Gym Motivation...

I've found lately that I have a new motivation at the gym.  It isn't that I'm desperate to get all ripped out or super trim, because I pretty much have accepted that ship has sailed.  My real goal is to get healthy, strong, and in a position to be truly productive for a good long while.  

My gym is a corporate gym- everyone in the gym at any time is a co-worker.  Even though I work at a fairly large company I do know most of the people on our campus, or at least know of them.  There's the one guy that goes to the gym every day, and he and I have started talking as we both work out each morning.  I know him a little.  He's a great dude.  Older, not particularly ultra-trim but definitely fit, and he attacks the gym like it's a religion. 

This 60+ year old guy lifts more than me (nearly double) and for twice as long as me.  I'm usually the second person in the gym.  He is always the first. 

Call it hubris, call it age-ism, call it being over-testosteroned, but this guy is one of my motivations.  I'm not going to quit before him, and I'm not going to stop pushing until I can at least keep up with him.  

He told me this morning he started working out at the same weight I'm at today. 

This is awesome!  I've had similar experiences at physical therapy in my past :)

Using others in the gym as motivation is something I definitely do too! Yesterday, I was running next to some dude that kept having to jump off the treadmill because he couldn't keep up while running. For some reason, that made me feel really tough because I had already been running for awhile when he started, I was running faster, and I stayed on longer when he was done LOL - I don't think I would've ran 3.1 miles yesterday if he hadn't been next to me. It wasn't exactly a conscious thing at the time - but now that I'm thinking about it, I did up my speed during the times that he was taking a break lol

Must be my competitive side coming through!

I find working out in a group highly motivating.  Every few months our cycling group does a group 'time trial' to assess our fitness and it is always a much better result doing it as a group then trying to do it individually...  Humans (most of us anyway) have some sort of competitive gene... even if it's very friendly...

i have had similar experiences with guys 10-15 years older than me who absolutely kick-my-butt cycling.  It gives me something to aspire to and shows me that one can keep at an activity for decades...