Working out is more than just a healthy habit for me. It’s where I let out my stress, sweat out my tension, and focus on my body and mind rather than the distractions of work and other obligations.
And yet I still have those days – weeks even – when the thought of my workout routine just isn’t compelling enough to get myself out of the bed. I know the workout will be good for me. I know it will feel good and give me energy.
But recently I went through a bothersome bout of unmotivated blah-dom in which I knew I’d be better off working out and yet I chose day in and day out to skip it.
Then I talked to a buddy who runs marathons. He was excited because he’d just run his best time ever the weekend before. My first instinct, instead of being happy for him, was an involuntary feeling of bitterness. Jealousy, more like it. Here I was sleeping late and sitting on the sofa drinking beer at night when I used to be the one telling this guy how much I’d gone up on my weights or about a new training technique I’d read about.
I quickly recovered and decided to be a good friend, congratulating him. Then I asked him what he thought the secret was, what had pushed him to the next level. “Visualization,” he said. Hunh?
He explained his new method for visualizing himself calmly floating through the route and then effortlessly powering himself over the finish line. I thought about the conversation with him the rest of the day, trying to imagine myself back in the weight room, back on the treadmill, back to pull-ups and the medicine ball. But it didn’t feel like my buddy had described.
Instead I heard that negative voice in my head. That’s not you. You’re not going anywhere. If you were any good you wouldn’t have been slacking off. You’ve peaked. Quit while you’re ahead. It felt like a bad dream. I wanted to fight back. I quickly realized that even though my buddy’s visualization technique wasn’t getting me very far, my inner voice was loud and clear. But I needed to turn its message around before my crappy attitude invaded other aspects of my life. I needed a mantra.
How I found my workout mantra:
If I wanted inspiration strong enough to battle my own negativity, I decided it better come from someone I associated with strength, persistence, and endurance. So I looked up Lance Armstrong – the brain and the brawn behind Live Strong – and found this phrase that really spoke to me:
Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.
I knew if I didn’t whip my negative inner voice pronto, my self-doubt would last forever, so I decided instead of quitting my workout for good, I would get back on the treadmill with Armstrong’s words in mind. Pain is temporary.
How I used my workout mantra
That first day my mantra came in handy right from the start with my head still on my warm pillow. Pain is temporary, I told myself. I wrenched myself out of bed. Stretching before my warm-up on the treadmill, I whispered aloud to myself, pain is temporary. Throughout my workout, at every step, with every stiff muscle and joint punishing me for my hiatus I repeated pain is temporary.
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Those words got me through that first workout back in the gym, and through workouts the rest of the week. There’s something about the repetition of a powerful phrase that at first inspires, then cheers you on, and finally becomes so routine that you hardly consider its meaning anymore, you just associate it with empowerment and invigoration so that its mere mention helps you kick your workout up a notch.
I’ve since added a few more mantras to my repertoire:
When I feel as if I’m losing the spiritual connection of my workout that gives me a sense of calm and satisfaction and instead focusing too much on goals and breaking my own records I turn to Arthur Ashe:
Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.
On the other hand, when my performance plateaus I turn to Coach Lou Holtz:
If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven’t done anything today.
And when those negative voices sneak back into my mind, I repeat the words of Ghandi:
A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
What I think, I become, I tell myself. What I think, I become. Negative thoughts will bring me a negative workout and a crappy day. Positive thoughts will empower me to get everything I need out of my workout, empower me to improve my body and soothe my mind, and empower me to take on my day with strength and determination.
The power of mantras is more than just in your head. Mantras translate your belief in yourself to physical performance and an outer and inner strength that enables you to take on the world – and the gym – one day at a time.
Brett Warren is a biochemical research scientist based in Boston, Massachusetts. He puts his expertise to work on a daily basis by developing sports supplements for Force Factor. Brett loves weightlifting and working out at the gym almost as much as he loves his job. In addition to his work with Force Factor, Brett spends lots of time with his family hiking, biking, and enjoying the outdoors.
