Workout Thoughts
Too many of us still equate workouts with mindlessness. This is one of the reasons we do not do daily workouts. It is as if we are trying to prove that we are above being "dumb jocks."
With all of the fitness equipment and clubs since Jack Lalanne eighty years ago, this is not as prevalent as it used to be. Because fitness now looks more sophisticated, it is assumed to be so. As a result, more and more people are working out intelligently, becoming more fit than ever before.
Nevertheless, there is still is the mindlessness stigma. It is as if our mental processes get turned off when we work out. This seems to happen when we go the distance for our runs, circuit training, or swims. In fact, the mere exertion of doing an hour long workout seems to make thinking impossible. But, does this state have to persist beyond the first few months, if even for that long?
Too many of us live with the misconceptions of thought being impossible while doing a workout. This makes it difficult to commit long periods of time to the best fitness exercises available, namely distance running, cycling, machine weight training and of course swimming. These activities all escalate the bodily processes, develop muscle, cause leanness and promote over all cardiovascular functioning. To say the least, these are all the best for our over all sense of healthiness.
Most have no trouble with this assertion. Where we do run into difficulty is over doing these on a regular basis. They take time, for instance at least an hour everyday. Or, if the latest fitness lifestyle recommendations of the President's Council can be taken seriously, they take at least one half hour per day for six days a week. While that may not be as good as an hour, it is a good place to start.
But the question still remains : what goes through our heads when we do our workouts? Nothing, because we are too tired to think? Negative thoughts, because we fear pulling a muscle, or worse? Plans for our daily interactions at work or with others? Non-sense, as we do not know how to focus while working out? Self-defeating thoughts which suggest that all of working out is either futile or making us into dumb jocks? What?
This is important because we all are thinking people. We have graduated from college. We have responsible jobs. We are upstanding citizens. We pride our selves on the use of our heads for everything, and indeed take pride in being adults. Therefore, anything that would detract from this mind-centered way of life would be bad for us.
That is why what goes through our heads during a workout is important. If it is not anything worthwhile, we will be prone to quitting for that very reason alone. Working out will be seen as in congruent with our identities as persons.
For most of us, just getting into a workout routine and staying at it for six months is an accomplishment. Too many of us have started on January first only to quit by Mach fifteenth. Thus staying at it for six months to develop the needed resilience for another six months, is good. It is what we should be striving for.
But, there are things which get in the way. One of the big ones is the thoughts in our heads. Psychologists from the eighties used to refer to these as "tapes,'' like those on a Walkman. Usually they were negative in nature, largely the result of early parental programming. The belief was that these determined the course of our lives. (In the case of workout out this might be some thing like "You're too old for this or too out of shape" which could easily result either in an injury or in simply quitting.)
Therefore, the aim of therapy was to get tough about the trash in our heads. Practically this meant silencing or "throwing out" these voices by becoming convinced that they were no more than old parental cautions which were not relevant to the present. This was helpful, but hardly enough to be satisfactory. In the best sense, we simply became empty-headed.
We all have active minds. Keeping them free of negative thoughts is good, but it is not good enough. Rather, these negative thoughts need to be replaced by productive ones. That way, we can do our workouts without becoming a dumb jock--one who thinks of nothing other than putting one foot in front of the other on the way to the finish line. But, what would be better?
Some suggestions include but are not limited to : 1.) imagining the course of rest of the day; 2.) learning a foreign language; 3.) memorizing uplifting poetry; 4.) internally dialoging either before or after a social interaction; 5.) doing budgetary computations. All for these are mentally engaging and can be done while the more commonplace functions of swimming the mile or running the five mile are done as if on cruise control.
When that happens we are no longer certain whether we are primarily exercising or thinking. This is important as both can be allowed to positively impact the other, thereby enhancing the development of our inner selves. The results, after a period of getting accustomed to doing so, are dramatic. Possibly they may even make us us smarter--something believed by only a very small percentage of those who have committed to fitness for at least a decade.
So, what is in our heads when we work out? Something good, something encouraging? Something depressing, such as fears over age or physical condition? Something creative like nouns and verbs for a new language? Something inspirational which could echo in our consciousnesses long after our showers on this particular day or possibly even two months from now?
Really, what is in our heads is under our control. It may not seem that way at first, but with a little effort our cerebral trash and insipid mental tapes can be replaced by things far superior. When we get good at that, we insure our continuing on at something known to be best for us, namely that thirty minute six day a week routine, which we should be able to double in under a year.
For further thought on our thinking as we workout order my book "Think and Grow Fit."
With all of the fitness equipment and clubs since Jack Lalanne eighty years ago, this is not as prevalent as it used to be. Because fitness now looks more sophisticated, it is assumed to be so. As a result, more and more people are working out intelligently, becoming more fit than ever before.
Nevertheless, there is still is the mindlessness stigma. It is as if our mental processes get turned off when we work out. This seems to happen when we go the distance for our runs, circuit training, or swims. In fact, the mere exertion of doing an hour long workout seems to make thinking impossible. But, does this state have to persist beyond the first few months, if even for that long?
Too many of us live with the misconceptions of thought being impossible while doing a workout. This makes it difficult to commit long periods of time to the best fitness exercises available, namely distance running, cycling, machine weight training and of course swimming. These activities all escalate the bodily processes, develop muscle, cause leanness and promote over all cardiovascular functioning. To say the least, these are all the best for our over all sense of healthiness.
Most have no trouble with this assertion. Where we do run into difficulty is over doing these on a regular basis. They take time, for instance at least an hour everyday. Or, if the latest fitness lifestyle recommendations of the President's Council can be taken seriously, they take at least one half hour per day for six days a week. While that may not be as good as an hour, it is a good place to start.
But the question still remains : what goes through our heads when we do our workouts? Nothing, because we are too tired to think? Negative thoughts, because we fear pulling a muscle, or worse? Plans for our daily interactions at work or with others? Non-sense, as we do not know how to focus while working out? Self-defeating thoughts which suggest that all of working out is either futile or making us into dumb jocks? What?
This is important because we all are thinking people. We have graduated from college. We have responsible jobs. We are upstanding citizens. We pride our selves on the use of our heads for everything, and indeed take pride in being adults. Therefore, anything that would detract from this mind-centered way of life would be bad for us.
That is why what goes through our heads during a workout is important. If it is not anything worthwhile, we will be prone to quitting for that very reason alone. Working out will be seen as in congruent with our identities as persons.
For most of us, just getting into a workout routine and staying at it for six months is an accomplishment. Too many of us have started on January first only to quit by Mach fifteenth. Thus staying at it for six months to develop the needed resilience for another six months, is good. It is what we should be striving for.
But, there are things which get in the way. One of the big ones is the thoughts in our heads. Psychologists from the eighties used to refer to these as "tapes,'' like those on a Walkman. Usually they were negative in nature, largely the result of early parental programming. The belief was that these determined the course of our lives. (In the case of workout out this might be some thing like "You're too old for this or too out of shape" which could easily result either in an injury or in simply quitting.)
Therefore, the aim of therapy was to get tough about the trash in our heads. Practically this meant silencing or "throwing out" these voices by becoming convinced that they were no more than old parental cautions which were not relevant to the present. This was helpful, but hardly enough to be satisfactory. In the best sense, we simply became empty-headed.
We all have active minds. Keeping them free of negative thoughts is good, but it is not good enough. Rather, these negative thoughts need to be replaced by productive ones. That way, we can do our workouts without becoming a dumb jock--one who thinks of nothing other than putting one foot in front of the other on the way to the finish line. But, what would be better?
Some suggestions include but are not limited to : 1.) imagining the course of rest of the day; 2.) learning a foreign language; 3.) memorizing uplifting poetry; 4.) internally dialoging either before or after a social interaction; 5.) doing budgetary computations. All for these are mentally engaging and can be done while the more commonplace functions of swimming the mile or running the five mile are done as if on cruise control.
When that happens we are no longer certain whether we are primarily exercising or thinking. This is important as both can be allowed to positively impact the other, thereby enhancing the development of our inner selves. The results, after a period of getting accustomed to doing so, are dramatic. Possibly they may even make us us smarter--something believed by only a very small percentage of those who have committed to fitness for at least a decade.
So, what is in our heads when we work out? Something good, something encouraging? Something depressing, such as fears over age or physical condition? Something creative like nouns and verbs for a new language? Something inspirational which could echo in our consciousnesses long after our showers on this particular day or possibly even two months from now?
Really, what is in our heads is under our control. It may not seem that way at first, but with a little effort our cerebral trash and insipid mental tapes can be replaced by things far superior. When we get good at that, we insure our continuing on at something known to be best for us, namely that thirty minute six day a week routine, which we should be able to double in under a year.
For further thought on our thinking as we workout order my book "Think and Grow Fit."
