Do you ever have those days where you just don't feel like exercising? Those days where getting off the couch, or out of bed early, just seems like too much work? You just feel "blah", and even if you did exercise, it probably wouldn't be productive? In this post I'm going to show you how we can utilize a specific cue (i.e. our activity tracker) to elicit positive emotions and confidence, and help you perform to your peak ability and overcome difficulties you may encounter when maintaining exercise.
Pavlov and his Dogs
We've all heard the story of Pavlov and his dogs-- Pavlov rings a bell, the dogs come running for dinner. Later on, even when there is no dinner, the dogs associate the sound of the bell with dinner and start to salivate. This is called "conditioning," and it's a process we regularly use to train animals, like teaching your dog a new trick. We develop a connection between a stimulus (the bell) and a reward (dinner). Then, even when the reward is taken away, the stimulus still elicits the same response. What if I told you that we can utilize this idea to train our own minds, and using some of these same skills, we can actually improve our exercise and sport performance? It sounds far-fetched, but research and anecdotal evidence support it.
Your Activity Tracker is your bell
This skill will take a bit of training, but if you're able to make it work for you, it can be a huge benefit to your exercise routine. Try it, and stick with it. It'll be worth it.
Put simply, we want to associate our feelings of success, heightened confidence, and "awesomeness," following a workout with our activity tracker. Now, it doesn't have to be the activity tracker itself, though that will work. It can be the sound associated with completing a workout, the feeling of the tracker (i.e. the smooth surface of the face, the design in the rubber band), or the way the lights light up as you move. For me, it's the raised writing I have on the inside of a silicon band that I wear. Find something that works for you, and use it.
Put simply, we want to associate our feelings of success, heightened confidence, and "awesomeness," following a workout with our activity tracker. Now, it doesn't have to be the activity tracker itself, though that will work. It can be the sound associated with completing a workout, the feeling of the tracker (i.e. the smooth surface of the face, the design in the rubber band), or the way the lights light up as you move. For me, it's the raised writing I have on the inside of a silicon band that I wear. Find something that works for you, and use it.
Forming the Association
When you finish a hard workout, you have endorphons flowing and all of those positive feelings associated with exercise: accomplishment, being fit, kicking butt. This is like the food Pavlov gave to his dogs. Now, whenever you feel those positive feelings, I want you to focus on that specific aspect of your tracker that you choose. For me, when I complete an especially tough workout, I rub my fingers along the inside of my silicon band, and feel the raised lettering. If you do that enough, your mind will form an association between the cue (your tracker) and the reward (the feeling of success, confidence, and motivation). You can even come up with some sort of mantra that focuses on why you exercise. For example, mine is Train Hard, which is printed on the outside of my silicon band.
This is the important part that will take training. You need to do this repeatedly in order to form the association. Finish a difficult workout? Go back to your cue. Beat a friend in a race? Remember your cue. Every time you go to your cue, it's important to remember those positive feelings you're experiencing. Take a moment, close your eyes, and really feel how awesome it feels to finish your workout. The workout itself may have been tough, but this feeling you get afterwards makes it totally worth it. It was worth getting off the couch and going out into the cold. It's worth the sweat and the difficulty you went through during the workout. Focus on the cue and the positive feelings associated with the workout, and the association will start to form.
Now, after some time, you will form the connection between the activity tracker and the positive feelings associated with exercise. This is where it can become a really helpful part of exercise. Having difficulty getting off the couch? Feel like you're not going to have a great workout, so why even bother? Go back to your cue. Close your eyes, focus on your cue, and think about all of the positive feelings you used every time you were motivated to exercise and all of the times you have been successful in completing a workout. This will help you get up the motivation you need to complete your workout today. And then, when you're done, and you feel the endorphins and positive feelings following exercise, go back to your cue to reinforce the association. The more you do it, the stronger the association becomes.
This is the important part that will take training. You need to do this repeatedly in order to form the association. Finish a difficult workout? Go back to your cue. Beat a friend in a race? Remember your cue. Every time you go to your cue, it's important to remember those positive feelings you're experiencing. Take a moment, close your eyes, and really feel how awesome it feels to finish your workout. The workout itself may have been tough, but this feeling you get afterwards makes it totally worth it. It was worth getting off the couch and going out into the cold. It's worth the sweat and the difficulty you went through during the workout. Focus on the cue and the positive feelings associated with the workout, and the association will start to form.
Now, after some time, you will form the connection between the activity tracker and the positive feelings associated with exercise. This is where it can become a really helpful part of exercise. Having difficulty getting off the couch? Feel like you're not going to have a great workout, so why even bother? Go back to your cue. Close your eyes, focus on your cue, and think about all of the positive feelings you used every time you were motivated to exercise and all of the times you have been successful in completing a workout. This will help you get up the motivation you need to complete your workout today. And then, when you're done, and you feel the endorphins and positive feelings following exercise, go back to your cue to reinforce the association. The more you do it, the stronger the association becomes.
Anchoring and Affective Expectation
One further benefit to utilizing your activity tracker as a cue related to recent research in the role of affective expectation in post-exercise affect and future exercise intentions. That's just a fancy way of saying that how you expect to feel after a workout will impact how you feel and your likelihood of future exercise. According to a recent study[1], thinking about how you're going to feel good will actually help you feel more positively following a workout. If you think about how happy you'll be, or how you'll be less anxious, will help you feel those things following exercise, and thus, make it more likely that you continue to exercise.
So, when we look at our activity tracker before exercise, think about how positively you're going to feel after you finish your workout. This will help you experience these feelings following your workout, and make that connection between exercise and those positive feelings. It can create a sort of feedback loop, where expecting to feel good after a workout will make you feel good after a workout, and make you want to work out more.
Why wouldn't you want to keep exercising if you know how great it will make you feel?
So, when we look at our activity tracker before exercise, think about how positively you're going to feel after you finish your workout. This will help you experience these feelings following your workout, and make that connection between exercise and those positive feelings. It can create a sort of feedback loop, where expecting to feel good after a workout will make you feel good after a workout, and make you want to work out more.
Why wouldn't you want to keep exercising if you know how great it will make you feel?
[1] Helfer, S., Elhai, J., & Geers, A. (2014). Affect and Exercise: Positive Affective Expectations Can Increase Post-Exercise Mood and Exercise Intentions. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 49, 269-279. doi:10.1007/s12160-014-9656-1
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