Mental hurdles

How do you get over the mental blocks you have toward exercise.

I finally dragged myself out for a walk today and felt worse when I came back than when I started.  My back hurt, my legs hurt, I was exhausted.  I felt…defeated, even though i accomplished what I set out to do. 

And from that, I set myself up with “why bother” messages.

How do I break those down?

Re: Mental hurdles

My suggestion would be to start where you are, meaning set realistic goals. If walking a couple of blocks is all you can do right now without pain, then that's fine. As you begin to feel better (and sometimes it takes a week or two, even when you start slow), increase the goal.

The biggest hurdle is getting past the discomfort that comes with starting to exercise after a long lay-off. The body doesn't like to change – it prefers homeostasis. So when you start to exercise, even just walking, you've disrupted the homeostasis, and the body is going to rebel with discomfort. Knowing that sometimes helps people get past the initial challenge.

Another strategy is to think in long-term goals rather than short-term issues. The long-term goal is health and vitality. Now break that down into managable steps. First step, master X number of blocks, yards, miles in your walks (whatever feels doable as I described above). Second step, whatever comes next (maybe eliminating sugar from your diet, or whatever). When you have a long-term goal that you can track with specific action steps, it feels more realistic and it becomes easier to get past those “why bother” messages that come up when things are tough.

When all else fails, I look for a “love button.” For my clients who have children (young 'uns moreso than adult children), I use their love for their children as motivation. There is not a parent alive that does not want to live long enough to see their children married off and then to play with their grandchildren. Getting healthy is crucial to making that happen.

There are lots of other strategies as well. Maybe some other people here will share how they get past the tough spots – and we all have them.

Peace,
Bill

Re: Mental hurdles

hi Trudi,

I like all of Bill's suggestions, and I'd add a few more – one is to experiment with different kinds of exercise and look for ones that are harmonious with your energy – some people are natural born walkers (like me), and others find that cycling, yoga, swimming, jazzercize, or weightlifting suits them better – ideally we can each find exercise to cover the “big three” (cardio, strength training, and stretching), but definitely start with something you particularly enjoy and make it a regular part of your life

another thing is to remember (as Bill reminded me the other day) that we all have off days – I generally love walking, but yesterday I walked less than a mile and was feeling awful, so I cut it short and came home – but today I took a long walk and felt terrific – as with everything else, it's good to do our best not to generalize one lousy day (or hour) to mean something global about our life

the other thing that's been a huge motivator for me is the prospect of physical limitation – I had a horse accident in 1998 and had serious knee surgery – I was very seriously limited for months after the surgery – I had a bad limp, had an assist frame on my toilet, and struggled with every step I took – my surgeon told me I'd need knee replacement surgery within 10 years, and boy, if that didn't motivate me to escape that prediction! I worked like hell to regain my knee function – during that time a physical therapist told me that every 10 extra pounds of weight we carry adds up to 30 or 40 extra pounds of impact on the knees – whether or not that's technically true, it motivated me to lose some weight – facing a life of limitation was not something I wanted if I had any power to make another choice

I believe it's part of our nature to heal and to allow our lives to open up to more options instead of shutting down and having fewer options – the key to that might feel elusive at times, but trusting that it's there seems to be part of the process of harnessing that energy

Re: Mental hurdles

Your question reminds me of the question “why meditate”? The first step is believing that
it will help you. After that coms the doing part and I agree with another poster that trying different things until you find an activity that fits. For instance; I am a senior, don’t particularly like water, however, I have arthritis and because I strongly believe in execise I’m attending a water class for arthritis. At first it was a chore, now I enjoy.

Changing a belief system is like learning to play the violin. Lots of practice, and lots of scratchy sounds in the beginning. Good luck.

Peggy

Re: Mental hurdles