The Psychology of Exercise

O.K., we’re running. We know that is good because we’re sweating, breathing hard, feeling alive, watching the trees whirl by, smelling the grass and smiling at other people running by us. And we only have 1.7 more miles to go,

Wrong.

We run until we feel like stopping. We run until we feel like walking or sprinting or jogging or talking with a friend. We do not restrict ourselves to a time, a place, a distance or a strict regime when we exercise because exercise is about freedom. And who can be free when they have 1.7 miles to go in 25 minutes, around the corner of Main and Elm, like they have run every day for the past two years? That is not freedom. That is boredom for the body and the brain. No challenge exists, no boundaries are movable. Instead of making exercise a time to expand, we changed it into another job, where a person shows up at 8 am. And leaves at 5 pm., where he files the same papers, listens to the same complaints and eats at the same restaurant for lunch, every day, in and out, no change. No exploration, no risk, no gain.

If an exercise routine is varied, if new goals are set, the worst than can happen is that a new person emerges from you.

There is an abundance of truth in the statement that if people go through challenges, in spite of the possibility that they will fail, they will develop a sense of character that claims success as its destiny. In other words, in the process of trying and failing and trying again, a character is born and that character will reap success one day. Because with that kind of attitude and perseverance, life obstacles are overcome and left behind. It is just a matter of trying.

This outlook gives people the ability to prevail a trait everyone could benefit from. Through trial and error, success and failure trying and trying to swim two laps instead of one running that much harder and faster and longer than before, doing one more sit-up, or playing with the grandchildren for a little while longer a conscious development of accomplishment is being born. A permanent understanding through awareness of out shortcomings and our will to succeed as we go through the procedure of accomplishing something, achieving a goal, or reaching a start.

Accomplishment does not always mean that the goal has been attained. Maybe the swimming pool was just too long that last time around. Maybe rebounding took the breath from you a little sooner than you would have liked. But the accomplishment in the exercise is not just meeting the standard, but recognizing when you cannot and vowing to repeat it until you can success is not everything. Trying got be successful is the core of success. Never giving up, finding within yourself the determination to keep going, to push a little harder the next time and to walk away from a challenge knowing that you’ve given it your all. Then next time, the results may be different, because you will be back.

This philosophy applies to all of life’s challenges, not just exercise.

Work requires a great deal of tenacity. When the report comes back with criticisms from the boss, the right attitude would be to approach it as a challenge to do better next time and not to view it as a personal failure. When your baby son does not tie his shoelaces on the first, second, fifteenth or thirty-fifth try, keep going back, be patient with him and yourself and , eventually , there will be a bow. When a relationship worth saving seems to be crumbling faster than you can pick up the pieces, determination and love, just as in exercise will make the end result of emotional labors clear, and you will keep working until the goal is attained.

In the beginning, we look in the mirror and ask ourselves, can exercise really change all the mistakes I’ve made, physically and mentally? With commitment, yes it can. Gradually a more fit, fine tuned body is born, and a better attitude grows right along with it. Maybe you’re going to be able to come forward.

Maybe you’re not going to be ideal. But you’re going to be able to cope, to do something, to act on, to move on, and to be.

 
Dr. Brian Clement
Exercise: Creating Your Persona