Today was one of those mornings where I meant to get up early, but instead rolled out of bed only to hit the snooze button, then again to reset my alarm for 45 minutes later. Everyone has those days. Somehow my alarm didn't end up going off and I woke up with a half hour to rush around and get ready to leave (one of the easiest ways I stress is by feeling rushed or late). To make things worse, as I was driving I got stuck in a line of construction vehicles, doing 15 under the speed limit ( I'm also not a fan of slow drivers). With the dynamite set and the fuse lit, I was about to go off and start cursing at the people in front of me when I realized something: I have the wrong attitude. Sure, yelling may have made me feel better but it wouldn't change the situation or make me get to work any faster. Instead, I realized, why not enjoy the ride? Enjoy the sunshine before it gets ridiculously hot, or enjoy listening to my favorite songs from the CD I had. My point here is, we are often too focused on the negative: things that go wrong, discomforts, etc. These just compound stress and make us more upset or uncomfortable throughout the day.
The same can often be said of working out. Many times we take a defeated mentality where we "didn't do as well as last time", "didn't get as many reps", or "couldn't last as long in the workout". I've been here plenty of times, having gotten discouraged when I seemed to have done worse in a workout than the previous time. It sucks and it makes wanting to do another workout so much harder. Instead, it's important to recognize that maybe today wasn't your day and you can do better next time, and more important to focus on the positive outcomes of your workout (or positive things happening in your daily life). Maybe your form was that much better, maybe you didn't take as many breaks, maybe you saw yourself jumping higher, or maybe you dug just a little bit deeper to get that last rep out. No matter what positive you may have, that's what should be focused on. See the little improvements in each exercise, each week, and each month. Working out should never put you in a worse mood than when you started. It should be a treat for your body and mind to let the stress of the day out and to feel good about afterwards.
Take this positive attitude with you all the time! Be an optimist, and as always: dig deep guys! Thanks for reading.
-Alex
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