Your mindset plays a crucial role in achieving your fitness goals. If you don’t have the right mindset, your physical progress may suffer. Here’s why it’s important to adjust your thoughts for a stronger body.
Do you often hit the snooze button and miss your workout? Do you give up when you still have energy left? Is your inner voice overly critical? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be sabotaging your own success. Your brain has control over your actions, thoughts, words, and feelings. So, it’s essential to train your mind and not let it unknowingly hinder your progress. Training your brain doesn’t necessarily mean studying complicated subjects like calculus. It involves cultivating positive thinking patterns, a process known as cognitive behavioral therapy in psychology. This practice challenges negative thoughts to enhance happiness, which can have a direct impact on your fitness and overall well-being.
The Connection Between Mind and Body
Your mind is incredibly powerful and needs training just like your body. Research published in the journal Health Psychology has shown that the way you perceive your physical activity can greatly affect your health and well-being. Individuals who viewed themselves as less active had a higher risk of mortality compared to those who saw themselves as healthy and active. Furthermore, research in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry suggests that positive thinking may even improve your physical health. When you think positive thoughts, you’re more likely to feel better, which in turn increases your motivation to exercise regularly. It’s a cycle of positive reinforcement.
Real-Life Examples
Still not convinced? Think about those times when you were in a bad mood but forced yourself to go out with friends anyway. By changing your thoughts and putting on a smile, you actually started to feel happier and forgot about your earlier mood. This demonstrates the power of mental adjustments on your emotions. Now, what if you’re already a positive thinker but feel exhausted? Well, the combination of exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy has been proven to be an effective treatment for chronic fatigue, according to research in the journal of Clinical Psychology Science and Practice. Therapy isn’t just for the mentally ill – it can benefit anyone, even if it’s self-administered. So instead of thinking that it won’t work, give it a try. Remember, you are what you think!
Positive Mental Adjustments
Here are some thoughts that you should encourage and others that you should banish:
THINK THIS:
- I will feel better after my workout.
- Cardio is important for my heart health.
- I have the strength to do one more rep.
- Stretching will improve my range of motion and increase my strength.
- The post-workout feeling will improve my mood.
- I have enough confidence to complete my workout without worrying about others’ judgment.
- I am proud of my body, including its imperfections.
- Everyone starts somewhere.
- Most people in the gym are supportive and want me to succeed.
- Even a short workout makes a big difference.
NOT THIS:
- I don’t feel like working out today.
- Cardio is a waste of time.
- Why should I push myself to get that extra rep?
- Stretching doesn’t do anything for me.
- I’m having a bad day, so I don’t want to exercise.
- I hate going to the gym because I feel like people are watching me.
- I can’t wear that because I don’t have the right body.
- I’m too out of shape for the gym – people will laugh at me.
- Workouts are too time-consuming, and I don’t have the time.