Strength training is one of those things I know I should be doing, but struggle to get motivated to do it. Consistent strength training has many benefits. It can improve running running economy and reduce injury risk. It’s a worthwhile pursuit. I enjoy it when I do it but I always prioritise running over going to the gym to lift weights. I have devised a plan to coerce myself into doing consistent weight training. It involves monetary consequences for not training. In this post I’ll explain how I am using Beeminder to give myself a strong nudge to stay motivated and get strong!

The Ineffective Goal

This is the what I keep telling myself. The problem is that it’s too vague it lacks any specifics of when, why and how I’m going to achieve this goal. It is a futile goal in this form. I can attest to that, it had been months since I stepped foot in the gym.

Converting it into a SMART goal will make it far more effective.

The Power of SMART Goals

SMART goals help you create clear and achievable goals by using five criteria. A goal must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

My SMARTified goal looks like this:

This is how the new goal meets the SMART framework:

• Specific: Instead of “do more” strength training I am specifying “do 1 hour per week”
• Measurable: The goal is measurable in time and tracked on Strava
• Achievable: 1 hour a week is a small and achievable amount to do
• Relevant: This aligns with my greater goals relating to improved running performance
• Time-bound: The goal is time bound by weekly intervals

Implementation Intention

To kick start the habit I stated an Implementation Intention. It is a concept I learned from Atomic Habits, a book I recommend. This is a great blog post that explains the concept. An implementation intention is a strategy for turning goals into action. It is a plan you make beforehand about when and where to act.

The format for creating an implementation intention is:

For my goal it involved setting a start date. By saying I will start the goal on a set date it becomes obvious when the day passes that I didn’t do the thing I said I would.

This is the goal with an implementation intention added to further supercharge it:

Enter Beeminder: The Commitment Contract Game Changer

I upped the stakes using a tool called Beeminder. It is a goal-setting service with a sting: it uses money to hold you accountable. Beeminder uses a unique combination of psychology and financial stakes to turn goals into action.

You state your desired goal, setup a way to input data, then if you don’t stay on track Beeminder will charge you money. The amount of money you get charged increases after each ‘derailment’. The service is free to use, they only make money when you don’t do what you said you would. I recommend reading about Beeminder on their website before using it. The graph view and setup process can be quite daunting at first.

This website is built off the back of a Beeminder goal that ensures I publish one blog post every 2 weeks. Before I set up this goal I rarely posted to this site. Since starting the goal I have consistently published a post every 2 weeks and only derailed once. I am motivated by deadlines, without them I procrastinate endlessly. I go down to the wire almost every time but I mostly stay on track, this goal is the reason I am writing this post right now.

Beeminder in Action: My Strength Training Contract

To start a Beeminder goal you first decide how to track your progress. You can track goals manually but it works best if there is an automatic data feed. I decided to track my strength training with Strava. This setup isn’t immune to cheating. I could always record a strength session while sitting on the couch but why would I? The only person I am cheating is myself.

When specifying time in Beeminder it is always in the unit of hours per day. I am aiming for an hour per week so I divided 1 hour over 7 days (1 / 7 = 0.143) which gives me 0.143 hours per day. The data comes directly from Strava, specifically time spent doing the ‘Weight Training’ activity type.

My goal starts with an initial fee of $5 for the first derailment, then it goes up to $10 then $30 then $90 for each subsequent derailment. I have it capped at $90 but you can let it go as high as you want. It is a more potent tool the greater the stakes become.

Once a goal is set you can only change it 7 days in the future, so you must be sure to be committed from the start. This all sounds quite strict and scary but if you do mess something up they have an excellent support team to help. They respond to emails super fast and have helped me many times. Once setup I have a clear graph ready to add data points.

The Accountability Advantage

Using Beeminder to track my goals adds a layer of accountability to the plan. Humans are loss averse creatures. Some studies suggest that the pain of losing is psychologically around twice as powerful as the joy we experience from winning. Loss aversion is a cognitive bias that I am using to my advantage with this Beeminder tracking plan. The risk of losing money is keeping me honest.

I am also strongly motivated by the ‘don’t break the chain’ strategy. Once I start tracking a habit and especially if it’s shown on a graph I want to keep it going. The longer I go the more invested I become. This whole system may seem extreme and it kind of is, but for me it works extremely well. And it doesn’t cost me a cent if I stay on track so it’s excellent value for money.

Progress So Far

I started the Beeminder goal in the beginning of May and so far I have been staying on track. There have been a few close calls and some pathetic workouts to keep me above the red line but no cheating. Since the Beeminder graph is culmulative I usually only require a few minutes a day to stay on track. I can always find 10 minutes for a quick resistance band or core workout to stop me derailing.

I am now incorporating a stop at the gym nearby my house on a couple of runs each week. This allows me to do a variety of different strength exercises. So far I have been keeping it fairly simple.

These are the routines I have been doing so far. I have been planning and tracking them with an Android app called Strong. This free app helps me keep track of the weights, sets and reps I have been doing:

• Vlad Ixels 12 minute core workout
• 7 move all round running strength workouts based on this post
  • This consists of sets and reps of a push, pull, hinge, lunge, squat, carry and twist movements
• Uphill Athlete muscular endurance workout with body weight then adding weights as I progress
  • 6 x 10r box step ups
  • 6 x 10r front lunges
  • 6 x 10r split jump squat
  • 6 x 10r squat jumps
• A simple resistance band workout

This is how my graph is looking currently, I am off to a good start and already starting to feel more robust in my running. I am certain that this will lead to great things!!

Conclusions

Now you know my cunning strategy to blackmail myself into getting strong. It’s nothing particularly groundbreaking, it’s what Beeminder was designed to do. But many people have never heard of Beeminder. I only discovered it randomly last year. It has worked extremely well for me getting this website off the ground.

So far it has been effective at keeping me on track with my strength training. I am getting great value out of my gym membership. The more weight training I do the more interested and motivated I become. I will eventually crank up my time goal with the aim of getting it to around 2 hours per week. For now I will stick with 1 hour a week till the habit is well established.

Now it’s your turn to set up a Beeminder goal and get consistent. Commit to that thing you keep saying you will do one day and put some money on the line. Having some skin in the game is guaranteed to get you motivated.

Joseph Nunn: An avid trail runner based in Hobart, Tasmania. He loves getting out for big days on the trails with mates or racing against them.

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