{"id":309191,"date":"2025-11-23T16:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T16:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/309191\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T16:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T16:13:07","slug":"how-these-canadians-found-motivation-and-restored-their-love-of-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/309191\/","title":{"rendered":"How these Canadians found motivation and restored their love of exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Adam Campbell is a professional mountain athlete.Nikos Schwelm\/Supplied<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a vision of fitness motivation that many find compelling: You pick yourself up by your own bootstraps and hustle. You just have to want it badly enough. And if you don\u2019t \u2026 well, that\u2019s your problem, isn\u2019t it? <\/p>\n

In reality, the power of motivation over obstacles is finite \u2013 often constrained by factors outside of your control. Motivation can be divided between the extrinsic \u2013 driven by anything from social pressures to cash prizes \u2013 and the intrinsic, quieter but evergreen. <\/p>\n

The elements of our inner drives are also more universal, shared by elite athletes and couch potatoes alike. Harnessing them is where the magic happens for lifelong fitness.<\/p>\n

Leslie Podlog, a professor at the Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, studies the return to sport after injury. As a high-school athlete, Podlog was talented enough to earn a wrestling scholarship from Simon Fraser University, but performance came at a price. After three knee reconstructions and a shoulder operation, his surgeon said, \u201cI don\u2019t tell people to retire but maybe consider something more cerebral.\u201d <\/p>\n

Podlog took this to heart, eventually earning his PhD in sport and exercise psychology. His work asks what athletes need to return to sport after injury and explores \u201cwhy people do what they do \u2013 and what drives them to engage in health behaviours.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al professor Leslie Podlog studies the return to sport after injury.Supplied<\/p>\n

After a sports injury, Podlog says there is an instinctive response to want \u201cto build back better, stronger, faster and more capable than before.\u201d But that perspective may be also disconnected from the reality of a person\u2019s recovery. One of the most successful strategies he\u2019s seen involves not only accepting those changes in your body but finding a greater sense of meaning through them. <\/p>\n

His work draws upon other validated research on three universal elements of motivation: feeling like you\u2019re in control of your choices, feeling capable and feeling like you belong. <\/p>\n

These drives are at the heart of intrinsic motivation \u2013 the quality that compels us to pursue things for their own sake \u2013 without external validation or other incentives. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou think about all the elements that one requires to be successful in an athletic context, like motivation, confidence, managing pain, managing emotions, maintaining your concentration on factors you can influence or assert control over,\u201d says Podlog. \u201cIn psychology, we think of these as skills.\u201d The athletes most capable of dealing with turbulence are the ones who can apply those skills to their own lives, he says. <\/p>\n

To get to the heart of motivation, The Globe and Mail spoke to four Canadians who have overcome obstacles and harnessed their inner drives through different combinations of control, capability, belonging and good old-fashioned joy.<\/p>\n

Finding meaning through movement: Adam Campbell<\/p>\n

Adam Campbell was more than 60 metres up the side of a ravine in Rogers Pass, a high mountain pass in B.C., when the rock he grabbed for support came loose. The impact of his fall fractured four of his vertebrae, smashed his ankle and sheared off the top of his hip bone. <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the accident, movement meant one thing,\u201d he says of the 2016 incident. \u201cIt meant really long days out in the mountains and going really hard. And following the accident, it meant trying to take two steps.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Adam Campbell thrives when running, skiing and climbing.Philipp Reiter\/Supplied<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the last trauma the professional mountain athlete experienced. In 2020, his wife, Dr. Laura Kosakoski, died after being buried in an avalanche during a ski trip in Banff National Park. \u201cThe thing about mountain sports,\u201d says Campbell, \u201cis that they can give us a lot but they can also be incredibly dangerous.\u201d <\/p>\n

In time, Campbell began learning to redefine progress and, perhaps for the first time, find peace in stillness. A support group called Mountain Muskox<\/a> was instrumental in his healing. Campbell thrives when running, skiing and climbing and, when we spoke, was just days away from being married. <\/p>\n

When the road to mastery forks: Victor Bachmann<\/p>\n

Victor Bachmann experienced \u2013 and occasionally dispensed \u2013 injury as a professional mixed-martial artist. By the time he was 30, he\u2019d carved out a respectable record through a combination of \u201cpace and pressure,\u201d a style fuelled in part by anger from losing his father at a young age. <\/p>\n

He also knew that fighting was not his ultimate destination. \u201cMy mind\u2019s made to work in science.\u201d To wit, his fighting moniker, \u201cThe Professor,\u201d was a nod to both his personality and his physics major at the University of Alberta.<\/p>\n

Bachmann returned to his alma mater to study environmental science. Returning to the gym, however, was another story. He struggled to keep up with his old teammates. This weighed on his competitive mind. <\/p>\n

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Victor Bachmann competes at an event in Edmonton, in December, 2009.Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I switched clubs, switched focus,\u201d he says, adding that he let his training partners beat him, \u201cbecause I love martial arts and I just want to do this for the rest of my life.\u201d <\/p>\n

At home, he models the lessons he learned as a pro for his daughters, asking, \u201cWhat do they need to perform their best? Is it practice? Is it progressive resistance? Is it rest? Is it support?\u201d<\/p>\n

About a decade into his career in environmental science, Bachmann took on a master\u2019s degree. Combined with a full-time job and parenting responsibilities, the pace was gruelling. His exercise practice \u2013 once central \u2013 was now scraped together, at best. \u201cIt reminded me how much I focused on myself when I was fighting,\u201d says Bachmann. His wife\u2019s support was essential. \u201cWhen I was all done, I told my wife, \u2018This [degree] is more yours than it is mine.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a>On rediscovering the joy of ability: Danelys Sarmiento<\/p>\n

Danelys Sarmiento\u2018s experience of sprinting was of speed and joyful abandon. When she was in high school, a teacher told her parents that she could go a long way with the right coaching, but she feigned disinterest. Her parents, recent Cuban immigrants, couldn\u2019t afford to pay for coaching \u2013 but would have broken the bank trying anyway. So, as a 14-year-old, she made the choice for them. <\/p>\n

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Danelys Sarmiento is a powerlifter and personal trainer.Supplied<\/p>\n

Twenty-one years later, she was searching for meaning after losing a twin pregnancy to trisomy-18-related complications. Sarmiento \u2013 now 35 \u2013 found a home at Athletic Leaders, a gym in Mississauga. She recalls working out next to a woman 10 years her senior and marvelling as she pressed a pair of 30-pound dumbbells over her head. The woman said, \u201cYou can do it too.\u201d <\/p>\n

And Sarmiento did. In that moment, an old feeling awoke. She began working out regularly, soon pursuing a series of personal-training certifications. She describes her first powerlifting meet as an intoxicating experience. \u201cI forgot I could do all these things,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

She rattles off her numbers: an 185-pound squat, an 118-pound bench press and a 295-pound deadlift. She can also perform 15 bodyweight pull-ups \u2013 a feat at any age. At 40, she trained late into her third trimester before welcoming a healthy baby into the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so in love with strength training that I want women to understand what it is and what it does for us.\u201d Now 50, she is beginning to run again.<\/p>\n

Belonging on the track: Denise Bonin<\/p>\n

Denise Bonin collected some serious hardware at the recent 55+ BC Games<\/a> in Nanaimo, where she won bronze in the 50-, 100- and 200-metre races \u2013 and gold in the 4×100 metre relay. However, a highlight for her was the gold-medal performance of another relay team \u2013 featuring two 93-year-olds, one 90-year-old and one 96-year-old. It\u2019s the kind of thing that gives you hope.<\/p>\n

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Denise Bonin celebrates after a successful medal haul from the 55+ BC Games in Nanaimo, in September, 2025.Michael Hawkes\/Supplied<\/p>\n

Bonin also recently set (obliterated, really) a Canadian relay record<\/a> with three other runners at the BC Masters Championships<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s the really beautiful thing about these kinds of groups, like the 55+ Games and the BC Masters Championships,\u201d she said. \u201cYou just get to know everybody and you\u2019re all part of a family.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s that social dynamic that keeps Bonin engaged. \u201cWe have such good role models amongst our teammates. We\u2019ve got lots of 80-year-olds and lots of 75 and older athletes and they\u2019re still here having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running to feel like a kid again is a common theme among Master\u2019s track athletes, says Bonin. She estimates that most were track and field athletes when they were teenagers. Bonin was 50 when she found distance running and 60 before she rediscovered track and field. <\/p>\n

\u201cNext year,\u201d she says, \u201cI\u2019ll be 70.\u201d <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Denise Bonin.55+BC Games\/Supplied<\/p>\n

When Bonin was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, she had surgery but kept putting off chemotherapy. \u201cI said, \u2018Look, I\u2019ve got a BC Masters Championships coming up and I want to finish that and then I\u2019ll start.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

After some initial dread, she found solace in her routine and her community \u2013 both core pieces of Bonin\u2019s way of being. She beat cancer with minimal interruption to her busy (at any age) schedule of three weekly track sessions, two recovery runs, leading fitness classes and reading to kids at the library. <\/p>\n

Bonin also frequently volunteers as a starter for track competitions. Now, she has her sights set on the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games \u2013 where she hopes to fire a starter\u2019s pistol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Adam Campbell is a professional mountain athlete.Nikos Schwelm\/Supplied There\u2019s a vision of fitness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[337,97,24296],"class_list":{"0":"post-309191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-noastack"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}