We all know exercise is good for us, but its benefits do not
always motivate us to set an alarm and lace up our running shoes.
Many experts say the key to better and more regular workouts
is not in the body, but in the mind. As anyone deciding between a Netflix binge
and an evening run can understand, the body may be willing but the spirit
occasionally needs a kick start.
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However, there are a few tools that can trick our reluctant
brains into finding the motivation to head back to the gym or set out on that
bike trail.
Game it up
The brain loves a game, especially if it is hard to predict
or offers intermittent rewards, said Daya Grant, a neuroscientist and a mental
performance coach in Los Angeles. Use that to your advantage.
For example, Milo Bryant, a performance coach in San Diego,
uses an exercise grab bag for his group classes. “They’ll draw an exercise from
one bag and a rep count from the other and whatever comes up, that’s what they
do,” he said.
Apps such as Zombies, Run! — a cross between a fitness
tracker and an episode of “The Last of Us” — take this to a new level. Like
most running apps, it allows you to track your route and pace. The twist is how
it pipes “missions” through your headphones as you run, directing you to sprint
to avoid a zombie or to pick up supplies to build a virtual shelter.
The app Rouvy connects to a smart trainer, which converts
your regular bike into a stationary one, for a virtual ride through different
city streets around the world. It can even tweak your bike’s resistance as you
encounter dips and hills. Pam Moore, a cycling instructor in Boulder, Colorado,
said she once biked through Beverly Hills with a friend in Portland, Oregon,
without leaving home.
“Although she was ahead of me, we could still ride
together,” Moore said.
Tailor it to fit
Our brain also loves things that seem tailored for us. In a
recent study, athletes who believed they had received a customized workout plan
outperformed those who thought they were following a generic one.
Personal trainers are a natural way to make use of this
perception. Or you can use an app such as Stronger by the Day, in which
trainers take your fitness stats (the heaviest load you can lift, for example)
and produce a strength-training program adapted for you.
“I’m obsessed with it,” Moore said. “By simply showing up
and doing what it said, I’ve gotten so much stronger.”
According to Panteleimon Ekkekakis, an exercise psychologist
at Michigan State University, we tend to remember experiences by how we feel at
the end of them. That’s why he suggests “flipping the order of exercise — doing
the hardest part early on after a good warm-up and gradually reducing the
intensity — so you leave the session with the best possible memory.” This
reverse-slope approach not only increases enjoyment just after a workout but
improves how we perceive exercise up to a week later.
Work like a (Pavlovian) dog
Habits can become hard-wired into the brain. So, hitch your
fitness to an “anchor habit,” something you already do every day, said Ben
Reale, a personal trainer in Atlanta. If you drop off your children at school
at 8am, for example, be in the weight room by 8:15am.
“Like the Pavlovian response, when we stack these habits
together consistently over several weeks, we take the decision point, the
willpower, out of the equation,” Reale said.
More reluctant exercisers might need a little something
extra. Try pairing your workout with an activity you love, such as catching up
on the latest season of “The Bachelor.” This “temptation bundling” is amplified
if you only do the desired activity when you’re exercising, said Katy Milkman,
a behavioral scientist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“So you’re only indulging in your lowbrow TV or listening to
your vampire novels at the gym,” Milkman said.
Make an emotional commitment
The most effective psychological trick to building an
exercise habit might also be the simplest: Sign up for something — whether it
is a 5K in three months, a tennis tournament in a year or a father-daughter
dance next spring. “When we’re training for something, it gives every workout
purpose,” Bryant said. Set up smaller goals along the way, making sure they’re
challenging but achievable.
Above all, figure out what works best for you — keeping in
mind what that means may change. Exercise is more sustainable if we have an
emotional connection to it.
“It’s why some people run marathons for causes or dedicate
each mile to a specific person,” Grant said.
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