I didn't like exercising most of my life. I left the gym in a fouler mood than when I showed up. The idea of a runner's high was cruel.
I was surprised to find many psychological tricks that can turn the pain into pleasure. I now burn between 6,000 and 7,000 calories a week with high-intensity interval training, 5 km runs and yoga. It is now the highlight of my day.
Don't accept my word for it. The science behind the five strategies I found most effective.
Picking the right music for a workout can be just as important as choosing the right music for a party.
The benefits are not only found in motivational lyrics, but also in upbeat tracks that can help to drown out fatigue, and when you are lost in the music, you forget how hard you are working out.
Some physical benefits can be found. Loud music increases our heart rate, which will give us more oxygen to our muscles. Costas Karageorghis, a professor of sport and exercise physiology at Brunel University London, has shown that our body's motion is linked to the underlying rhythm. The result is more efficient use of our muscles.
The pace of the music must match the type of exercise you are trying to perform. If you take a step for every beat, around 170-180bpm is right for a high intensity run. You might want to listen to Dangerous by David Guetta at 92bpm.
There are a lot of accounts that offer pictures of perfect pecs and tight torsos, a portrait of what might be possible if you only follow the right regimen. A way of focusing your mind on what you want to achieve is what these images are about. These accounts can lead to a less rewarding workout according to a study.
A group of people scrolled through images. The before-and-after shots depicted a body transformation were supposedly motivational. Travel photos of attractive places were seen by others. They worked out on the treadmill for 10 minutes. They found the activity more tiring than the people who had seen the travel snaps because of the negative effect the #fitspo images had on their mood. The sight of the fitness guru made them feel less attractive and more concerned about their weight and shape, which made them feel less satisfied.
Feelings of fatigue can be seen as a sign of failure if you are just getting started on a new fitness regimen. Your body seems to be yelling at you to stop exercising because of the throbbing in your chest, burning in your lungs, and the ache in your limbs. The sensations can even cause you to exaggerate your feelings, like when you say, "I can't take it" or "I'm never going to get fit"
According to psychological science, these thoughts will only amplify your distress, so it's possible that you won't continue working out in the future. You can practice cognitive appraisal to avoid this. You could try to observe the feelings without judging them and take a dispassionate view. You might try to see the pain as a sign of progress, as you push your body to the max. Studies show that small changes in mindset can make a big difference. They could use the mind-body connection to make the placebo effect happen. Prof Benedetti found that reframing muscle ache as a positive signal can increase the production of the brain's cannabinoids and painkillers that could mask the strain.
Athletes say the power of visualization. Michael Phelps imagined each event in detail. He wrote in his book that he could see the start, the strokes, the walls, the turns, and the strategy. It's like programming a race in my head and that programming sometimes makes it happen just as I imagined it.
Mental imagery can improve the accuracy of our movements and even our strength, according to sports science. People who spend a few minutes a day seeing the lifting of heavy weights see bigger strength gains than those who don't. The brain sends signals to the muscles when you go to the gym, and the mental rehearsal increases those signals. The technique can be used to reduce the loss of strength.
When there are so many other activities vying for our time and attention, it's important to get to the gym in the first place. When you might be curled up on the sofa with a trashy novel, it's harder to summon the will to work out.
temptation-bundling involves packaging the things you don't want to do with one of your guilty pleasures. The technique was developed by Prof. Milkman at the University of Pennsylvania, who gave people iPods with addictive audiobooks to listen to while they worked out. Over the next seven weeks, the simple strategy increased their gym attendance by 29%.
Do you want to dust off your trainers? With each of these strategies nudging you towards your fitness goals, you could soon find yourself making substantial gains.
The Expectation Effect: How your mindset can transform your life is a book by David Robson. Go to guardianbookshop.com to order your copy. Delivery charges can be applied.
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