Let's Self Talk About It

When you think about what has held you back in the past from reaching your fitness goals, what comes to mind?

A lot of people will tell themselves that they don’t have the time, or that they have too many limitations to get a ‘good’ workout in. If this sounds like you, let's really think about the deeper reason of why you aren’t reaching your goals. All these things stem from your mindset.

How we think is directly correlated to how we perform. If we tell ourselves that we don’t have the time, we will make excuses throughout the day that prevent us from having the time. If we tell ourselves our bodies can’t handle the workout, odds are our bodies won’t. If we feed our brain all this negative energy, we will receive negative results.

Negative self-talk is something that holds a lot of people back more than they’d like to admit. It feeds into already existing anxiety and depression that then leads to increased heart rate, irregular breathing, self-doubt, and lack of focus.

In fitness specifically, such self-talk can decrease levels of motivation, which can then put us even farther behind our goals.

Do you ever look in the mirror and not like what you see? Do you feel like that discourages you and prevents you from pushing your limits? The more mental stress we put on our bodies, the more we hurt ourselves.

Here are a few things that can happen to us physically from mental stress and anxiety:

1.) Stomach or digestive problems (which can lead to inflammation and feeling bloated all the time)

2.) Headaches or dizziness

3.) High blood pressure

4.) Aches and pains in the muscles and joints

5.) Trouble sleeping and overall exhaustion

So, what can we do to enhance our mental state and minimize negative self-talk?

Be aware of it

You must have the self-awareness that you participate in negative self-talk. Admitting this to yourself is the first step of recovery. Once we are aware of the issue, we can start to fix the problem.

When you feel the negative self-talk coming on, challenge it

If you feel a thought creeping up, like that you cannot go to the gym because everyone else there is much more in shape than you, and you’re embarrassed, then challenge that thought. Everybody starts somewhere. Understand that these people once started at the beginning too. The best thing you can do for yourself is simply start.

“Put it on the shelf” and focus on the present moment

After you give yourself the time to think and reflect, put those bad thoughts away, and try to focus on the present moment. This is one of the hardest things to do. Focusing on the present moment when your mind is distant can be tricky. Really try and give yourself 100% in the present moment… you deserve it!

Find something you can do to help you start feeling more positive after those moments

There are many things you can do to allow yourself to think more positively, but you must give yourself 100% effort in the process. Write in a journal one good thing you did that day, or one thing you like best about yourself, etc. Read a good book. Go for a walk and listen to a motivating podcast.

Overall, everybody is different, and everyone will take something different to help them improve their negative self-talk. Again, you must give yourself 100% effort, and you will start to improve.