Workout Mind Games

Posted: July 22, 2011 at 7:00 am

I have two important hellos to give out today – one to FRIDAY! So nice to see you again! And another to all the new faces I have seen around here. Make yourself at home and thanks for stopping by. For all you “old faces” – I love love love love love you too! You will find it either heart-warming or get-a-grip-girl-ridiculous when I tell you that I got all watery eyed yesterday thinking how blessed I am to blog and have you all in my life to make it happen. I’m a softy. Sue me. 😉

I could go on and on about my adoration of each of you, but I have something to get off my chest. I know you all think I eat, live, and breathe working out. Well, I do. Howeeeverrr, I certainly have my days where I do not feel like it either. Days where the motivation somehow failed to come along for the ride. I faced that scenario yesterday afternoon!

I couldn’t head to the gym in the morning because Makenzie has contracted some sort of random rash this week. It has improved immensely since its random outbreak on Tuesday, but I always play it safe when exposing my kids to other children. No gym child care for her today! Which meant afternoon workout for me. Ewwww.

I have no trouble pumping myself up for a workout in the morning. I’m fresh and ready to go! In the afternoon, I just want to spread out on the floor like roadkill and allow the two children to use me as a jungle gym (Makenzie) or teething toy (Mr. B). I knew if I skipped out, though, I would regret it since it would have come from pure laziness. I bucked up and dragged my booty to the gym.

 IMGP0115

The workout felt good, but I don’t want to lie and tell you I breezed through. Oh no. I spent the majority of that workout playing the little mental games I turn to when I have to power through. I have quite a few because, like many others, sometimes I have to distract myself. And boy do I have a  variety of ways to do that.

The Mind-Games Tina Plays During Blah-Don’t-Want-To-Do-This Workouts

Goooooaaaaaaaalllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!: Okay, maybe I’m still stuck in earlier this week with the Women’s World Cup. Anyways – I remember my goals. On runs, I picture myself crossing that finish line for my upcoming half marathon. I picture myself becoming a personal trainer and wanting to have the pizazz to motivate others, including myself. I picture myself lugging kids around without my arms killing me. I picture feeling confident in my bathing suit. Don’t you tell me that doesn’t motivate you a bit too!

Can’t Touch This”: I cannot believe I am about to admit this. When I need a little pump up in my workout attitude, I will tell my workout it can’t get the best of me. How? By singing MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” in my head over and over and over again. Whilst also picturing a scene like one of my favorite flash mob videos I have ever seen breaking out at my gym. Ohhh ohhhh! Ohhhh ohhh! Can’t Touch This! Not. Even. Joking.

Break It Down: I will break my workout into smaller chunks. Instead of thinking “I have six exercises to get through” I will focus on the first two. Kind of like with running and the whole “take it one mile at a time” approach. Focusing on one part over the whole helps it feel more manageable when I don’t have high levels of gung-ho-ed-ness. It’s a word.

The Final Countdown: In a similar vein, if I count my reps down in my head it makes me feel better. I guess I like hearing the number get smaller and smaller. Just…two…more…jump squats…

jump squat

….because, heck no do I always look so peppy in a round of those suckers! 

The Blog: I know you all would never feel disappointed in me…but at the same time, knowing I share workouts with you fabulous folk can give me a swift kick in the pants. Besides…its more fun for me to write and for you to read about pushing through a workout and envisioning Hammer Time flash mobs than me saying “oh, I didn’t feel like working out today”. I thought so.

Jesus: Yes, I go there. If that man can go through what he did for me, then pretty sure I can handle that last set of push-ups. Plus, a healthy body is a blessing and I don’t want to take it for granted.

“Fooooooood”: Visions of sugar plums may not dance through my head, but visions of oatmeal sure do! Even though I eat a snack before most of my workouts, I can never fail to distract my thoughts with food. Maybe that’s another reason I don’t enjoy working out in the afternoon. Oats and smoothies are more fun to think about than leftover pasta salad, no matter how delicious it may be.

pasta salad dinner

Watch Out, Girl! I must admit that I also stoop to the level of picking some poor soul in the gym to “compete” against. I choose someone busting butt and refuse to let that person one-up me. Not the best side of me, but at least it gets the job done!

Your turn! What are your favorite mental games for during tougher workouts?

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63 Comments to “Workout Mind Games”
  1. Great Flash Mob video!

    This is my first visit to this website. I love all the great names of blogs the commenters have. Awesome! And so creative!

    I will be sure to bookmark this and visit again.
    Thanks for the good read!

  2. I have the hardest time getting going in the afternoon. The food I ate, the coffee I drank, it all comes back to me. I love the mind games – maybe I need to think of some. Usually I just jump on my treadmill, turn on the TV and say to myself that I’ll stop when the episode finishes. I gotta admit though – i haven’t really been working out 🙁 life and heat are getting the best of me lately. I need to remedy that asap.

    also – that video is SO FUNNY! That’s for including it, now I’ll be singing, “Can’t touch this” the rest of the day.

  3. Tiffany says:

    I don’t really have any mind games. I just like to imagine what I WANT to look like (lol) and that usually gets me going a little longer.

  4. […] And when all else fails, picture a “Hammer Time” flash mob. […]

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