All of the Inspiration You Will Ever Need.

Steve Kamb
Written By Steve Kamb
Last Updated:
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We all have days where we just don’t feel like doing anything.

It’s raining out, you didn’t get enough sleep, it’s cold, you’re hungry, you had a crappy day at work, your wife cheated on you, your boyfriend dumped you, your dog ate your homework, whatever.  It’s these moments when we just want to curl up on the couch, play video games, and feel sorry for ourselves.

However – and I know this isn’t a surprise to you – these are the moments when its MOST IMPORTANT to stay on target: to stay consistent, to keep training, and to keep pushing.  If you let yourself off the hook every time you have a bad day, you’ll train yourself to believe it’s okay to give up any time you meet resistance.

Here at Nerd Fitness, we don’t put up with that crap!

We understand that success isn’t easy; that it getting in shape and living better will take hard work, an iron will, and strong determination. We don’t give up when things get busy or difficult. 

We don’t make excuses, we offer solutions.

Now, as we’ve learned from Captain America, I can’t provide you with the motivation to want to make changes in your life – that has to come from within you.  YOU have to decide that exercising and eating healthy will be a priority in your life.

However, once you’re committed to making a change, I can help make sure you STAY motivated and inspired. I hope today’s article can become a “well of inspiration” for you to draw from anytime you need a tiny nudge to get off your ass and exercise.

Feel free to come back here whenever you don’t feel like going to the gym, when you want to hit the SNOOZE button instead of getting up early, when you want to give up halfway through your run, or when you really just don’t feel like doing anything.

Remember, anything is better than nothing.

Here are my favorite inspirational movies, quotes, articles and songs.

Inspirational Movies

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

I Still Have a Soul (MUST WATCH)

300 Trailer (HD)

Rocky IV Training Montage

Friday Night Lights Halftime Speech

Braveheart Freedom Speech

Animal House Motivational Speech

Aragorn’s Speech – Return of the King

Winston Churchill – “We Shall Never Surrender”

Any Given Sunday – Halftime Speech

Videos that I can’t embed:

Rocky IV – Hearts on Fire

King Theoden’s Epic Speech – Return of the King

The Matrix – “Because I choose to.”

Inspirational Quotes

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.” –The Shawshank Redemption

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” -The Shawshank Redemption“

“Appearance is a consequence of fitness.” -Mark Twight

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” -Fellowship of the Ring

“As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself.” -Adelle Davis

“Do or do not, there is no try.” –The Empire Strikes Back

“What we do in life echoes in eternity.” – Gladiator

“When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard”, I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’ -Sydney J. Harris

“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em.” –William Shakespeare

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” -Theodore Roosevelt

“Obstacles are those frightening things that become visible when we take our eyes off our goals.” -Henry Ford

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” -Walt Disney

“Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.” -Friday Night Lights

Inspirational Articles

Most of these articles come from the Nerd Fitness archives, but I know there are some awesome inspirational articles around the net that I’m missing out on, so make sure you add your suggestions in the comments.

Training

Weight Loss

Inspiration

Inspirational Songs

What’s Missing?

I know this list is WOEFULLY incomplete, which is why I need your help!

These are all of the inspirational songs, quotes, and short videos that I could come up with:  In the comments, leave YOUR favorite inspirational things and I will add them to the post and turn this into a great resource:

  • What articles make you want to work out immediately after reading them?
  • What quotes do have you hanging on your wall to keep you motivated?
  • What movie clips or youtube videos make you want to move mountains after watching them?
  • What songs make you want to wrestle bears and punch holes in the wall?

Help out your fellow rebels and share your favorite articles, pictures, quotes, videos, and songs!

For the rebellion,

-Steve

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    93 thoughts on “All of the Inspiration You Will Ever Need.”

    1. A selection of  inspirational quotes:
      “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”
      — Aristotle

      “If you are going through hell, keep going.”— Winston Churchill

      “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”—Calvin Coolidge

      “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  – Thomas A. Edison”Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overallsand looks like work.”- Thomas A. Edison 

      “Cowardice…is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.”— Ernest Hemingway

      “Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”— Steve Jobs

      “You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.”— H.L. Mencken

      “Lack of orders is no excuse for inaction. Anything done vigorously is better than nothing done tardily.” – George S. Patton

      “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”— Ayn Rand 

      “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
       — Maria Robinson

      “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.”  – George Bernard Shaw

      “Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been erected to a critic.” 
      – Jean Sibelius

      “We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.”  – Frank Tibolt

      Iron is full of impurities that weaken it: through forging, it becomes steel and is transformed into a razor-sharp sword. Human beings develop in the same fashion.~Morihei Ueshiba, founder of modern Aikido

    2. A selection of  inspirational quotes:
      “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”
      — Aristotle

      “If you are going through hell, keep going.”— Winston Churchill

      “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”—Calvin Coolidge

      “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  – Thomas A. Edison”Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overallsand looks like work.”- Thomas A. Edison 

      “Cowardice…is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.”— Ernest Hemingway

      “Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”— Steve Jobs

      “You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.”— H.L. Mencken

      “Lack of orders is no excuse for inaction. Anything done vigorously is better than nothing done tardily.” – George S. Patton

      “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”— Ayn Rand 

      “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
       — Maria Robinson

      “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.”  – George Bernard Shaw

      “Pay no attention to what the critics say; no statue has ever been erected to a critic.” 
      – Jean Sibelius

      “We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.”  – Frank Tibolt

      Iron is full of impurities that weaken it: through forging, it becomes steel and is transformed into a razor-sharp sword. Human beings develop in the same fashion.~Morihei Ueshiba, founder of modern Aikido

    3. “Invictus” is the Victorian version of “‘Till I Collapse.” Inspiring after hundreds of reads!

    8. Let Me Hear You Scream by Ozzy is another great song to get you pumped!

      It’s an honor to meet you, Steve, and be a part of this movement and community you have created. I joined the Rebellion a few weeks ago, and in that time I’ve devoured most of the articles you’ve written (delicious!). Reading your articles and the various comments people have posted has inspired me to exercise and train for Parkour. But aside from the training, you have inspired me to take charge of my life. Just like the Samurai in the movie The Last Samurai (one of my favorites next to the original Star Wars trilogy). Thank you again for continuing to write and help motivate all of the seasoned and green Rebels.

      For the Rebellion!

      ~Emani

    9. So this isn’t directly fitness-related, but in college I worked at a copy place (yeah, that one), and one of the perks was printing out posters and stuff for myself afterhours. I used that perk to print out my favorite poem ever, “so you want to be a writer?” by Charles Bukowski (text here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16549) in huge format and I hung it on the wall of my apartment. If you do want to be a writer (like I did and still do), it’s the most inspirational thing you can read every day. An excerpt:

      unless it comes out of
      your soul like a rocket,
      unless being still would
      drive you to madness or
      suicide or murder,
      don’t do it.
      unless the sun inside you is
      burning your gut,
      don’t do it.

    10. So this isn’t directly fitness-related, but in college I worked at a copy place (yeah, that one), and one of the perks was printing out posters and stuff for myself afterhours. I used that perk to print out my favorite poem ever, “so you want to be a writer?” by Charles Bukowski (text here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16549) in huge format and I hung it on the wall of my apartment. If you do want to be a writer (like I did and still do), it’s the most inspirational thing you can read every day. An excerpt:

      unless it comes out of
      your soul like a rocket,
      unless being still would
      drive you to madness or
      suicide or murder,
      don’t do it.
      unless the sun inside you is
      burning your gut,
      don’t do it.

    11. This reminds me of one of my favorite moments from my favorite show, Battlestar Galactica. It’s at the very end of the last episode, in the flashback where Lee and Kara are drunkenly talking and Kara says that she thinks about death while in the cockpit, but isn’t afraid of it. I couldn’t find a YouTube clip of the scene, but it does something like this: 

      Kara Thrace: No, I know fear. And I get scared, just not of dying.
      Lee Adama: So then, what scares you?
      Kara: Um… (pours drink) (apologizes for spilling drink) …being forgotten.

      That’s always inspired me to do everything in life to not be forgotten when I’m gone.

    14. Thank you so much Steve for writing this post – it was exactly what I’ve needed to get me over the hump of malaise and I know I’ll continue to come back to it. Thanks as well to all the commenters who had added some great material of their own. Here are my own contributions:

      “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
      – Theodore Roosevelt

      “My Favourite Game” by the Cardigans. Always gets the blood pumping.
      http://youtu.be/e701QHyCr0o

      Art of Manliness – The World Belongs to Those Who Hustle
      http://artofmanliness.com/2010/02/08/the-world-belongs-to-those-who-hustle/

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    17. I feel a need to correct this, as I am a huge nerd for this band.

      Through the Fire and Flames is by a band called Dragonforce. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jgrCKhxE1s

      I love Coheed, but speedmetal isn’t exactly their style…

    18. I am shocked that this didn’t get mentioned!

      Make a man out of you — Mulan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSS5dEeMX64

      I know a lot of people here do the punk/rock/alternative music, but I have found that Top 40 stuff often gets me moving. Pick a song you like to dance to, and that will get you itching to move! Just translate that to your workout.

      I actually keep a running playlist of things that get me going. https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?pli=1&hl=en_US&key=tzcSaCIZTE9ATsvtkNSEEHw&hl=en_US#gid=0

    19. songs
      Settlin’ by Sugarland
      (I ain’t settling for just getting by, I’ve had enough so so for the rest of my life, Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high, Just enough ain’t enough this time, I ain’t settling for anything less than everything,)
      Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins
      (You’ll never say hello to you, Until you get it on the red line overload. You’ll never know what you can do

      Until you get it up as high as you can go)
      Hold your head up by Argent
      (And if it’s bad, Don’t let it get you down, you can take it, And if it hurts, Don’t let them see you cry, you can take it, Hold your head up, hold your head up, hold your head high

      quotes

      Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the
      possible likely and the likely definite – Robert Half
      The man who knows it can be done counts the risk, not the
      reward – Elbert Hubbard

      You already possess everything necessary to become great –
      Native American proverb

       There are no limitations to what you can do except the
      limitations of your own mind – Darwin p. Kingsley

      When you are through changing, you are through. – Bruce Barton

      Don’t find fault, find a remedy. – Henry Ford

      Doing is a quantum leap from imagining. – Barbara Sher

      You have to think anyway, so why not think big? – Donald Trump

      Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. – Jim Rohn

      So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable,
      and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. – Christopher
      Reeve

      All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. –
      Ralph Waldo Emerson

      The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. – Henry
      David Thoreau

      A goal properly set is halfway reached. – Zig Ziglar

      Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only
      walls. – Joseph Campbell

      A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the
      opportunity in every difficulty. – Winston Churchill

      Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the
      want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we
      are always doing. – Thomas Jefferson

      Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. – William James

      Go big or go home. Because it’s true. What do you have to lose? – Eliza
      Dushku

      I can, therefore I am. – Simone Weil

      What you get by achieving your goals is to as important as what you become
      by achieving your goals. – Henry David Thoreau

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    23. What about spoken word? Like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDtHdloK44  And there’s always the I Am A Champion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX39J_YyKbs  Great stuff, man!

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    29. -A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can
      afford to let alone.

      -Cultivate the habit of early rising. It is unwise to keep
      the head long on a level with the feet.

      -Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the
      life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will
      be simpler.

      -I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned
      ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

      Henry Thoreau

       

      -I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I
      may learn how to do it.

      Pablo Picasso

       

      -When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t
      adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

      -You are now in control of your life. You see, the ego is
      never in control. The ego is controlled by wishes for comfort and convenience
      on the part of the body, by demands of the mind, and by outbursts of the
      emotions. But the higher nature controls the body and the mind and the
      emotions. I can say to my body, “Lie down there on that cement floor and
      go to sleep,” and it obeys. I can say to my mind, “Shut out
      everything else and concentrate on this job before you,” and it’s
      obedient. I can say to my emotions, “Be still, even in the face of this
      terrible situation,” and they are still. It’s a different way of living.
      The philosopher Thoreau wrote: If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
      perhaps he hears a different drummer. And now you are following a different drummer–the
      higher nature instead of the lower.

      -It is only the artificial ego that suffers. The man who has
      transcended his false ‘me’ no longer identifies with his suffering.

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    41. Anyting with bon jovi 🙂

      – it’s my life
      – have A nice day
      -living on a prayer

    42. “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have” Bob Marley
      This quote got me to start working out again after chemo and surgery.

    43. “I haven’t failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” I have that tee-shirt!

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