Sticking to your Exercise Routine: Psychological tips for building your strength from the inside out.

March 22, 2017

How to build your strength from the inside out and stick to your exercise routine

Your mind can be your friend or enemy when it comes to getting stronger, fitter, and sexier. That is because your brain is the most powerful muscle, so you can either flex it to boost your motivation and perseverance (which is great) or clench it to resist your efforts (which is bad). I recommend you pick option number one.

The way you think about your body – it’s shape, it’s state, it’s capabilities is very important to reaching your fitness goals. If you think about your body mostly in the negative way, then it is time to change your thoughts and replace that critical voice with a positive one. Because the truth is you can talk yourself into or out of anything, so why not to steer yourself in a positive direction.

Your belief system is an important part of getting the results you want. The main difference between a superstar athlete and a regular Jane is that the superstar athlete truly believes she can achieve her goals. She has confidence, hope, and can-do spirit that will help carry her to the prize (of course, she probably trains like a maniac, too, but it’s a mistake to underestimate how big a role mental outlook plays).

Strength of your belief in your ability to complete tasks and achieve your goals helps stick to the exercise program better. So one of the first steps to achieving a strong, fit body is to strengthen your mindset.

Here are a few psychological tips and tricks to help you develop that mental strength that will help you to become strong, sexy and confident on the outside too. Try to incorporate as many of these as you can in your life and you will be glad you did.

Set clear goals. They should be specific and measurable so you know what you’re working toward (ex. Lose X pounds). They should have a deadline ( ex. By certain date, in Y days). They should have steps that will help you reach your goal (ex. Run for 15-20 min each morning, drink 8 cups of water a day). They should be realistic and achievable for you, given your current level of fitness (ex. If you have never done pushups before, don’t expect to be able to do 10 of them in a row within 2 days, though it might be possible in a month)
Think about what is motivating you. Ask yourself, why do I really want to get stronger and fitter? Do you want it for internal reasons (to feel healthy, powerful) or external reasons (to attract positive attention for your hot-body-to-be)? The studies suggest that if your reasons more of internal you are most likely to stick to your goals.
Visualize yourself being fit and rocking your performance. The more vivid you make that picture of yourself (give it more color, sound and feel like it is real), the more effectively you will prepare your muscles for optimal performance. If you can see it and feel it, you can achieve it.
Develop a mantra. Create a verbal statement that reinforces a positive mindset. It can be something simple like: “I am strong, I am tough, I can do this”. Or whatever that is inspiring to you. And say it to yourself whenever you need to up your motivation and spirit. Similarly, you can create a playlist of your favorite songs that carry an emotionally charged message like “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, “Stronger” by Kanye West, “Push it” by Salt-n-Peppa”, “Pump it” by Black Eyed Peas.
Embrace your fear. If you are scared to start that new exercise routine you may ask yourself: “What is holding me back?, What am I really afraid of?”, Or just acknowledge your fear and go for the challenge anyways. When you get to the other side, the fear will be gone, and the payoff (in terms of fitness, confidence and inner and outer strength) will be enormous.
Stay focused on the present moment. Don’t think of what happened during yesterday’s workout or what could go wrong tomorrow. Stay in here and now and enjoy the experience.
Practice, practice – and practice more. Because practice makes perfect!
Cultivate habits that energize your body and mind. Building a stronger, fitter body requires consistent energy and effort, so you will need to replenish your reserves when they get low- by regularly getting enough sleep and rest (though this might be hard at times, especially if you have little kids, who wake you up at night), managing stress effectively (try these meditation techniques), fueling up with healthy foods.

As you strive to achieve your goals, you will be pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and further into the fit and confident zones, which is where you belong.

Think of it this way: this is your opportunity to live up to your potential and become your best, most authentic self, not the person other people see, but strong, fit person you truly want to be. The process starts in your head, extends to your body and positively radiates to the world from there. So go ahead – set it in motion!