How Fitness Transforms Your Mindset
Tags: Fitness Tips, Fitness, Fitnessmotivation, Motivational, Mindset Shift

Three months into my new lifting regimen and the physical transformation was beginning to show. My skin was clearer than before, my shirt sleeves hugged my arms, and I had a distinct feeling that I was moving better. The way I walked and climbed stairs felt more… comfortable.

While the physical improvements were enough to have me thanking my past-self, there was also a significant transformation taking place in my mind, and it didn’t take three months for me to notice.

When I began lifting, I was focused on getting bigger, stronger, and more athletic. It required sacrificing downtime and fast food for chicken and more chicken. Giving up McDonald’s and Workaholics marathons (you only YOLO once) for a more athletic version of myself ended up giving me physical proof that I could bargain with the future.

Delaying gratification is mostly an obvious concept, but to go through a physically transformative process and look back at how far I’d come made it real to me. While I could’ve stumbled upon this great gift of human life through video games, science, or guitar, I doubt the implications would’ve been as visceral as they were after building strength.

Awareness and Potential

It can be a bittersweet moment to look in the mirror and see where you presently stand while knowing where you could be. A lot of people get stuck here before they even start, and it’s understandable why. Without a pair of jaws nipping at your heels, why bother?

Well, there is a pair of jaws there.

We often don’t see it until we’re old enough for an obligated doctor to point it out. This translates to the average adult waiting until the second half of life to start exercising regularly.

Chances are if you’re reading this article, you’re looking for that nudge to get started. If so, I congratulate you, and I take this opportunity to release the hounds. What am I talking about?

Both the links below are from the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine. There’s plenty more where that came from…

1) New research into physical activity suggests that it is no longer sufficient just to meet minimum levels recommended by health guidelines in order to reduce cardiovascular risk. 2) Compared with our parents or grandparents, we are spending increasing amounts of time in environments that not only limit physical activity but require prolonged sitting — at work, at home, and in our cars and communities.

Now you’ve got two little dogs chasing you, biting at your Achilles. Every day they grow a little bigger, and their bite a little stronger…

I’d also like to hold up a magic mirror that reflects you one year from now.

More importantly, this mirror allows you to feel how you’ll feel after this lifestyle change. You’ll get a glimpse of your energy levels and mental clarity. You’ll see what’s on your schedule for the week and you’ll be able to see how your goals have evolved after getting this fundamental win under your belt.

Between the negative and positive visualizations, we become aware of our potential and how it can change over time. Whether it changes for better or worse depends on the choices we make every day.

For example, think about your potential today. Now, imagine your potential after a year of consistent exercise and healthy eating… How would it differ? Chances are your potential grows with you.

Motivation and Willpower

Imagine driving a car or motorcycle with a manual transmission.

The most focus is required when you’re in first gear and the light turns green. To go from 0 mph to 1 mph is the hardest part! You’ve got to put the clutch in the right place and give it just enough gas to get the car rolling without killing the engine. Slowly you release the clutch while evenly pressing the gas pedal until you’re in gear.

Shifting into second gear requires a fraction of the effort since the car already has momentum. Third gear is even easier. This is a lot like moving from motivationally driven behavior to habitual behavior.

For now, consider building motivational moments into a daily ritual. Even if it’s waking up and watching Tony Robbins on YouTube or getting your kids ready for school, allow yourself to feel motivated by whatever motivates you properly that day.

Use motivation to strengthen willpower.

While the debate continues to surround this subject, there is evidence that suggests willpower is a finite resource, and that using willpower for one task actually depletes willpower to focus on another.

There is also evidence that suggests believing willpower is not depletable makes it less depletable than it would’ve been otherwise. So either way, make no conclusions! We want as much willpower as we can get for all areas of life.

Exerting our will to improve when we feel like laying on the sofa in front of a couple of screens can be downright exhausting. It’s a lot like exercising a muscle itself: it can atrophy without use, or strengthen with practice.

Once we choose to make a change for the better, we’ll be using a combination of willpower and motivation to get the ball rolling. Our goal is to build our new routine into a habit. Once the habit is up and running, we can dial back our motivational efforts to simply keep the ball rolling.

Discipline and Habits

Both these words have a bad rep. Discipline especially. I know when I hear the word discipline, I think of drill sergeants screaming at me.

I think a lot of the bad air around the word discipline is involved with the exertion of willpower that’s associated with it.

It seems like more than half the time habits come up in conversation the topic is about reducing bad habits.

These are both fair points, although I’d like to offer an alternative viewpoint. Habits and discipline make our lives so much easier.

We are creatures of habit, and if we don’t put ourselves in the driver’s seat, the “car” doesn’t just stop. Your goal in regards to fitness is to use your willpower until your actions feel more or less normal.

Research suggests habits take roughly 66 days to become subjectively automatic. You’ll get to a point in your journey (and it doesn’t take long!) that NOT going to the gym feels.. uncomfortable. The bodies we bring to the gym have been hunting and gathering since the dawn of time. They are begging us to work them out, and when we do, they catch on quickly. If you take a week off after your habit is built, you’ll notice.

When you reward your body with what it needs to function it’s best, it returns the favor with more energy, clarity of thought, improved posture, a better appearance, better digestion, etc…

You earned your improved body and mind by building a new habit. Building that habit required will power, and your “willpower muscle” is now stronger because of it. At the same time, now that the habit is built it requires less willpower to maintain.

You’ve entered a potentially positive feedback loop spiraling upward.

Transformative Implications

Imagine: you’ve been going to the gym consistently for a year and a half, fueling your body with proper nutrition to the point you actually enjoy preparing and eating healthy food, and you’ve reaped the rewards of treating yourself with love and respect. Your body functions better, you feel better, and you look better!

Now, you’ve probably already got an idea of what I’m going to say, and this is what ties the article back to its title. You’ve proven that you possess control over a portion of your life.

Maybe this idea isn’t new to you, but I’d argue this is one of the most concrete ways to experience the implications of it.

You are changing your physical self through a replicable system of choices. You’ve taken into account human behavior and used it to your advantage, and made a true change for the better. You’ve altered the course of your future in such a raw and obvious way!

Please understand, I don’t mean to imply that if you just get to a certain level of fitness, all your problems will melt away and life will be sunshine and rainbows. What I’m saying is, you’ll be better equipped to handle the problems life will inevitably throw your way.

With a clearer mind aided by the knowledge that you can make a difference, you’ll have improved your confidence in solving complications in your life.

This doesn’t have to be in response to tragic moments in your life. Sometimes the problem of the day is your aspirations to continue improving, and how you’ll accomplish those dreams.

If you can change your bank account like you can change your body composition, would you? What about your relationships? What about your singing ability? Do you like to draw?

Conclusion

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” ― C.G. Jung

The point of this article can be summed up nicely by the infamous marshmallow experiment.

In short, children were offered a choice between one marshmallow immediately or two marshmallows provided after 15 minutes of waiting alone in the room.

“In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI), and other life measures.”

Delayed gratification is way more productive and meaningful in the long run versus chasing the fleeting pleasure in our fridges and twitter feeds. With delayed gratification, we are introduced to the idea of mastery (read: skill).

Use motivation to strengthen willpower to build habits that improve skills.

As we age we narrow down what we enjoy spending our time on, and in turn, spend more time on it. The more time we spend mastering our craft, the better we get at it. The better we get, the more we tend to enjoy our time spent on it. We enter into an upward spiral of competency in a field we enjoy being in!

Taking control of our physical lives through fitness and nutrition is one of many entry points to a lifestyle of mastery. I’d argue it’s the best way to get started on the life you’re meant to be living. The reasons are simple. You’re increasing your health, your longevity, your mental clarity, and your appearance.

It takes time to see results, but usually no more than a few years. The results are physical and obviously worth the effort. Our mindsets are improved with the proof acquired by years spent eating healthy and hitting the gym.

Once we see we have control over our destiny, we can’t go back. We witness our potential expand increase and are left with no choice but to chase our dreams.

Although I wrote this article to convey a suitable entry point for self-actualization, I hope it can serve as your motivational moment for today, and encourage just one pushup.

Tomorrow, maybe two.