One thing I have noticed in the fitness community as well as in the teaching and coaching circles is that most people associate working out or training with pain and suffering. It's seen as a "good workout" if your body is sore as hell and broken down the following day. Often you can see people on social media saying things like "spin class f*cked me up" or "I could barely walk the next day" or "I am really lacking the motivation to work out".
Maybe if fitness wasn't seen as "pushing through the pain" or "grinding" people wouldn't find it so hard to keep up with their workouts.
While it is true that pushing yourself will elicit results, I would suggest that this might not be the best way to go about it.
Think about it...
Maybe people would find it easier to motivate themselves to work out if they associated exercise with positive feelings and actually feeling better than they did prior to the workout!
It all comes down to Shrinking the Motivational Mountain
Here are 3 Tips to get you started:
Start Slow and Build Momentum! Far too often people dive headfirst into a new training program or habit. By throwing yourself to the fire, the activity then appears to be much more daunting. Instead, start slow and add as you master each small step towards your goal!
Self Talk Matters. Your internal dialogue is important, stop telling yourself how hard it is to work out or complete the task, rather take pleasure in the process and be present! This also applies to posting on social media. Stop talking about how hard you are working and you will notice it might become easier to complete your workouts!
Stop Overtraining and Pushing through Pain. Be nice to your body and it will begin to become easier to be physically active and complete workouts!
Please share if you learned something, or if you have any questions feel free to reach out!
Thank you for reading!
Matt