Mind Games During Excercise

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khageman101
khageman101 Posts: 5 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I am wondering what you all do to "trick" your mind into working out/running harder and longer. I know that I need to step up my workouts a little bit and feel stuck in my 30 minute cardio routine. I just get so tired (especially when I work out after work). I need some advice on how to trick my mind to overcome the pain and boredom ...... Any ideas? Thanks y'all!!

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  • yusaku02
    yusaku02 Posts: 3,476 Member
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    I don't need to 'trick' my mind into doing anything. I know that every workout I do is taking me one step closer to achieving my fitness goals and that's all the motivation I need.

    You could come up with a phrase that reminds you of why you're working so hard and repeat it to yourself as you work out, kinda like a mantra. I did that when running a marathon because I was terrified that my recent knee injury was going to prevent me from finishing. So I just repeated 'my knee is strong because I am strong' in my head at least a couple thousand times during that race. Kinda lame but I think it helped me a bit, I finished the race with no issues.
  • Sweet_Heresy
    Sweet_Heresy Posts: 411 Member
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    When I worked out at home, a had a sizable piece of poster board taped to my wall that said "DON'T F***ING QUIT" right in a spot that was easy for me to see.

    Obviously I can't do that at the gym but it seemed to work at the time. :p
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
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    set goals. a 5K or something . or follow a rigid program.
  • BZAH10
    BZAH10 Posts: 5,710 Member
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    khageman101 wrote: »
    So I am wondering what you all do to "trick" your mind into working out/running harder and longer. I know that I need to step up my workouts a little bit and feel stuck in my 30 minute cardio routine. I just get so tired (especially when I work out after work). I need some advice on how to trick my mind to overcome the pain and boredom ...... Any ideas? Thanks y'all!!

    I do what I call a "numbers game". I input my stats on whatever cardio machine I'm using that day and then keep track of the calorie burned number. NOT for actual calories burned, but as a gauge of my intensity. I write it down and then the next day I try to increase that number by 5 or 10 or whatever. For me, boredom sets in when my routine is exactly the same every day. So, knowing that I need to push myself harder to get to that next number really helps me keep going.
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    SonyaCele wrote: »
    set goals. a 5K or something . or follow a rigid program.

    This. If I'm struggling on any given day, I'll call my coach over to yell at me through a set.
  • kickassbarbie
    kickassbarbie Posts: 286 Member
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    This is kinda sad but a great distraction I use when on the treadmill or other reptitive exercise is to pick a subject (like countries for example) and then go through the alphabet listing them... (like a - Africa b - Belgium c- Columbia.) Works for movies, names, Italian dishes etc.

    Helps distract me from breathing, tiredness etc. Or just mentally sing along to your earphones! (Down side to this is I've been known to randomly blurt out the odd word, usually a weird word like sexy or *kitten*... fine at home gym not so great in public.)
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Since I started I have religiously noted my performance stats, so I know how im doing that day. You cna add variety to your workout but in terms of pishing yourself then its motivational to beat a previous recod or record a good time.

    Music is also a fantastic distraction of uoi get the right songs with the right rythm then it masks some of the discomfot of pushing yourself.

    I can also split longer distances down into bitesize chunks and use them as mini races.

    I will also do a ladder spread so I do 2 second faster every 5 minutes or 2000m.

    Ive also found im quite competitive and drive myself not to slack. Progress is a big encouragement and soemtimes you cna enjoy getting a new time.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I have to break up sets of squats into smaller numbers in order to get through them. So instead of counting 1-2-3-4-5, I do 1-2, 2-2, and 1. I don't break between them so I'm doing the same as 12345 but it just helps me to make it through the whole thing. I really loathe squats most of the time.
  • bigblondewolf
    bigblondewolf Posts: 268 Member
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    I've just taken to watching Netflix on my phone while running. I know it doesn't work for other workouts, but I tend to get mental block while running if I don't distract it with a movie haha.
  • ThatGirl_1968
    ThatGirl_1968 Posts: 47 Member
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    I can't run due to injury, but I've tried changing up my walking treadmill workouts by doing hill intervals one day, speed intervals another, no incline slower pace longer time workouts another day. In addition depending on the workout I've got various music (Rock My Run app is great for variety), my playlist, Netflix and even an ebook to read for my "lower intensity/longer period of time" workout. Of all those it's the music that really motivates me the most.
  • ljk0615
    ljk0615 Posts: 160 Member
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    Listen to audiobooks or even better bc they're free, listen to podcasts. Serial is a great one if you haven't listened to it, as well as this American life and criminal.
  • granturismo
    granturismo Posts: 232 Member
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    If I'm struggling and listening to music, I'll say to myself 'keep going until this song finishes' and then repeat the same for the next song until I complete my time set.
    If I have no music, I'll count down slowly from 10 to 1 and then repeat until my stopwatch beeps and always finish my last count to 1. This works for me for exercises I do with time sets of 1 minute to 2.5 minutes.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    I do mental math, especially on the rowing machine. If I want to make 7200 meters in 30 minutes, I have to maintain what pace? How about 5000 m in 21 minutes?
  • kmab1985
    kmab1985 Posts: 295 Member
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    I just talk to myself in my heaf,it helps me a lot i.e in Spinning when the sweats dripping off me,my butt is killing and my leg muscles are screaming out, I just say over and over "You can do this you can do this" haha

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