How to Use Your MIND for a Better Workout

You might have heard of Mindfulness before. Probably Mindfulness Meditation. In a really simple way, Mindfulness means to be totally focused on the present moment. As far as meditation goes, Mindfulness Meditation has been shown to be super beneficial to your mental state-of-being, health, and wellbeing. I would be lying if I told you I didn’t think this was important, and I myself practice Mindfulness Meditation from time to time. But that’s not what we’re going to talk about today. We’re going to talk about Mindful Exercise!

If Mindfulness is focusing on the present, and exercise is moving around in a specific kind of way, then Mindful Exercise is simply FOCUSING on your movement. 

Easy peasy right?

When you’re at the gym, in the middle of a camp, you’re dying. You can’t breathe, you’re struggling. Then the coach comes over and says, “Hey, get your feet up.” You say, “Darn it!” Then pick your feet up. Key point here, the coach told you to pick up your feet. Somebody was watching you, critically analyzed what you were doing and how you could do it better, then made you do it. You didn’t think it yourself. YOU weren’t focused on what YOU were doing. The coach was!

Right now gyms are limited. We’re putting out online workouts like nobody’s business, but that doesn’t solve the ATTENTION PROBLEM. Somebody needs to pay attention to whoever is working out. At the gym that person could be the coach! Usually it IS the coach! But at home, someone else needs to pick up the slack. And unless you’ve got a really smart dog, that person probably has to be you. 

BUT THAT’S OK!

That might actually be the best option anyway! Nobody knows what your workout feels like for you! You’re strong is certain places, you’re weak in certain places! You’re tight in areas and you’re flexible in others! You might feel the same workout in different areas than other people feel them, and that’s ok! But that also means that nobody knows exactly what you feel like during the workout. So even when you have a coach, even when someone else is paying attention to you, it’s still important to FOCUS ON WHAT YOU’RE DOING!

So next time you’re doing a push up, really think about where your elbows are going. Or when you’re doing a bicycle, how far are you twisting? How far out are you kicking your leg? When you’re doing a squat, are you on your heels? Did your hips move first? FOCUS on what you’re doing. When you concentrate and go after it you’ll be able to do so much more than what you thought you could.