When it comes to exercise, we often focus on what we can get out of it:
physical changes, improved health, better performance, and the good feeling
afterward. While these are all great things, hinging your ambitions and
personal satisfaction on these external factors will keep you motivated
only for a short while. (How often have we set lofty resolutions in January,
enjoying the immediate results, but then petering out when it starts to
get boring?) Maybe it’s time to flip the script. Before you expect
anything from your workout, first you must step up to the plate with a
positive outlook about the activity. Often this means developing internal
fitness motivation. When you do this, experts say you’ll be more
likely to stick with the routine, and you’ll also be more likely
to experience many of the benefits you desire.
Professional athletes are masters of being internally motivated, says Vernon
Williams, M.D., a sports neurologist and medical director of the Kerlan-Jobe
Center for Sports Neurology in Los Angeles. But you don’t have to
be training for the Olympics to master their mindset. “Athletes
go into a workout with a sense of purpose, focusing on what they need
to do rather than just the goal they want to accomplish,” says Williams.
He points out that instead of seeing exercise as something they “have
to” do, most of them show up day after day because it’s something
they want to do. Because it’s a passion as much as a job, they’re
willing to put more effort into their workouts, he adds.
It’s not enough to just tell yourself through gritted teeth, “You
will do this treadmill run and you will like it.” Much is said about
forcing yourself to exercise when you don’t want to—whole
Pinterest boards and Tumblr accounts are dedicated to this idea—but
Williams says that everyone responds differently to exercise, and this
tactic simply won’t work for some. Rather, he says a big part of
an athlete’s positivity is that she has found something she loves
to do. It sounds so simple, but many people slog away doing exercises
they find boring or painful because they think that’s what they
“should” be doing. Don’t like to run? Don’t run.
There are so many different ways to be active, from hula-hoop to dodgeball
to aerial yoga, there is no reason not to have fun with your workout.
But what if you’re not naturally a water bottle half-full type? What
if your first instinct is to hate everything? Don’t worry, says
Michael Mantell, Ph.D., senior fitness consultant for behavioral sciences
for the American Council on Exercise and author of
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: P.S. It’s All Small Stuff. “Research demonstrates that 50 percent of a person’s outlook
is inborn. Another 10 percent appears to be attributed to life circumstances.”
That means 40 percent of your happiness is directly under your control.
One way to find what you love is to look back to your past. “So many
people define themselves as ‘sick’ or ‘fat’ or
‘out of shape,’ so I ask them to bring in a picture or memento
from when they were doing something physical that they loved,” Williams
says. “Once they look at that ballet picture or basketball trophy
they can say, ‘Hey, that’s me! I’m still that person!'”
Mantell recommends you kick the negative self-talk—the “I can’t,”
“I’ll look stupid,” and “I don’t know how
to do this”—and replace it with positive language. A simple
“I’ll try” can go a long way. And it’s worth the
effort, because the latest research indicates that happier people get
more out of their healthy efforts.
For example, people with a positive attitude are
more likely to exercise in the first place, to
stick with a fitness program, to
bounce back from a setback, and to
do other healthy activities like eating a healthful diet and meditating. One study found that heart
disease patients who exercised and had positive attitudes were 42 percent
less likely to die of all causes during a five-year follow-up period,
compared to patients who were negative and didn’t exercise. (And
not dying makes you at least 97 percent happier, right?)
Researchers found that in addition to helping people exercise, a positive
attitude also makes exercising easier. (And who wouldn’t want that?)
People who go into their workouts with the intention of enjoying them
recover from exercise faster,
heal from injuries faster, have
stronger hearts, and
feel less pain when they work out. Exercise stresses the heart, but one study found that
positive people’s heart rates returned to normal faster after a
stressful event.
The one thing all of the research results have in common, however, is that
while happy people are more likely to get those benefits, people who get
those benefits are more likely to be happy! Practice bringing positivity
to your workout, and eventually the happiness-exercise loop becomes self-reinforcing,
leading to better health and fulfillment for life.
By
Charlotte Hilton Andersen