FITNESS Emotional training is just as important

Where there is a will, there is a way


Personal trainer
Paul O'Brien

Last week I wrote of the three interlinked levels when establishing a good foundation for sustainable exercise or sporting performance. These three levels – physical, mental and emotional – form an holistic approach to sports and exercise that addresses many aspects of our lives.
Developing your emotional skills is frequently overlooked in the context of sport and exercise. Yet, in modern elite level sports, athletes and coaches are reaping the benefits of emotional training for peak performance. It usually comes under the remit of the sports psychologist.
Most of us are not elite sportspeople. However, we can still learn from the best. Achieving our own personal best by working at an emotional level can reap huge benefits for sport and life. When I say ‘emotional training’, I am really talking about our motivation and inspiration.

Motivation
You don’t have to be an elite athlete to know that higher levels of motivation mean greater likelihood of success and achieving your goals. You also know that motivation is like the Irish sun, it comes and goes.....and is frequently absent! Many of my clients have told me that they sometimes give up on exercise because they simply don’t feel motivated.
My advice is always the same and will hopefully help you also:

1. Ensure you have a strong goal, one that moves you when you read it Use emotive words to describe your goal. Make it positive, specific, realistic, measurable and ensure it has a timeframe.
A carefully worded goal can be a powerful motivator. For example – ‘It is December 31, 2011 and I have lost 6lbs of body-fat weight. I have also improved my 5km personal best to 25 minutes. I feel vital, energetic, enthusiastic and fully alive’.
That’s a little more powerful than ‘I want to lose weight’ don’t you think. Review your goal often, write it out and place it somewhere you see it every day. When you struggle to do a workout, read it!

2. A lack of motivation will bring with it feelings associated with negative thought patterns
For example, you may say to yourself ‘I’m just not fit enough’. Or if you miss a workout, your may beat yourself up with ‘I’m never going to do this’ or words to that affect. Notice these emotions and accept that they are natural to you. Resisting your emotions causes greater stress levels in the body and can entrap you in a vicious circle.

3. Go beyond When you experience a lack of motivation, exercise your will. You may not be able to control the emotions you have, but you do have the power to act independently of them. So, accept what you’re feeling and act anyway. As a famous coach once said, ‘heroes and cowards feel the same fear, heroes just act differently’. So act!
Inspiration
To inspire means to ‘produce or arouse confidence’. It also means, of course, to breathe in. The affect our breathing has on our emotional state is well known through such disciplines as yoga, meditation and martial arts. You notice when you are stressed, you breathe more quickly and less deeply for example. Taking 10 to 15 minutes out of your day to breathe properly will have a calming effect on your emotional state. I recommend a 10-minute routine after exercise. This helps the body relax and can also increase your overall awareness. Check online for simple breathing exercises if you don’t already know one.
Next week we’ll look at one aspect of mental foundation training for sport and exercise – mental rehearsing or visualisation.

Paul O’Brien is a Personal Trainer and Life Coach and runs his own fitness and coaching business in Westport. He is the founder of Bootcamp West, a fitness program running in Westport, Castlebar and Louisburgh. For information about fitness training, coaching, bootcamp programmes and new TRX classes, email Paul at paul@bootcampwest.com or call 086 1674515.