What do you think about when exercising....

For me, I get onto the machine, turn on my music and start going... the whole time picturing the the person i could be, the person i should be, and the person i am going to be...

What do you think about?

I focus on contracting the muscle I'm working. Many people don't know how to "feel" the muscle working and just go through the mechanics of the lift. Learning how to flex the muscle and contract it hard will get the muscle in better condition.

I mostly work out outdoors, on my bike. If I'm on a paved path, I'm watching the scenery roll by, paying attention to my breathing and keeping my quads on a slow burn, while keeping a look down the path so I don't roll over any pedestrians or other cyclists. When I'm riding singletrack, I don't have enough spare brain to think about anything except the flow of the trail and managing the climbs / obstacles / rocks in the path.

I do love a nice, swoopy flowy downhill section, though. There's nothing that feels like flying as much as blasting down a 12" wide trail at 20 MPH, focused on nothing except the next move. Until I crash. Then, I'm trying to figure out what went wrong and how to stop the bleeding.

When I'm running on the treadmill these four things usually come back to my mind at some point:

1. I've only run "xx" distance?/ I still have "xx" minutes to go??
2. I can't give up - wonder woman wouldn't stop running after 3 minutes!
3. That guy in the weight room is hot.
4. My pants are too loose in the waist! They need more capri pants for pear shapes!

I love running outside, so i watch the views, getting away from chasing dogs, watching people walking about, trying to imagine where they have been or going. I dont run with music in as i like to listen to the noises, particulaly at night, there are some great and scary noises about and sometime the view are even better at night with street lamps down in the valley. This keeps it fresh and never gets boring! I also consentrat on my breathing and foot impact, this passes the time very quickly

When i am on a zone 2 (HR 120-160 bpm) fat burning cycle or an endurance ride, these are my favourite times... I think and pray thru everything going on in my life, it's when I process my thoughts, concerns, and prepare my mind for the day/life. When I am doing a zone 3 power cycle I concentrate on my performance, my cadence, keeping my pulse in zone 3 @ 160-220 bpm, and keeping my breathing slow and regular.

When I am swimming I do a lot of people watching and keeping my form good, breathing and counting the number of lengths I have done.

When running I try to think of anything but running! Cos I hate it! I look at the scenery, meditate on something, think about a positive memory... Anything to fight off what my body is screaming at me ... *stop running*

When doing core work, I just count the reps and focus on breathing and counting.

I try to zone out and think of anything but what I'm doing....I really like listening to audio books, or lately netflix on my phone... Anything that keeps my mind from thinking "oh god, I've only been at this 20 minutes, and I still have 40 to go".....

usually it's just about anything... Lately I stare at the mirror and repeat to myself, "Don't you stop, keep going" "You can do this" - Your not stopping...

I listen to my music while running at the local track and think that wow this is a good song with a good beat i can do this... Then i think one day i will be thin if i just keep this up.... After i notice someone else running on the track and if its a skinny girl i think damn that skinny B**ch Shes got it all nice body good form so then i try to run like here and catch myself before i trip and fall on my face because i have no cordination for that kind of running.. and maybe ill stick to what i was doing before.........................

whoa today it was breathe, relax, breathe... dont vomit..breathe, relax LOL!

I think about how stupid I must look and if I'm going to have enough time to call 911 when I have a heart attack!

Conquering my greatest enemy (my fat self)

I'm thingking, "I hate Little Debbie she done turned me into Big Debra!" And I don't ever want to see another cupcake ever again!

a good thing to help you in those last couple of reps is to think about someone you care about is gonna die if you don't lift that weight one more time (as if you were saving them), i heard this from someone else and it helps!

Interesting topic :bigsmile:

When I'm in Tae Kwon Do class, I'm thinking about getting my arms and legs in the correct positions for the patterns, strikes and blocks I'm supposed to be doing, or focused on what the instructor is asking me (and the rest of the class) to do.

On my own, doing a DVD at home I'm clock-watching wondering why am I putting myself through this, hating it and at the same time trying to push through the negative thinking because I know that I need to do this to get fitter, lose the weight and get down to the dress size I want to be

Ditto. I take a tae kwon do class once a week and the time flies by. I'm totally focused on punching with the correct arm or how far apart my feet should be, etc.

If I'm out jogging/walking, I'm listening to my music and thinking how where I feel the burn, how my shoes (kinda on the new side) feel, really 'listening' to my body.

If I'm indoors, I'm totally clock-watching and resisting hitting the pause button.

I guess from this, it's best for me to get out and walk, because there's no pause button. If I wanna get home to relax, I gotta keep moving!

Love this topic!

When I run I crank my music to try to drown out thoughts of the stuff that is bothering me...I run outside. I try NOT to think about my STBX and all of the lies he is telling. I try NOT to think about the negative stuff in my life. I try NOT to think about how mad it makes me that my STBX wants to take credit for my weight loss and new fitness!

I have a lot of anthem type songs to get me through this time in my life: I Am Woman, Fighter, Run the World...stuff like that. Also once in awhile I Won't Back Down comes on and fires me up.