [00:17:10] average difference a week versus like, versus like, oh, I added 200 meters onto my row this week, [00:17:15] like and 10 pounds on the barbell. That's something that gives you a lot more confidence in the long run too.

Jerred: [00:17:20] Yeah. Now the last thing is basically the coach has implemented. [00:17:25] Uh, ways to promote relatedness or this connectedness that we talk about, and this is the one I think is we, we struggle [00:17:30] with, I wouldn't say just a garage gym athlete.

I think the world has moved very digitally focused, like a [00:17:35] lot of people working from home Zoom calls. It's a little bit harder to feel that connection [00:17:40] and that relatedness, and I wanted to hash that out with you a little bit more and see what [00:17:45] you thought people should do. I have a couple of ideas, but.

Let's just say [00:17:50] the goal is to have a human to human interaction in your fitness journey at some point. Like [00:17:55] what, what would you recommend people do if they're trying to get that human to human [00:18:00] interaction? That checkbox? 'cause it, it's really important. I mean, even when you look at longevity studies, uh, [00:18:05] it's like people who played tennis and like all these things that are like team sports you're doing with another person.

Like [00:18:10] it just, every study you look at says you need to be, it doesn't have to be every day, but like, you need [00:18:15] to be checking this box. Like how would you recommend people get that done?

Dave: I, [00:18:20] I mean, I'm a, I'm a big believer in family, so I think, I think starting there is a, a great place. I think if you could [00:18:25] involve, you know, even, even young kids just being.

Like having them around when you're working out, even [00:18:30] if they're not working out, if they're able to like have a, something you can do to, to scale it. It doesn't have to be a [00:18:35] daily thing, but like on the weekends, Saturdays, if you're gonna be working out, do a meet yourself Saturday, you're just trying to [00:18:40] get a workout in the weekend.

It's like do it with your spouse. Have them do something like go for a family walk [00:18:45] together. I mean things outside of fitness of like how many nights are you sitting down for a family dinner each week? [00:18:50] Schedules get crazy with, with sports and different things and it always baffles me how many families don't.

Do [00:18:55] that. It's just something that we prioritize is like, how many meals can we get together in a week? And I know that's [00:19:00] not directly fitness related, but like doing that, doing walks together, workouts of family. I think it's related

Jerred: [00:19:05] to like a health, like overall health. Mm-hmm. And wellbeing standpoint.

Yeah.

Dave: Yeah. I find other [00:19:10] people, like I love seeing. I love seeing other people working out with, like when I go around the neighborhood and it's like, oh, [00:19:15] these people are working out together. I'm more like, I've always been more of a lone wolf workout type guy. Like, I [00:19:20] just like to get in and, and like, that's just how it's always usually been for me.

But like [00:19:25] I, I know I could use more of that, of like finding workout partners and different things too. Not necessarily [00:19:30] to coordinate schedules every day, but every once in a while I know that, and that pushes me in ways that I [00:19:35] don't get on my own either.

Jerred: Yeah. And I think. Here's [00:19:40] exactly what I think everyone should do.

You should start a meet yourself Saturday club in your neighborhood. Uh, now [00:19:45] I've struggled with this and I, you know, well, [00:19:50] one, I'm not the most social guy in the world, so, you know, and, and then me reaching out to it, but [00:19:55] reaching out for people to do it. Sometimes they're a little too intimidated. To come do something like [00:20:00] that, especially like just the name of the workout, right?

It's like, meet yourself Saturday workouts. Like, what does that even mean? And you have to [00:20:05] explain it. And they're like, oh, so it's gonna be really hard when I come over to your house. But I think something like that, if you could find a [00:20:10] group. Of guys, you know, to come over three, four people. I used to do this all the [00:20:15] time, um, over the years I had a good core group of people who'd come over for those workouts [00:20:20] and it wouldn't be a massive amount, 2, 3, 4 people, and we'd hit something like a Murph or whatever.[00:20:25]

And it does go a long way. Like there's a lot of comradery there, and I think this [00:20:30] is the part where you're gonna have to kind of foster this on your own. But if you have a garage gym, invite people over [00:20:35] because I, I'm like you, like I, I'm gonna, I'll actually probably work out after this podcast. It's the [00:20:40] middle of the day and like no one's coming over, you know, like it's, it's, it's just gonna be me and [00:20:45] I'm fine with that.

Um, so it, I don't think every day has to, has to happen. But, [00:20:50] uh, I know like, um, I have a friend who does that every single morning. He's got a neighbor who comes [00:20:55] over at 6:00 AM um, every single day. And they work out in his garage. 'cause his neighbor doesn't, doesn't [00:21:00] have a garage gym. And that's huge for them because he knows he's gotta be up.[00:21:05]

'cause that guy's gonna show up at 6:00 AM Same with the other guy. He is like, I don't wanna. Have him wake up and [00:21:10] not not be there. Uh, and so I think any way that you can start to bake this in, and I [00:21:15] think we always overlook this, I'll admit I do completely. I'm like, I don't really need that. I'm like, [00:21:20] I don't need it right now.

Because I feel like, um, most of my social interactions are like [00:21:25] engineered at this point, either with like. Parents at sporting games or [00:21:30] practices, uh, or, yeah, I get to hang out with my family all the time, but there'll be a case when [00:21:35] there, I mean, there'll be a time when my kids are grown and they're not in the house anymore, and it'll just [00:21:40] be me and Emily and what if she doesn't wanna do a meet yourself Saturday workout at that point in our life, [00:21:45] right?

So there are a lot of those things that I think this is one area I'm pretty weak, but I'd like to in [00:21:50] 2026, um, once my personal life settles down a little bit, is like try to get that. [00:21:55] Core group going like every single weekend. I think that'd be really cool. [00:22:00]

Dave: It's so, it's so important, especially for guys that are not the, uh, not the [00:22:05] social types that, uh, that we are.

Certainly not, but, uh, but I, I, I worked [00:22:10] out for it with a buddy for, and that was something I hadn't done. I, I did work out with him for probably 18 months that he was getting back into fitness. [00:22:15] I'm like, Hey, just. Come just like, come join, just come train. And it was huge for him, and [00:22:20] it's huge for both of us.

There's, but there's ways that like, especially sometimes guys don't get that [00:22:25] relational time with someone. Like, and we're both, we're both very, you know, family oriented in those [00:22:30] things too. So we're like, we're not gonna be hanging out three hours a week any other time in our life. 'cause that's three hours away from our [00:22:35] family.

But like for something that we're both planning on doing already, it's like, okay, three times a week [00:22:40] he came and trained. You get like the, the speed that the relationship built [00:22:45] and like how it improved our overall health and those things too is stuff that wouldn't have happened with without some of that.[00:22:50]

Jerred: Yeah. I mean with how busy life is now with kids and everything else. I [00:22:55] I honestly, I tell everybody, even parents, friends, I'm like, you kinda have to meet me where I'm at. Like if you [00:23:00] wanna hang out or chat or whatever. And what I mean by that is like, yeah, come do a workout when I'm doing a workout. [00:23:05] Um, meet me at a, at a kid's soccer game or whatever.

Like, 'cause there's not. [00:23:10] There's no four hours of golf on a Saturday. Like that was just not happening. And to be honest, I hate golf. So [00:23:15] it's not, I'm not, I'm not missing out on a lot there. But that's, that's basically everything they implemented. And [00:23:20] now to, like, I, I don't have a lot more to cover on the study other than it was a success.

They, [00:23:25] their needs satisfaction was increased at 12 months. Their self-determination score, [00:23:30] um, from all of these like basically psychological measures they took were higher at 12 months. And [00:23:35] then the actual behavior. Behavioral outcomes were higher at 12 months, their sedentary behavior [00:23:40] outcome was increased.

Um, and [00:23:45] ultimately everything kind of worked better. And then there was [00:23:50] need thwarting. Um, that was a negative correlation. Meaning [00:23:55] if a coach did have like a kind of lock someone up to where they didn't feel encouraged, like [00:24:00] whatever that it did, there was a negative correlation with, with that when coaches would do it.

So it just kind [00:24:05] of. Cemented. I know I don't really need to sell the self-determination theory, but just kind of cemented like the [00:24:10] importance of having those three things in your program and being able to do that without just having to hire a coach [00:24:15] who's, who's really good at tailoring their coaching ability to you as a person.

But I think that we could take a lot [00:24:20] from this study and just start to implement in our daily lives. So if. [00:24:25] I, you know, put you in a corner here, and I say, all right, Dave, what's one takeaway you have for Garage gym athletes out [00:24:30] there? How can they utilize this study other than all the little tidbits we talked about, like how could they utilize this [00:24:35] study?

One big takeaway for, for everyone.

Dave: Yeah. For especially for the people in the Gga, a community that are already [00:24:40] following the workouts you're doing. You know, if, if, if you're struggling to follow the workouts, it's getting [00:24:45] back to connecting to the why. Don't just don't just withdraw, don't, like, it's easy to be like, oh, I missed that, or I [00:24:50] missed a week.

And that's when you need to lean in the most into the community we have and to, you know, reaching out [00:24:55] to, to one of us, like getting push, pushing in when you, when you wanna withdraw. Like, I think that's a [00:25:00] temptation. And that's where like the camaraderie that they fostered in this study helped people to, they had data [00:25:05] they were tracking.

You could see like in our, in our. And the app where we program things, it's like you can [00:25:10] see what other people are doing. You see the comments, you see like. There's some objective data behind it, and [00:25:15] not that you're necessarily competing against someone else, but you can see someone else is like, Hey, I didn't wanna get up today, [00:25:20] but you know, got up and got it done anyways.

And that could be the thing that pushes you over the edge. But [00:25:25] even if you're consistently hitting your workouts, I think the big thing is like find that, find that next thing you can do and tie [00:25:30] that to something of that's the, if it's like, Hey, getting. Uh, getting two more thousand steps in a [00:25:35] day. Clean up some nutrition things.

Just find, find that next thing to, uh, kind of link [00:25:40] yourself to and, and use some of these tools that we talked about to make it more of a habit that, that actually [00:25:45] sticks versus the whole, oh, I did it for six weeks, I fell off. I'm gonna try for another six weeks. New Years comes around. [00:25:50] Uh, just get yourself outta that cycle with some, some smaller first steps.

Jerred: Just a cycle of. [00:25:55] Four week programs done with four week breaks or eight week breaks or whatever. [00:26:00] Um, yeah, I would say my biggest takeaway is just gonna be [00:26:05] kind of drop the tough guy mentality and like, uh, you know, if you need help, ask for help. Get, [00:26:10] help use some of these psychological principles. And that's what I like about looking at this [00:26:15] data and research.

'cause again, my takeaway isn't go hire a coach. It's understand [00:26:20] that you are a human being and because you're a human being. You just have [00:26:25] psychological tendencies that you might be that that [00:26:30] 1% anomaly, but you're most likely not. And so you need these things, right? You need to [00:26:35] find things that you like to do.

You have to be challenged in performance metrics to track them, you need [00:26:40] to talk about it with other people. You have to be around other people to a certain degree, and so [00:26:45] don't think like this. Again, going back to the beginning, that hard nosed coaching approach is. [00:26:50] Always what you need to do, like the David Goggins approach of just suck it up and [00:26:55] get better.

Like if, if you actually look at David Goggins since I mentioned him, like [00:27:00] he has some of the deepest wounds and trauma, [00:27:05] um, from his childhood. If you've read his, uh, book like that, [00:27:10] his intrinsic motivation because of the things that he went through, is [00:27:15] off the charts. And it's all intrinsic. And I'm actually surprised he hasn't [00:27:20] lost it, to be honest.

Like I think sometimes people work through those things and it's not like a motivator [00:27:25] anymore, but it still is. You can see in everything that he publishes, like yeah, he makes up [00:27:30] haters, right? Like he has to do these things to like keep that motivation going. But it, it all stems back to like [00:27:35] this huge intrinsic motivator.

So if you don't have that, if, if you were, if [00:27:40] you didn't have the childhood that David Goggins had. You don't have the intrinsic motivation that he has. [00:27:45] You have to find your own intrinsic motivation. You have to find out why you wanna do this, why you wanna stick to it. [00:27:50] And it's not just be, go be more like David Goggins, 'cause that that's how you're gonna get tougher.

It's [00:27:55] be more like Jared Moon. I'm saying that to myself, like I need to be more like me and [00:28:00] understand what motivates me because it's even shifted. Like I, I could say the whole, yeah, I wanna be able to play with my [00:28:05] grandkids when I'm older. I think I kind of used that back in the day, but. That's not really it [00:28:10] right now.

Like the reason I'm pushing myself right now is 'cause my boys are getting to training age [00:28:15] and I don't want them to see me not working out. I want them to see me working out. I want them to see that it's [00:28:20] important. I want to show them, I want to teach them. I want it to be a part of their their lives.

That's [00:28:25] everything for me right now from an intrinsic motivator. I know my why. It has very little to do with like [00:28:30] how fast I can do Murph or how fast my mile times are. Like, I like to track those things, but at the end of the day, it's [00:28:35] not my why. It's not like, oh, I wanna get faster at Murph because it'd be cool to have a fast Murph time.

It's like, no, [00:28:40] I want my boys to see me train and stick to something and, and learn and, and fail and like all [00:28:45] these things. I want them to see those things. So knowing that about myself, if I just, I just said all [00:28:50] that. Do you think I'm gonna skip, skip my workout after this podcast is over? No, it is just like, I just got a huge [00:28:55] reminder of like why I'm doing all this and so.

You have to get to that level and stop the whole, like, [00:29:00] why do I do it? Because we have to, and you, we do hard things like, yeah, we need to do hard things, but there's gotta be a why behind [00:29:05] it, right? So, so drop that tough guy mentality and just jump into a little bit more of like what the research is saying [00:29:10] about psychology and work with it.

Don't work against it. Don't, don't try to, to go, you know, swim [00:29:15] upstream all the time. It's not, it's not worth it.

Dave: And it's cool to be able to communicate it, but also [00:29:20] like, don't know that you can write down whatever and if it motivates you, that's the [00:29:25] most important part. Versus like, some people want this altruistic thing, like you said, and it's, it's great.

Like if your [00:29:30] desire really is like, yeah, I wanna keep up with my grandkids, but if you're like just writing that down, I feel like it's become almost

Jerred: [00:29:35] like a cop out, to be honest. Like, I feel that's not the real thing. I see that all They even put, they even put that in the, in the [00:29:40] study, like that quote as like an example.

And I'm like. Yeah. Well, I just don't even think [00:29:45] people are that long-term focused. Most people aren't. Yeah, they're not, they're not actually thinking about when they're 60, 70, 80 [00:29:50] years old or whatever. Like they're, they can't really picture that in their minds, you know? So like, what motivates you right now?

What [00:29:55] motivates you today?

Dave: Yeah, it's, it, there's, there's nothing wrong like that really is, but for most people that aren't, like if you're, if [00:30:00] you're getting into your, the grandkid ages where you're like, okay, I'm turning 60 or something like that, it's like, it might be different, [00:30:05] but for someone who's 30 trying to be like, oh, I just wanna like, keep up with my grandkids.

It's like, no, you wanna, [00:30:10] like, you wanna be confident and you wanna be healthy and you wanna look jacked and like, you wanna, like, do you want, you wanna take your shirt off and like, not, [00:30:15] not

Jerred: worry about it. Yeah. Not be filled with

Dave: doubt or anything. So don't be afraid to, to label what it [00:30:20] actually is and don't like judge your answer.

Like if that's what gets you motivated and keeps you. Showing up, like [00:30:25] the why may change over time. And that's, that's okay.

Jerred: Yeah. And that's what, uh, I, and I [00:30:30] wanna show up other dads, like on the, like, you know, in on my kids' sports teams. Like, I [00:30:35] wanna be able to, I want my kids to think that I'm more capable than all of them.

Like, that's okay. That might make me [00:30:40] sound like a little bit of a jerk, but it's just, Hey, I wanna be more physically capable than anybody you've seen before. [00:30:45] And like sometimes they'll be like, they'll, they'll point out some guy who's like really jacked, like. Hugely, Jack, I'm [00:30:50] probably on something and, and, uh, I'm like, yeah, but can you run a mile as fast as me?

And they're like, [00:30:55] probably not. And I'm like, that's right. You gotta be, you gotta be all of it. Um, have all of it at [00:31:00] all times. So anyway, you gotta find what motivates you. It could be a, a [00:31:05] myriad of different things, but ultimately you need to write those things down and remind yourself daily if you have to.

[00:31:10] About why. Because dude, I've had those moments, I'm sure you have too, [00:31:15] where you're just kind of at the bottom of the barrel, like. Like emotionally, [00:31:20] mentally, and I think it takes a lot of self-awareness in those moments to [00:31:25] still push through and like eat healthy when you don't want to or do the [00:31:30] workout when you don't want to.

Maybe you've been in those moments, Dave, recently because like you didn't sleep a [00:31:35] lot because of uh, you know, the young kids, uh, stress at [00:31:40] work or like what, you know, whatever, whatever's happening in life. And then you still have [00:31:45] to get it done. And maybe you do, maybe you don't. We don't all succeed a hundred percent of the time, but I [00:31:50] think if you can have some self-awareness in those moments and be like, this is a tough moment and I [00:31:55] don't want to at all.

And I become like the worst person in the world when, [00:32:00] like internally, when that, when I get to that point, because it's hard to make me want to [00:32:05] do anything. I still like, takes every bit of willpower to like force my hand to be like, [00:32:10] write down what your goal is, write it down. Like I have to like walk myself through that.

If, and [00:32:15] I'm not saying those happen every single week, but I, I have been through those moments where I'm like, I don't wanna do [00:32:20] anything. Like I'm just done. And I'm like, no, come on man. Like, bring it back. What, what? Why are [00:32:25] you here? What are you doing? And it's really hard to do, but if you can get to that level of self-awareness, which again, I don't have [00:32:30] a hundred percent success rate, it really goes a long way.

And I think it shapes what we're talking about. [00:32:35] Like becoming a different person, not just succeeding in a program. It's like succeeding over [00:32:40] 12, 24, 36 months. I think that's where it becomes really important.

Dave: Yeah. That's such a long game and no, [00:32:45] just know it's normal to have those, you know. For, for us, for you, for anyone, it's like it's normal to have [00:32:50] those so bookmark this.

You don't have to actually bookmark the podcast. You can, but just like put a [00:32:55] bookmark in your head of like, Hey, like I ex expect, not in like a negative, pessimistic way, but [00:33:00] like expect tough times to happen and just be, have some tools in your toolbox. Like the more you can do that when [00:33:05] you're in a.

Healthy places and like, like, oh, I'm confident right now. My mindset, I'm rolling, I'm eating good, I'm [00:33:10] working out. Like that's when you need to start building these strategies up versus if you try and do it when you're at a low, it's so much harder. [00:33:15] Like you, like you have to force yourself to, to get into it.

So these are the things that you wanna work on. Even when [00:33:20] things, especially when things are going, going good, don't just save it for when you, you know, haven't worked [00:33:25] out in two weeks or two months or anything. Like, work on these things when you're in a, in a good spot.

Jerred: [00:33:30] Awesome. Well, I think we'll wrap it up there.

Hopefully a lot of good takeaways on the [00:33:35] self-determination theory in this study overall. As always, if you ever want to like dive into these studies more, it's on the [00:33:40] blog. So if you go to garage gym athlete.com, hit the blog, we, uh, have a full [00:33:45] blog post there. Typically with a transcript of the podcast, you can click on the link and [00:33:50] any of the takeaways that you want.

So if you ever wanna dive deeper into these, uh, just go to the garage [00:33:55] athlete do.com, check out the blog, and you can look at the studies that we're looking at each and every single [00:34:00] week. And while you're there. If you're just moseying on over to the Garage Gym Athlete site [00:34:05] and you're not signed up for our training, you might wanna go ahead and fix that problem.

I've always said it's a problem. It's a [00:34:10] problem if you're not signed up for our training. So go ahead and go to garage gym athlete.com, sign up for [00:34:15] a free trial and test it out. See what you think, you know, see what you think of the, of the [00:34:20] programming. If you like it, awesome. If you don't like it, let us know.

And, and I'll say that for our current athletes too, if [00:34:25] you ever. You don't understand something, you wanna know the why behind something, just, just ask us and, and we'll get you a response [00:34:30] and we'll, we'll talk about why we programmed it that way and how we utilize some of these, uh, you know, theories and [00:34:35] ideas in our programming methodology.

Uh, but, you know, that's, that's the most important thing is [00:34:40] just getting out there. So all of our athletes who are doing the training, maybe you don't, you don't feel like you [00:34:45] struggle with this stuff at all? I know we have some OGs who've been in the community for years, some of the most consistent [00:34:50] humans I've ever.

Encountered, and I appreciate each and every single one of you being consistent and sticking with [00:34:55] the programming, uh, and staying with Garage Gym Athlete. But that's it for this one. Remember, if [00:35:00] you don't kill comfort, comfort will kill you. I.