Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we?
Hiding in the bathroom in gym class… Getting picked last for team activities…. Dragging your body across the finish line on the track… Failing the push up test….
If your memories around anything fitness related are connected deeply to dread, embarrassment and a sense of failure, it could affect how you perceive your own physical abilities currently, years later. And could influence you to stay on that couch today.
You didn’t identify as an athlete in your youth and physical fitness never captured your attention unless you were force into it. And so, you probably find yourself not making fitness a huge priority and you likely have negative thoughts around it. Our minds are powerful things!
I can’t help you rewrite your history (although that would be pretty dang cool!), but I can still do some magic and help you reset your thoughts on fitness!
1. Make Your Own Definition for Exercise
Who says your version of exercise has to look like anything gym class did?! No one! You are a full blown adult (even if you don’t act like one) and with that comes the ability to decide things for yourself. Your exercise now doesn’t have to include anything with a crowd, a team or even involve leaving your house. Exercise is just moving your body…so you get to decide how you do that and as long as you get that heart rate up and limbs moving – you get to define it as exercise! (And yes, the bedroom could count, but humour me for this blog post, and get your mind of the gutter for just a bit, okay? Ok).
2. Focus on Daily Movements Instead of Exercise
Remove the overwhelm and scariness by not even focusing on a “workout”, just move as much as you can every day. Your day is filled with opportunities to move such as lapping the office an extra time, taking the stairs, parking as far away as you can, standing for phone calls, etc…If thinking about doing a 30 minute workout makes you want to cry, then screw it! Focus on just moving throughout your day.
3. Remind Your Mind That You Can Grow
Yes, perhaps you were not great at sports and maybe you are not the most coordinated. But you know what? You can do things. You can learn and improve and change. Your mind has you stuck in a narrative of negative thinking based on your past experiences – but as a human, you have the capacity to grow and your thoughts can grow with you. Start questioning those thoughts and what is actually true. Did you cry in baseball? Yes. Does that mean you suck at every physical activity known to man? No, no, it does not it.
I spend a lot of time with clients resetting thoughts on exercise – if we skip this step, they often revert back to negative thinking patterns anytime they encounter an issue with their workout or an injury or schedule change, etc…
This work is the most important! Do you relate to this post? I absolutely love to shatter these negative thinking patterns with clients – reach out today to get started and create real change!