What Makes You Tick

• Psychology of Exercise and Nutrition
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Do you hear the voices inside your head saying, “This is too hard” or “I can’t do this?” Do you look around and see someone else doing something and think “I’ll never be that good?”

Mental games we play with ourselves in our heads when we exercise are often more difficult to overcome then the physical aspect of the workout. Working on your ‘head’ game can take you leaps and bounds beyond what you’ve already accomplished and take you to a new level of fitness and athleticism.

Challenge: The next workout with your trainer, pay attention to the comments or thoughts you have during the workout. Do this for about five minutes and I think you’ll be surprised how many there are. After you figure that out, start again for another five minutes and each time you think something negative (“this hurts too much” is negative, “this hurts” is not) catch yourself and tell yourself you can or you will, whatever works. Explore it, find what works.

Then, keep practicing. Just like we need to work our bodies our minds need the same sort of attention. It takes practice. It won’t happen over night but it will happen. Dropping pounds takes time, dropping negative thoughts also takes time.

In the long run (pun intended) you will find that, while it is still a challenge, and always should be, your workouts will go places you never thought they could.

Mike Babbitt, M.F.A, M.A., CSCS, ACSM-HFI
USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Master Trainer
Mike is a Master Level trainer at Empower Personal Training. He has a unique approach to fitness that combines his scientific foundation of research and applied exercise physiology with his artistic experience as a professional stage actor. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024