The lack of fitness motivation, mental toughness is fragile, it is easy to cause "Three days to fish and two days to sunbathe" Fitness process, in this "Yo-yo" Type of fitness, not only wasted time, but also will discourage most of the fitness people.
And everyone understands that fitness motivation is not just "Chicken blood", but a series of effective behavior and thinking change. This includes both physical and mental shifts. Here are four good tips on the psychology of fitness, if it helps you, remember to triple up!
1. From natural to acquired effort
Mental toughness has a high neurological component and is also partly genetic.
We can improve mental toughness through acquired efforts.
Starting with the neurological aspect, we will see that people who are more sensitive to dopamine will have greater mental toughness and higher self-confidence.
Dopamine affects our motivation, perseverance and confidence level. Those who are naturally more sensitive to it are more "Competitive (in the positive sense)" Than the average person, and are more resilient than others in that they will do everything they can to achieve their goals and not back down. Those who do not have this high sensitivity need to raise dopamine levels as much as possible before training or competition. Tyrosine and theanine supplementation is effective in this regard.
Another aspect that is important for fitness motivation from a neurological perspective is serotonin.
Serotonin helps your brain deal with stress and anxiety.
Much of the cause of anxiety is neuronal over-activation: Your brain is firing at all the areas of your body that it can control, and anxiety can make you feel like everything is speeding up, as if you have no control over your brain or body. The function of serotonin is to reduce the activation level to a manageable level. Those with very low serotonin levels tend to be more anxious and prone to crashing under stress.
People on a severely restricted diet, especially low carb, tend to over deplete their serotonin, which will make them more prone to anxiety and feel stifled under stress.
Some supplements that boost 5-hydroxytryptamine and gaba (a neurotransmitter) can calm the neurons and help these people get a better handle on themselves. Also, pay attention to whether you are consuming the necessary and reasonable amount of carbohydrates.
How can we apply these neurological components to help us improve our fitness motivation?
When faced with stress, different people have different ways of coping.
If you are a naturally competitive, confident, impulsive trainer, all it takes is a little stimulation or encouragement to ignite the motivation to train.
If you are a naturally hyper-competent, explosive, confident but calm trainer, you really don't need to do anything to reap the benefits of a constant stream of fitness motivation. This kind of trainer is the best under any pressure and can be called the "Number one player" In the fitness game.
If you are a person with low self-esteem, a little anxious by nature, often facing all kinds of pressure, what you need most is not fitness motivation, but encouragement and support. Trying to motivate someone who is already anxious (low in serotonin and/or gamma-aminobutyric acid) will only accelerate their neurons, making them more unmotivated and more likely to lose control and feel suffocated.
2. From physical to mental toughness
The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain that helps us make the right decisions related to movement and performance.
Norepinephrine and dopamine (the hormones and neurotransmitters that get you high), increase in large amounts during stressful periods, when they bind to receptors in the prefrontal cortex.
This binding weakens the prefrontal cortex's ability to make precise movements or actions at low stress levels. When you feel constant stress, the prefrontal cortex doesn't work, which causes your performance to plummet.
When we feel very excited, we are unable to make good judgments and focus on the task at hand, for example, pushing a large weighted barbell.
What do the strongest people in the world do? They find a particularly effective way to increase their mental toughness when under pressure in order to reduce distractions from their training: "Always be grateful".
Training yourself to be grateful in the face of severe stress is one of the most effective ways to overcome stress and increase your mental toughness. Imagine yourself as a fighter standing in front of a formidable opponent, grateful to have reached that level, rather than being overwhelmed by anxiety.
Many people who unfortunately lost an arm in some accident are grateful that he did not lose both arms. The misfortune of fate may become softened and more acceptable.
However, this kind of mindfulness is difficult to achieve and requires a lot of practice in meditation and positive thinking, but it is essential for developing mental toughness.
From a practical point of view, there are two things we can do to increase mental toughness.
1. Practice meditation or mindfulness for at least 15 minutes a day. This is especially important before a stressful event or when anxiety is at its peak during the day.
2. Wear a heart rate monitor during stressful events. This applies to any sport, including fitness and bodybuilding, as well as daily training. Always keep your focus in a relaxed place, and always be grateful. Over time, if you do it right, your average heart rate will decrease because it will reduce the "Hit and run" Response from cortisol. Mental toughness comes from the brain's ability to shift fear and anxiety, which will lower your heart rate and brain acuity to face challenges more calmly.
3. Leave your comfort zone
There are two kinds of comfort zones: The physical comfort zone and the mental comfort zone.
At the physical level, we mainly focus on the training program.
If you're good at bench pressing, try leg training; if you have great strength, try running a marathon; if you only like cardio, try strength training as well. In short, leave your body's comfort zone and really improve your fitness training motivation.
In this regard, we also recommend some very testing endurance and extreme programs, such as trail running and iron triangle.
It's hard, but it will get easier and easier to come. When you get a taste of constantly pushing your body's limits, you will find that much, much of the effort is worth it.
Another way is to leave your mental comfort zone.
This means doing something you are truly afraid to do.
Once you have conquered your fear, you will be stronger inside, which will greatly increase your confidence.
Although it is dangerous, i would recommend taking on some extreme sports that you have never done before, such as skydiving. The biggest challenge of skydiving is when you are ready to jump down from the plane. Most people are paralyzed by the thought of doing so, rather than actually taking action.
Do something that scares you and it will increase your mental toughness.
4. Shark sex vs. Pirate maps
We face all kinds of trivial challenges every day, and many times we have to give up certain things to get something else done. It's so hard to do everything beautifully. But there is still hope.
To accomplish some of the more difficult things, you need to sweep away all the obstacles, noise and all kinds of junk.
There are two ways to get better at what you want to do: Have sharkiness and open the pirate map.
"Sharkiness" Means that, like a shark, swallow all the food in one gulp; when doing something, be decisive.
In life, want to accomplish something, the fastest way is to "Do it now". It's the same process as a shark hunting for food. Having a shopping list, a menu, and a weekly chore list frees my brain from the chaos of day after day and makes it more decisive.
As an example, many people will buy multiple shirts of the same color and style, as well as the exact same jeans and shoes, so that when they are faced with a choice, they can be ready and go faster.
In life and at work -
When the phone rings, they answer it right away. When emails arrive, they are answered immediately. Work assignments come in, get right to work on them. Eat the problem in one bite. Then, go to the gym.
So once you walk into the gym, there are no phone calls, no emails, no work assignments, no other things that need to be taken care of to distract you. Keep your mind clear and focus on the training task at hand.
The "Pirate map" Is a very effective way to develop good daily habits. As the name suggests, look for treasure like a pirate with a map: Follow the map, first go to the island, find the white coconut tree, and then dig down. The treasure is there.
What does this mean? It means that if you want to make things easier, you need to follow a prearranged route to execute it.
Fitness is a series of sequential events with the end result (the treasure) being health, strength, and longevity.
So, in order to stay motivated to get fit, a series of things need to be connected together -
First, you need good sleep to keep it all going. Second, you need to drink water and eat protein. Finally, step into the gym and do your own workout. Before you head out the door, put on your prepared shoes and socks, put on the right clothes and check your backpack.
Here's the simple pirate map that also works well for your time management:.
Bedtime habits: Prepare the necessary tools and ingredients to make coffee/tea in the morning; replenish your nutrition; make a to-do list for tomorrow. Wake up in the morning: Wake up full of gratitude (wow, another day of new challenges, it's good / today is also a day full of energy). Wash up: One minute meditation. Exercise routine: Follow your training list, don't go over time or leave early. Diet preparation: Eat eight different vegetables every day if you sleep nine hours a night, eat protein and vegetables at every meal, drink plenty of water every day, walk every day, and train properly three to four times a week, then your fitness dreams will soon come true.
So far, we have analyzed the factors that affect fitness motivation and mental toughness from four aspects, and have proposed some useful solutions. Now, let's summarize.
Part of our mental toughness/fitness motivation comes from innate factors, but acquired efforts are also essential, such as regulating dopamine and serotonin levels. While fitness enhances strength on a physical level, on a mental level, we still need to do everything and every training session with gratitude and face challenges with positive thoughts. The lack of fitness motivation can be reduced by pre-preparing and arranging before and after daily life and fitness training to exclude the distracting noise of trivial matters. The easiest way to maintain/improve fitness motivation is to leave our comfort zone and feel more fresh and challenging when we return to the familiarity of training again. This is the fitness tree cave, fun, informative and dry, welcome to discuss and exchange ideas together. #hyperbolic