Exercise is often difficult to do for many individuals. We are filled with doubt, believing that we will not be able to meet our exercise goals or that we will not be able to fulfill our plans.
Self talk plays a large role in our fitness success and how much we are able to finish comes down to our mental stamina.
Oftentimes, our bodies will feel tired and incapable of exercising. But we know in our minds that we will feel better and have more vigor if we stick to our routines even in these exhausting times. So how do you build mental stamina?
Learn to ignore your thoughts
Thoughts are just thoughts and oftentimes we play mind games with ourselves. But really, the things that we tell ourselves really originate from past disappointments and things that others have told us, not from reality.
In order to be successful in an exercise regimen, we must remind ourselves that we can succeed, we can stick to our program, and we can meet our goals, be they to lose weight, gain more muscle mass, lower diseases or increase energy.
Eliminate bad thoughts
Bad thoughts are thoughts like “I don’t like exercise” and “I do not have time for exercise” and “exercise is too painful.” These are all excuses that we use in order to avoid feeling bad about the fact that we are not really taking care of our health.
You should keep in mind that there are some forms of exercise that you will likely enjoy, just as there are some forms of exercise that do not cause pain.
Even better, we can all receive health benefits from exercising no more than 10 minutes a day. So there really is no excuse for not exercising.
How to build up mental endurance?
Mental endurance is often talked about among sports experts. Mental endurance is your ability to push yourself past the point of exhaustion.
There are times when we have reached the point where our body begins telling us to stop exercising. This is good to an extent, since this will keep us from exercising too much [overtraining].
But in order to get the maximum health benefits from a particular exercise, we must push our body past the point of exhaustion in order to strengthen our muscles and our cardiovascular endurance. Without pushing ourselves further, our bodies will reach what is called a plateau.
When we reach a plateau, we are unable to make any more progress. We might find that our muscles will not get any stronger or our endurance won’t improve.
The only way to get past a plateau is not by taking any kind of supplements or using a different form of exercise. We break the plateau and reach ultimate fitness by having mental discipline.
