#GOH : How to get through a mental workout barrier

It’s 6:00am, I’ve been running on a treadmill for only 20 minutes and I’m bored. I’m tired. I was supposed to be in a spin class, however, I was late because ever since I had children I am incapable of waking up to an alarm clock. (It must be all of those middle of the night and early morning feedings from nursing both of my children that made me deaf to a silly alarm clock.) I don’t have my MP3 player so I can’t even listen to Of Monsters and Men’s Little Talks or Ke$ha’s Die Young, my go to get ‘em going jams. I want to quit. I could be doing ten other things than running in place on a moving belt with the 15 other people that happen to be there doing the same. I stay.

Today’s topic is getting through those mental “I want to quit” barriers during a workout. The scene I described above happened to me about three weeks ago. I really, I mean almost with ever fiber of my being, wanted to stop running and just go home and go to bed. Part of what kept me on that treadmill was knowing that if I didn’t finish my run I’d feel guilty about it for the rest of the day and the other part was knowing that since I was there I might as well do something about it. We all go through this whether it’s out of boredom, out of burning muscles ripping and tearing becoming stronger or a racing heartbeat because we’ve pushed ourselves to the max. Quitting it tempting and there isn’t a person out there who would disagree with it.

What I want to address today is the difference between quitting because of pain and quitting because your mind is telling you to quit. Fitness in my opinion is 90% a mental game and 10% your body performing to its peak capability. So how do we get that 90% of our brain to shut up so we can finish our workout? Here are four tips:

1. Workout with a friend. Now, this friend has to be one who knows your goals and is willing to tell you to keep running when you want to stop. I met up with my friend Jenny at the gym once to run on the treadmills. Jenny hadn’t run in a while so she walked at a steep incline and I ran a 5K. About 15 minutes in I was ready to throw in the towel and Jenny could tell. She told me to keep running. My body wasn’t hurting, I mean it’s not like it was a leisurely stroll in the park but I wasn’t in pain at all. I was uncomfortable and had Jenny not been there I most likely would’ve slowed my pace down to a brisk walk or gotten off.
2. Buy a heart rate monitor. Yes, you heard me correctly. Do it now, head onto Amazon.com or into your local sports shop and buy one. It will change the way you work out drastically by giving you the satisfaction of seeing the calories you’re burning as well as seeing if that “Oh my goodness I’m going to die” feeling is in your head or if it’s real. I use this heart rate monitor and I like it. You can buy a fancy schmancy one if you’d like but I am going to advise to not purchase the cheapest one you can find. A heart rate monitor should have an attachment that goes around your rib cage so that it can accurately read your beats per minute. Again, this is my opinion only and the plethora of heart rate gadgets out there are limitless. You be the judge of that one, my point is that it’ll not only make you want to work out but you’ll also get to know your body better.
3. Set short term goals. I think it can be sometimes very overwhelming to have a lofty goal that’s long term. What are you working towards? If your goal is one that is years away there’s nothing pushing you toward it; unless of course you’re training to be the next Missy Franklin and you’re training for the 2016 Olympic Games. In that case, I doubt you’d need to read this little blog post on how to beat that mental barrier in your head. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have any long term goals; what I’m saying is that you need to have one or two short term goals along with your long term goal. Sign up for a 5K if you’ve never run one or try to run one mile without stopping. Learn a new sport like racquetball or try a new fitness class until you’ve mastered it. Whatever the short term goal is make sure it’s attainable and that you can do it in less than a year.

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4.  Consider getting a personal trainer. There’s a reason why the best athletes rely heavily on their coaches; like coaches, personal trainers are your key to any kind of success. There are a select few who are able to go from couch potato to fitness queen with no help from anyone. Whenever I've trained for anything such as competitive swimming, getting a great body for my wedding or being a STEELE Fitness Challenge semi-finalist, and had success it has been with the help of a coach. Part of it is probably personality, I am a social butterfly so I do well with someone helping me and chatting away with me but there is a wealth of knowledge that most personal trainers have about the human body and the best way to get fit that most normal people don’t have. If money is tight consider talking with a friend who’s an exercise enthusiast or getting a few workout DVDs that have a personal training aspect to them. You can even get fitness video games that have personal trainers on them like Nike+ Kinect Training. The point is that you open yourself up to coaching, admit that you don’t know everything and accept the help you receive.

What do you think your biggest mental hurdle is during a workout? How do you overcome it?