It is the first day of training and you are fully motivated. The second week arrives and you already start skipping workouts. Last week of the month and you don’t train any day. Motivation and willpower are completely antagonistic: when something motivates us little, we need a lot of willpower. However, this balance can change over time and we can find pleasure in physical exercise, so motivation will be high and we will no longer need so much willpower.
Strategies so that our brain needs less and less willpower to perform physical exercise
Physical exercise as a drug for the brain: every time you want more
Perhaps you have ever heard that endorphins are the natural drug of happiness. when we perform physical exercise releases hormones like this that make us feel goodreduce pain and reduce anxiety and stress.
Recent research has shown how it is possible “program the brain” so that each time physical exercise produces greater improvements in mood. That is one of the main reasons why when we are beginners we do not find much enjoyment in the activity, but as time goes on we get “hooked” on it.
It also helps that increased pleasure from physical exercise over time. we are surpassing goals and each time we get less tired for the same activity. Our brain stops “suffering” from fatigue and focuses on enjoying exercise.
Music will be a great ally
We have all had one of those days where we kept looking at the clock waiting for work, a meeting or any situation to be finished. The more we looked at the clock, the slower it went, right? The explanation is that we had the misdirected focus, and when we focused on the clock it was going slower.
The opposite case are those spinning sessions that motivate us, or that time with family and friends that vanishes as if only a few minutes had passed. The focus is outside of time and with it we do not see how it advances.
Music makes us put that focus on something external, let’s get into it and distract ourselves from physical exercise. For this, it is vital that our list of songs is carefully designed, since a musical style or a rhythm that does not manage to elude us from the exercise will not help much.
Several investigations have shown how music can make our perception of effort is less. That is, making the same effort with music, it seems that we have done less. Or what is the same, given the same perception of effort we can travel more kilometers or perform more intensity thanks to music.
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Seeing ourselves doing an activity can make us better at that activity. Elite athletes have long using mental images to that end, by having your brain learn and integrate a movement or skill.
This strategy can dramatically shorten timeframes in learning complex patterns like squats, deadlifts, or any movement that requires attention to body position. Thus our brain will help us improve, and with that improvement, we will enjoy training more by feeling more valid and with greater self-esteem.
In Vitónica | The brain is not a muscle, but we can train it: this way you can improve and take care of your cognitive capacity
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