Mantras for running / walking

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  • JenRLo
    JenRLo Posts: 95 Member
    No more fat *kitten*, no more fat *kitten*, no more fat *kitten*....

    If I'm on the treadmill at the gym I try to get behind someone who looks good so if I slow down I look at them and think "I want my arms/back/*kitten*/legs to look like that!"
  • filomenae
    filomenae Posts: 110 Member
    My running mantra is, "Not every run is going to be great, but any run is better than none."

    Sometimes I'll take my water bottle with me, other times I won't. I never have it full. I always leave the house with it empty. I use it as motivation because when I go running, I do about 4 1/2 miles or so to the gym, where they have a bubbler and I end with about 45-60 minutes of strength training. I'll constantly be thinking, "HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT THAT WATER? If you walk, it'll only be longer! Keep running! Fight the pain, you are in control."

    I swear my mind is like a drill sargent..
  • lee1205
    lee1205 Posts: 9 Member
    Bump so I can use on tonights run.
  • zombiemusicgirl
    zombiemusicgirl Posts: 98 Member
    Runners world once ran an article that the most effective mantra for the human brain is:

    "down"

    This actually worked really well for me. When I ran my last 10k and felt like mud in the last half mile, it got me to the end :-)

    There's really nothing cure or fun about it though. Just really effective for me.
  • melindadunston
    melindadunston Posts: 157
    These are great! I didn't know other people did this...lol I have just started running and just did my first 5k last week. I have a lot of internal dialogue. I do the old "what doesn't kill me will make me stronger." But the other side of my brain asks which one this is doing??? Killing or making me stronger? Somedays I can't tell the difference. I often say over and over in my head "If it were easy everyone would do it...." Or keep going, I set little goals along the way and don't quit:)

    Happy Running:)
  • frhenderson
    frhenderson Posts: 32 Member
    I like Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint."

    And when I'm on machines I keep repeating "less than __ left", or "__ done". I figure out the number in fractions and decimals and the pain of the math overcomes the pain of the run. :)
  • shae68143
    shae68143 Posts: 422 Member
    Bump
  • CricketWhiskers
    CricketWhiskers Posts: 64 Member
    I haven't been brave enough to go running outside yet but whenever I'm in the gym I always pick a treadmill next to a person who is super fit then as we're running I ask myself "If this person was a Zombie could I outrun them?" and if the answer is no I always bump up the speed just a bit.

    I don't always avoid getting "eaten" but it takes the fitness zombie a little longer to get me every time. Not exactly a "mantra" but it keeps my mind occupied and I like to think it lets me use some of my fight-or-flight fuel :D
  • Cocochickdeleted
    Cocochickdeleted Posts: 342 Member
    Normally I think through song lyrics to pass the time, but lately it's mostly been "Jeez, it's freakin' hot."
    Me too! I listen to my playlist and the music becomes my mantra for the most part, but I know there will come a day when I need an actual saying to get me through some runs, so now I have some great ideas. And there have been several occasions lately when "Jeez, it's freakin' hot!" has been my unintentional mantra. I'm not one to wish summer away, but I am getting TIRED of the sunny, 90+ degree days every single day!
    Every single time I have seen someone out running in the last few years, I have just had this longing to BE a runner. So with some encouragement, I just faced my fears and got out there and started being one! ;) Now whenever I am getting discouraged, I say over and over, ``I am actually going to BE a runner!`` It just fills me with joy and accomplishment!

    This was me, too! Except, you need to change it to you ARE a runner. If you run, you are a runner. Usually, just being out there and knowing that I'm doing it is motivational enough to keep me going.
  • AnneC77
    AnneC77 Posts: 284
    Well I am really new to any excercise. I started walking two weeks ago and now I am running walking and today I was saying 'Food is not worth this' over and over. But I think I will use the Ghandi mantra, it is far more meaningful and cool.
  • vfnmoody
    vfnmoody Posts: 271 Member
    Oprah did it ...B****h

    You always pass out before you die....

    My sister lost 100 lbs and gained it back saying "it was just as hard to be thinner as it was to be fat....pick your hard".

    The only difference between who you want to be and who you are is what you do right now
  • jsidel126
    jsidel126 Posts: 694 Member
    In the last half of the run/workout:
    Look how far you have come...Don't stop now! (or repeat this run again tommorrow)
  • Lisha_R
    Lisha_R Posts: 92 Member
    sweat is fat crying!

    I like this one. I haven't gotten to running yet. I am just at walking right now. When I am going uphill or my legs are burning I say "one more, one more". Meaning one more step you can do one more step. Every journey starts with the first step. My journey to fitness and lower weight started with the first step. Once I walk that one step the I can walk the next and so on.
  • jsidel126
    jsidel126 Posts: 694 Member
    And when I'm on machines I keep repeating "less than __ left", or "__ done". I figure out the number in fractions and decimals and the pain of the math overcomes the pain of the run. :)

    I do this whenever I have a long segment of something I do not like to do with no simple break points. Calcualtions keep me focused on something other than pain. And it is easy to see progress...
  • Maria_T007
    Maria_T007 Posts: 107
    This is wonderful! Im trying this for now on Thanks! :)
  • superpapa16
    superpapa16 Posts: 244 Member
    When I run I have this line in my head alot, for some reason...

    "... it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"
  • goldencoley
    goldencoley Posts: 45 Member
    LOVE LOVE LOVE All of these!! there is a poem I recite whenever I'm on a long run.... it really keeps things in perspective :)

    "Out of the night that covers me,
    Black as the pit from pole to pole,
    I thank whatever gods may be
    For my unconquerable soul.

    In the fell clutch of circumstance
    I have not winced nor cried aloud.
    Under the bludgeonings of chance
    My head is bloody, but unbowed.

    Beyond this place of wrath and tears
    Looms but the horror of the shade,
    And yet the menace if the years
    Finds and shall find me unafraid.

    It matters not how strait the gate,
    How charged with punishments the scroll.
    I am the master of my fate:
    I am the captain of my soul. "
  • pompom826
    pompom826 Posts: 16 Member
    I have a shirt that say's "Don't stop til you get enough" as in the Michale Jackson song! Seems to work for me.
  • xandra
    xandra Posts: 101 Member
    Love it :flowerforyou:
  • lilgemforgets
    lilgemforgets Posts: 285
    I just started running this year and have done both a 5k and a 10k.... I've even let my friends talk me into doing a 1/2 marathon on Thanksgiving...... I think I'll use one of your more positive sayings...... Usually I just say "I will finish this race with on my feet and not in the back of an ambulance"....or "Don't fall out...you'll get trampled".....
  • DeadMarsha
    DeadMarsha Posts: 203
    I always tell myself "I've done this before, I can do it again." And I try to push myself a little further each week. =)
  • GlitterMamma11
    GlitterMamma11 Posts: 143 Member
    Sooooo I'm not the only person that chants to themselves when the going gets tough? Yay! I'm slightly less weird! :o) Ps. I count. A lot.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    All joking aside, my "mantras" for pushing myself are too sweary to be posted on a public forum.
  • eresin
    eresin Posts: 104 Member
    Unless I drop dead or an abducted by aliens, I will keep running.
  • OliviaUnicorn
    OliviaUnicorn Posts: 7
    "legs are strong, feet are light"

    That's so good. I think I'm gonna steal that one :tongue:

    There are a few mantras I like to use. Especially when i'm tired or my legs hurt.
    "The pain is only in your mind!"
    "You can do this! Show them that you're not weak! You are strong!" - By 'them' I refer to my elementary and junior high time bullies who told me that I was weak, fat and that I couldn't do anything.
  • lsm0509
    lsm0509 Posts: 19 Member
    Wake up with determination, go to bed with satisfaction.

    Sometimes I count backward from my current weight to my goal weight :)

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