Tag: exercising

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Exercise your Way to Happiness

White man riding bicycle on road during daytime

The Duality of an Exercise State of Mind

Negative thoughts about exercising:

  • Why put more effort into my life?
  • I’m fine doing less work
  • Working out requires effort; I’m already tired from my job
  • I won’t lose weight so what does it matter?
  • I get tired within five minutes of exercising, so I prefer to not even bother
  • I don’t see any results
  • It’s too much work

Positive thoughts that you need to implement regarding exercising:

  • Hard work pays off
  • My mental health will improve
  • My body-mind connection will improve
  • I will feel more confident
  • I will become more disciplined
  • I will feel better about myself
  • People will compliment me on my improved physique
  • I will have more confidence in my ability to work hard

You see, as with anything that requires hard work in life, negative thoughts often get in the way of you succeeding. Negative thoughts have to be intentionally replaced with positive ones until your attitude shifts and the process of exercising becomes easier. It’s definitely possible; the question is, are you willing to start?

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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Exercise and Fitness

White man riding bicycle on road during daytime

Exercise and Happiness

Exercise and fitness is like a tug of war for your mind. For instance, part of you envisions yourself getting stronger and fitter, while the other half prefers to sit on the couch and watch Netflix or play video games. Negative thoughts about exercising include:

  • Why put more effort into my life?
  • I’m fine doing less work
  • Working out requires effort; I’m already tired from my job
  • I won’t lose weight
  • I’ll probably get tired within five minutes of exercising
  • I don’t see any results
  • It’s too much work

Right off the bat, your mind comes up with negative thoughts and reasons as to why you shouldn’t exercise. This is because it’s easier for your mind and body to relax and not put in any effort. Why? Because as humans, we prefer the easier route in life that maximizes results with little effort. The problem is that you can’t obtain the benefits of exercise and fitness if you don’t make an effort. Some people try to get away by exercising here and there; inconsistency leads to inconsistent results. Eliminate your negative schema about exercise with the following positive thoughts listed below.

Fit blonde model staring at ground

Positive Thoughts that you need to start Implementing Regarding Exercising:

  • Hard work pays off
  • My mental health will improve
  • My body-mind connection will improve
  • I will feel more confident and better about myself
  • My discipline will improve
  • People will compliment me on my improved physique
  • I will have more confidence in my ability to work hard

Exercise and Fitness: Just do it

You see, as with anything that requires hard work in life, negative thoughts often get in the way of succeeding. Negative thoughts have to be intentionally replaced with positive ones until your attitude shifts and the process of exercising becomes easier. It’s definitely possible. You just have to be willing to make a change and then put yourself out there to accomplish it. Ask yourself, what is it that I’m trying to accomplish? Are you looking for an improved physique? To lose weight? Or do you simply want to feel better about yourself? Also keep in mind that exercising is also great for your mental health and you’ll feel much better after a workout. The question is, are you willing to start?

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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Getting Your Workout On

Female tennis player hitting backhand on red tennis clay court

Working Out Even When You Have No Drive

One of the most challenging tasks throughout the day is working out when you have no motivation. Growing up playing competitive tennis in the USTA juniors, I felt the experience of having days when I lacked drive and motivation to practice or even compete in tournaments. The worst part about it was traveling to other states for tennis tournaments and attempt to compete in 90 degree weather with no passion for the sport. When you have no motivation to exercise or compete, it often feels like you just want to quit.

But quitting gets you no where exciting when it comes to that realm. The more you allow your lack of motivation to prevail, the harder it’s going to become to get back into a solid routine. That’s because it’s not easy to work out, exercise or competitively play a sport. You have to power through even on the days when you don’t feel like doing it. That’s because if you can get through those days successfully, you often end up with a renewal of energy and interest for your next session.

What you don’t want to do is power through on those days and not enjoy it one bit. This is because it will lead you to burning out rather quickly. I felt that with tennis when I was 14. I was an extremely hard-working tennis player who reached a national boy’s 14 USTA ranking of 69th in the country. But as I entered high school and realized that I didn’t have many friends and that my entire life revolved around going to school and getting yelled at by tennis sergeants at the local tennis club, I lost passion for the sport.

It’s not that I ever disliked tennis to begin with; otherwise, I wouldn’t have played for that long (by the way, I still play tennis today). But as with anything in life, you need a balance of different activities. Even if you are focused on working out, exercising or playing a sport, make time and room for other activities as well, such as socializing, spending time with family and friends and even kicking back and watching a documentary or two. You are not a robot to be doing only one repetitive task continuously.

So whenever you feel burned out or have no drive to work out, remember to push yourself to still get some in that day, but mix it up with other activities as well. On the other hand, you don’t want to just stop working out because then your lack of motivation will take over and you’ll soon lose interest altogether. It’s normal to lose interest in exercising here and there, but don’t lose it completely to the point of quitting.

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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No Drive To Exercise

Tired black man with backwards cap on with hand on face

When You Feel Drained

Everyone has experienced those days when you feel drained and you have no idea why. You feel like you’re dragging yourself throughout the day, carrying your own weight but as if you lack the strength to effectively do so. Not only do you feel your body drained of energy, but your mind feels mushy as if all you want to do is pass out. But even passing out is a difficult task because that takes effort to actually lay down and put your day on hold.

Not everyone can afford to just put their day on hold and take a nap as they wish. These are also the days when exercising is the absolute last thing that you want to do. You almost feel that even if someone were to offer you money to exercise, you’d still find the energy to say no; the only energy you do have. So why do these days occur and how can we prevent them?

We will not tackle that question in this article. Let’s focus on how we can regain our energy and exercise so we don’t allow another day to go to waste. Fortunately, one of the easiest ways to regain your oomph is by consuming sugar like ice cream. Fill yourself a big bowl of your favorite ice cream and watch the energy slowly come onto you. You can also go with an ol’ cup of Joe for that extra boost.

The key is to not consume too much or your energy will be followed by a crash; always in moderation! The sugar will also help you exercise and that will make you feel better. So the recipe comes down to sugar and exercise. This is the quick fix to those kind of days when you don’t feel like doing anything.

As to why these days occur in the first place, there are many reasons:

  • Fatigue from work
  • Fatigue from lack of stimulation
  • Depression
  • Lack of motivation
  • Poor sleep hygiene
  • Stress
  • Drug consumption
  • Simply a bad day

. . . and the list goes on. Only you can discover the true reason as to why these days occur. The more honest you are with yourself, the easier it will become to prevent these types of days from reoccurring in the future. But when you are too tired to analyze why, just remember that you can always rely on a quick sugar fix to get your day going and allow you to continue your exercise routine.

At the end of the day, exercising will burn off your sugar consumption, allowing you to have effectively tackled your day in style and good form!

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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Exercising During A State Of Quarantine

Silhouette of man jogging on the street during sunset near body of water

Finding Pleasure Outside Your Home

During this state of quarantine, many people are wondering what to do with their free time. Now that society is under a lockdown and gyms have closed, many are scratching their heads thinking to themselves, “Crap . . . I always hated exercising in my home.” But who said anything about turning your studio into a gym? Exercising during a state of quarantine should not be a difficult task.

Just take a look outside your window . . . do you see a street? There you go. That’s where you should go exercise. If there’s a park near your home then that’s even better! Now that it’s spring and the temperature is rising, it’s quite lovely to put on your Apple AirPods and go jogging outside. Forget the treadmill; it doesn’t beat nature.

Just because you’re quarantined does not mean that you have to become paranoid. Leaving your home to exercise is actually really good for your mental health: it helps you to step out of your quarantined state of mind and be free again. Being locked up in your home really emphasizes the feeling that you’re in trouble or have done something wrong; neither is the case.

Exercising in nature really helps to clear your mind and escape the confinement of your house. Allow the fresh air and cool breeze surrounding the trees to guide your way through the park; just float down the paths as the clouds float above your vicinity. Feel the air rushing into your lungs as you increase your pace to the beat bumping in your eardrums.

Don’t become a sloth during these times. That’s exactly what the coronavirus wants you to become: it plays with your sanity by gaslighting you. It wants you trapped in your home so that your mental health can be more easily manipulated by the media, internet and your natural curiosity. With too much time on your hands, you risk falling prey to manipulation.

Exercising helps you dodge the coronavirus’s mental attacks.

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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Intermittent Fasting

Young brunette woman smiling while eating pasta at wooden table

Sticking To A Healthy Diet And Exercise

There is some hype regarding intermittent fasting and its benefits. Intermittent fasting (intermittent energy restriction) is the adoption of various meal timing schedules that alternate between fasting and non-fasting over a given period of time. The idea is that by switching up your eating intervals, your body snaps out of its regular metabolic rate, resulting in increased cellular breakdown of glucose, the burning of more fat and eventual weight loss.

It sounds like another modern-day gimmick for people who struggle to lose weight. All of these diet fads are nothing more than attempts by society to get you to try various weight loss programs. Let’s face it, at the end of the day, a person is going to eat whatever they want; no dieting or fasting will prevent them from doing so.

And why is that? Because it comes down to personality and mindset. If you are truly motivated to lose weight, then you will do whatever it takes to lose it in a healthy manner. You won’t have to rely on diet fads and new ideas to make it happen. It always comes down to a few basics: eat less, eat healthier and exercise your core off!

Why would you ever want to expose yourself to hunger and irritability and wait a few weeks, until your body becomes adjusted to intermittent fasting? It makes absolutely no sense. Anyone who struggles with weight loss would probably give up after a day of fasting. And anyone who already has a normal BMI would never need to fast in the first place.

Unless you are doing it for religious purposes, then there is no good reason to fast. You’ll find tons of articles out there from physicians relying on scientific evidence that intermittent fasting is healthy, and can lead to weight loss, decreased blood pressure and improved glucose regulation. Whoopee! Or you can just stop being lazy and go exercise three times a week, while consuming less carbohydrates and fats.

Humans are pleasurable creatures: we strive on dopamine spurts throughout the day. And there is nothing wrong with rewarding ourselves with food. Sleeping, eating and having sex are the most natural activities of all living creatures. Why mess around with one of them, just because modern-day science is entertaining the idea of intermittent fasting?

It’s good to keep up to date with medical advances and new recommendations, but until more legitimate evidence exists, it’s better to just stick with the basics. No college student goes to medical school to learn how to recommend intermittent fasting to their patients; it’s not part of the curricula.

Always be honest with yourself. How many of you are entertaining the idea of intermittent fasting, because the thought of eating healthier and exercising more sounds unbearable? There’s the problem in the first place: the thought sounds unbearable because you are not willing to put in the effort.

People are always looking for shortcuts in life, but shortcuts do not deliver solid results. Discipline and hard work do.

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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Couch Laziness

Lazy adult American bulldog sitting on brown leather couch with pillows

When Exercising Is The Last Thing That You Want To Do

. . . is when you have to push yourself the hardest to get off that comfy couch and jog straight to the gym! You think that couch wants you to get off? You think those beers want you to stop drinking? You think your girlfriend wants you to stop paying attention to her? When exercising is the last thing that you want to do, you do it anyways!

It’s so much easier to come home from work and crash on your furniture; just lay back and browse the internet or surf your cable packages. But within 20 minutes of relaxing on your couch and decompressing after a long day’s work, you begin to experience a nagging feeling within your mind, “get off the couch and head to the gym!”

You then begin to contemplate whether going to the gym is even worth it, “I have to jump in some comfortable clothes, actually get there and then put some effort on the machines or free weights, all while experiencing a crowded environment in-between the hours of 6-8 pm.” On the other hand, the little red bastard demon on your left shoulder is whispering in your ear, “forget that BS! Grab a beer or a fat J and kick back and relax!”

Sometimes you give in to the flesh and do just that. But if you want to improve as a person and lift yourself to the next level (no pun intended), then you have to get off your behind and go lift some weights! It actually doesn’t take that much effort after you develop a consistent routine, and you end up feeling better physically and mentally.

It’s easier to take the lazy and comfy route in life, but are you expecting to gain long-lasting results that way? The harder routes are the ones that pay off dividends in the long-run. But many people lose patience and don’t want to put in the work for that long; these are the folks who never learned or applied the concept of delayed gratification.

When exercising is the last thing that you feel like doing, then you go ahead and do it! It’s as simple as that.

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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Exercising After Thanksgiving

Two people enjoying pie and bread during Thanksgiving

Relying On Exercising To Take Away The Guilt

The idea that some people plan on exercising for the first time or more intensely, immediately following Thanksgiving shows you the desperation that runs through their limbic system. The limbic system is involved in motivation, emotions, learning and memory. Guilt is a common feeling following feasting and exercising immediately after does nothing at all in the long run.

There are some people who believe that exercising after consuming a lot of food on a given holiday, will help them to lose weight. If you don’t already have an exercise routine year-round, it will not do anything except maybe help take away your guilt. But what good does that do, if you are still overweight or out of shape?

Exercising after a holiday is based on false hope and guilt. Guess how long these routines end up lasting? Maybe a week at maximum. People who don’t have a consistent exercise routine will not suddenly maintain one, right after a holiday like Thanksgiving. Establishing an exercise routine should have nothing to do with holidays; it’s about wanting to better yourself in the first place.

You’re actually better off enjoying Thanksgiving and feasting, than feeling guilty and running to the gym immediately afterwards. The latter situation only plays with your emotions and reinforces your lack of desire to exercise in the first place. But the former situation allows you to enjoy all of the hard work which you have been putting in throughout the year.

By eating healthy and exercising consistently throughout the year, Thanksgiving becomes a time to reward your state of mind by enjoying all of the food that you can eat. You see, when you put in hard work, playtime becomes much more pleasantly sweet; feelings such as guilt and sadness don’t overcome you.

The yearly formula that you should adopt includes: exercising + healthy eating + a happy state of mind + feasting on the holidays + repeat.

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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Taking Breaks From Exercising

Young woman in gym with headphones on tying her right shoe

Space Out Your Workouts

Life is more than just exercising all the time. Once a fitness routine is established, we sometimes become obsessive; we worry if we miss a workout. Unless you are training for the olympics or are a pro athlete, it’s fine and acceptable to space out your workouts and take some pressure off your shoulders.

Working out too consistently can actually promote fatigue and burnout. This can increase your chances of kissing your workouts goodbye for good. Once burnout occurs, it becomes quite difficult to recover; it’s key to avoid it in the first place. Imagine all of your months or years of hard work, only to lose it all because you became burned out!

The key to maintaining a proper workout regimen is to space out the days in which you exercise. Your routine need not be rigidly consistent over a long period of time. This may work at first, but over time, it greatly increases your chances of losing interest. Rather, space out your workouts and be flexible. If on one day you do not feel like exercising, find something else to do!

You do not have to feel guilty or stressed because you skipped a workout day. Rather, find another activity which will take your mind off exercising and bring you peace and relaxation. Sometimes just “chilling” is all you need to feel good and take your mind off fitness.

There are so many other activities which you can do rather than exercising all of the time. Learn to find pleasure in various activities and hobbies; a rigid life will stir up your mental health in the wrong direction and potentially increase your chances of developing a mental illness.

A repetitive life can quickly spiral out of control. It may cause you to not only lose interest in exercising but in life in general. Once a certain threshold of stress has been surpassed, your chances of developing a substance abuse disorder or major depression increase substantially.

Don’t overdo your workouts. Sometimes going with the flow is all you need to remain relaxed and happy in life.

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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Fun Ways To Exercise

Young fit woman standing near plants having fun during her workouts

Having Fun During Your Workouts

Exercising does not have to be repetitive. By becoming creative with exercising, you will find a renewed motivation to work out and stay fit. A lot of people give up on their exercise routines because they do not spice up their activities; think of a hamster running on its wheel for the next 2-3 years.

One of the keys to successful exercising is having fun doing it. For instance, why are you jogging on a treadmill? Go outside and enjoy the view: jog on the streets or a park in your neighborhood while enjoying nature and your surroundings. Leave the treadmills for the hamsters!

When you are lifting, are you putting on your headphones and rocking out to motivational music such as rock, hip hop or trance? If you are not, then you are missing out on a great deal of unlocked energy and potential which can help make your workouts more fun and enjoyable. Music helps you to establish a rhythm as well as put you in another state of mind which motivates you to work out harder.

When you are playing a sport such as basketball, soccer or tennis, are you actually having fun or just playing because you have no choice? You always have a choice! Either enjoy the sport and take in every moment of it or find something else to do! Do not waste your time playing a sport if you are not going to have fun performing in it.

For some people, exercising is fun when they are teaching others. If you are the type of person who enjoys teaching, find a friend who can start benefitting from exercising and guide them through their workouts; teaching can be very fun and engaging and provide you with more drive to stay active and fit!

You will also feel much better about yourself when you start teaching others. Teaching reinforces the confidence and leadership nature within yourself. It also demonstrates to others that you are a person who can be trusted and who is full of knowledge and credibility. But you must always try to improve as a teacher, in order for your followers to receive the most benefit!

It is no secret that the key to enjoying anything in life is having fun doing it. This is no different with work, education, socializing, vacations or exercising. Remind yourself that everything that you do must be enjoyed in a fun way. Viewing life from this perspective will deliver you more happiness and long-term prosperity!

Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)

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