The Fitness Mindset

Its happened to all of us one time or another. We have a terrible day and when it comes time to workout we just don’t feel up to it. Heck, you could have had a great day but not feel up to working out.

Well, the fact is.. if you are not in the gym mentally, there’s no point in being there physically. Having the “fitness time mindset” is extremely important, it can mean the difference between a great workout.. or a terrible workout.

Here is a list of my favorite ways to get mentally prepared for a workout:

Go over your goals

If I just don’t feel like getting off my ass and getting to the gym I analyze what my goals are. Considering it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out I’m not going to meet my goals without getting to the gym, this one usually gets me to grab my keys and head out to the gym.

I just think to myself, for every day I’m not at the gym. Someone else out there is. Striving to be the best and having this type of mindset can really help when it comes to fitness. Now I am by no means the biggest guy in the gym, the most cut or the most in shape.. but if I ever wanted to be any of those things, sitting at home won’t get me there.

Go over your accomplishments

In my Top 10 Fat Loss Tips Article one of the fat loss tips was to Log Everything. Since I write down all of my workouts including the exercise name, amount of weight lifted and how many times I lifted it. I can easily flip through the pages of my workout log and note my accomplishments. Once in a while I will see a big improvement such as increasing my bench press 10 or more lbs and there is no better mood booster than realizing you’ve made progress

Watch motivational videos

When all else fails to get me ready for the gym I head over to YouTube.com and search for anything fitness related. I especially like watching Ronnie Coleman’s videos. I figure watching him leg press 2300lbs should be able to get me prepared to leg press 300lbs ha ha.

Look at motivational pictures

This goes hand-in-hand with the motivational videos technique I use. I often like to look at places like bodybuilding.com or bodyspace.com and see the incredible progress some of the members have made. It definitely inspires me to head out to the gym when I see someone who has made an amazing accomplishment such as losing 30lbs of fat.

Have music ready

Once I actually workup the energy to get my butt in the gym I usually have a workout play list on my iPod that I use. Now, this isn’t just any ordinary music.. this is workout music. In the day time I listen to my regular music, but when it comes time to dead lift.. Justin Timberlake isn’t going to cut it.

Talk to a few people in the gym

Over the last few months of working out at my new gym I’ve met a few regulars. Another great mood booster for me is when I first walk into the gym and I say hi to them are the compliments I get on my progress. Now I don’t get compliments on my progress everyday, but even discussing the other persons goals and accomplishments gets me ready for a great workout

Walk away from the weights

The last method of getting mentally prepared for my workouts is to just WALK AWAY from the weights. We’ve all had bad days in the gym. There’s been a handful of times when I struggle lifting a weight for 5 reps, that I had no problem lifting for 10 reps the previous week. When this happens I walk away from the weights, take longer break than usual, get myself a drink at the water fountain, maybe even go for a walk around the gym. Whatever it takes to get my mind back on track.. When I feel like I’m ready, I go back and try again.

It’s important to know that not every workout is going to be great. We all have our days where we just don’t have that good of a workout. It’s even worse when you start off with a bad workout, because its hard to turn things around once the workout starts going downhill. Even if you have to use less weight or do less reps, its important to get some sort of a workout in. Its better to have a bad workout than no workout at all