Brain Switch: How To Creatively Keep Your Fitness Resolutions

Written by Jennifer Gresham - 28 Comments
Categories: health and fitness, motivation, self improvement

April is about the time New Year’s resolutions dissolve and gyms become less crowded again.  It’s not that folks have lost their desire to trim pounds or increase their level of fitness.  For some, it’s simply a motivation problem.  They want to continue, but just can’t seem to make the time amidst competing demands.  But for others, they just don’t enjoy exercise.  I once watched a woman jogging whose scrunched up face displayed a combination of irritation and defeat.  She wasn’t enjoying herself, but felt compelled to continue.  So it’s no surprise that keeping our fitness habits going is difficult.  Any activity that isn’t innately enjoyable quickly becomes drudgery and nearly impossible to maintain.

No matter what your current feelings regarding exercise, it turns out there is a way to make the activity more enjoyable.  It doesn’t involve hiring a personal trainer or signing up for a Zumba class (although those might be nice compliments once you get going).  The only thing that’s keeping you from a better exercise regime is your own head.

Ironically, I discovered this trick while doing something entirely sedentary: writing.  One of the more difficult aspects of creative writing, especially for the beginner, is eliciting that dream-like state where the words and ideas flow easily.  There’s good reason the myths about waiting for inspiration to strike or reliance on a muse persist—for many, the ability to induce the wellspring of creativity remains elusive. Writers often create elaborate rituals to get themselves into this space: they only write during a certain time of day or they have a “lucky pen.”

What I discovered is that these rituals are all methods for subduing the analytical left brain and letting your more creative right brain take over.  With time and dedication, you can actually physically feel the mental switch take place. And once you know what that switch feels like, you can learn to control it.  That’s how the best writers are able to crank out pages of good writing while others struggle in front of a blank screen or notepad for hours.  Good writers know how to generate the mental switch on command.

So what’s the connection to exercise?  When I saw that woman jogging who looked so miserable, I wanted to tell her, “It’s all in your head!”  All she needed was to get out of her analytical left brain, which was likely paying attention to the amount of time she’d been running or the number of miles left to go.  The left brain is prone to focusing on details and lists, making exercise more of a chore than fun.  But given the chance, the right brain can make your aerobic workout take on a timeless quality.  You might get to the end of a run and say, “Wow.  I’m done already?”

Just as your body has that weightless feeling when you’re under water, your concept of exertion and time disappear while day-dreaming.  In your head, there are no limits, there’s nothing that isn’t open to you.  In fact, many times when I’ve used this technique I actually feel like my brain is out ahead of me, a tether between us, egging me on. Plus, creativity can create its own adrenaline-like feeling—it generates energy instead of zapping it.

Here’s your step-by-step guide to attaining the left to right brain switch:

1) Just like a writer, pick a certain time of day and a certain activity to practice on. It doesn’t really matter what activity you pick, but aerobic exercises where you don’t need to count or pay close attention to anything work best.  Once you get proficient at the technique, you can expand it to activities like weight lifting.

2) While exercising, let your mind wander, but try to “think” in images instead of words. Pretend you are watching a movie inside your head: taking the vacation you always wanted or receiving a big award.  Do not watch TV—this engages your left brain and will hamper your transition.  Music is okay as long as it remains a background noise (no singing along!).

3) Each time you are able to make the switch (that is, you become so engrossed in your dream, you almost lose awareness of your immediate surroundings), try remember what it felt like. Note what your body sensation and what ideas or dreams enabled you to enter that trance-like state.

4) Once you know what it feels like, work on getting to your creative space as soon as possible. When you’re proficient, it should only take 5 minutes or less.

Unlike much advice, which tells you to simply do something a certain number of times until you form a habit, these steps are only necessary until you are able to consistently achieve the brain switch.  For those who are more naturally inclined towards creativity, it may only take a couple of weeks of dedicated practice.  For others, it may takes a month or more to get it right.  The key to making this method work is to remember that positive feeling the next time you’re struggling to get yourself out the door.  You’ll not only feel better for having exercised, you’ll soon feel better while doing it too.

Jennifer Gresham is freelance writer and the founder of EveryDayBright, a blog dedicated to her musings on how to live a successful life with Optimism!

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  • http://www.getinthehotspot.com Annabel Candy, Get In the Hot Spot

    Fabulous advice, thanks for sharing it with us on Pick the Brain. I started getting up at 6am so I could fit in exercise before the school run and after about 6 months I realised I’d go to bed looking forward to it. Quite a break through so couldn’t agree more about doing at the same time every day.

  • Pol

    This is interesting, I must try it. I was interested in the “don’t count” bit. If I am struggling in motivation, I count. I count the number of strokes or kicks in the pool, I count the number of seconds for a breath, the number of steps I have walked etc. It is just where my mind naturally seems to go.

    One question: It sounds to me as if you are advocating going off into a world of your own while exercising. I have poor coordination and if I don’t concentrate on where my body is and what it is doing, I tend to fall over or swim into the side of the pool. Do you have any tips to stop this happening?

  • http://www.ourhealthierliving.com Our Healthier Living

    Very interesting topics.I am looking this type of topics, I need more informations because everyone knows “Health is wealth” is very much known to all and everyone wants good health.That means no one wants to leave this wealth. So, Let us build a food habit discipline, keep pace with work, rest and or exercise to Achieve good health, The ultimate wealth.

  • http://www.everydaybright.com Jennifer Gresham

    Annabel: It’s amazing what consistency can do for performance. Glad this was helpful!

    Jen

  • http://www.everydaybright.com Jennifer Gresham

    Pol: It sounds like you are already pretty intrinsically motivated. So if counting keeps your motivation high, by all means do it! You are exactly right though that I am suggesting you allow yourself to go into your own world mentally. It really does make for an entirely different experience while exercising. As someone who also suffers from poor coordination, I suggest running outside or on a track (as opposed to a treadmill) or even cycling on a stationary bike. That should be a little easier to maintain control while still allowing your mind to “run” out ahead of you. Please let me know how it goes!

  • http://everydaybright.com/2010/04/23/pick-my-brain-get-fit/ Pick My Brain & Get Fit « Everyday Bright

    [...] regular Everyday Bright readers, you might be interested to know I have a guest post over at PickTheBrain that discusses tricks I learned as a writer that helped me get (and stay) fit.  Turns out the key [...]

  • reader2rider

    Jen, your description of “the zone,” as it used to be called, for writers and other kinds of strenuous exercisers, is the best I’ve read. Yes, you know it when you’re in it, but you can’t think to hard about it or analyze it, you just keep on doing it. Thanks!

  • reader2rider

    (Yes, I know the diff between “too” and “to.” Sorry!)

  • http://www.growingforward.net Scott

    Great article about the connection between the mind & body. Personally, it’s an area I’m diving into for personal and business reasons. There’s a mental side of athletics/fitness where life coaching is missing. Also, there’s a physical and emotional side of business where health is lacking. Overall, it’s a holistic approach to improving yourself. Thanks for the tips!

  • http://www.richardshelmerdine.com/blog/ Richard | RichardShelmerdine.com

    With exercising I put in that every other day I will do freestyle football (soccer tricks) training. This is actually just fun to me but I get fit. What an amazing combination.

  • http://www.borncompany.com/ Paul

    This is interesting, I must try it. I was interested in the “don’t count” bit. If I am struggling in motivation, I count. I count the number of strokes or kicks in the pool, I count the number of seconds for a breath, the number of steps I have walked etc. It is just where my mind naturally seems to go.

    One question: It sounds to me as if you are advocating going off into a world of your own while exercising. I have poor coordination and if I don’t concentrate on where my body is and what it is doing, I tend to fall over or swim into the side of the pool. Do you have any tips to stop this happening?

  • http://www.everydaybright.com Jennifer Gresham

    Reader2Rider- Thanks! You’re right, it is called “the zone.” It was such a huge a-ha moment when I realized the sensations were the same thing, regardless of the trigger (writing or exercise)! Glad you enjoyed this.

  • http://www.everydaybright.com Jennifer Gresham

    Scott- That’s a really good insight about the need for a mind/body approach in business. I have long argued that the need for efficiency is squeezing out creativity in the workplace, to everyone’s detriment. I think it also accounts for much of the sense of dissatisfaction in the workplace. These days, running and showering are about the only times I get to let me mind run free. No wonder it’s so enjoyable!

    Good luck on pushing the holistic view into life coaching. Couldn’t agree more.

    Jen

  • http://www.everydaybright.com Jennifer Gresham

    Scott- Good insight on the missing mind/body connection in the workplace. I have long argued that efficiency is sqeezing out creativity in the business world, much to everyone’s detriment. These days, running and showering are about the only time I get to let my mind run free. No wonder they are so enjoyable!

    Good luck introducting a more holistic approach to life coaching. I couldn’t agree more.

    Jen

  • http://www.dailyping.net/ Rick

    [...] regular Everyday Bright readers, you might be interested to know I have a guest post over at PickTheBrain that discusses tricks I learned as a writer that helped me get (and stay) fit.  Turns out the key [...]

  • http://www.loudblast.net/ Adam

    With exercising I put in that every other day I will do freestyle football (soccer tricks) training. This is actually just fun to me but I get fit. What an amazing combination.

  • http://topsy.com/trackback?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2&url=http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/brain-switch-how-to-creatively-keep-your-fitness-resolutions/ Tweets that mention Brain Switch: How To Creatively Keep Your Fitness Resolutions – PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by PickTheBrain, Sourav Ghosh, Lissa Duty, Self Help Books, Abu Ali and others. Abu Ali said: Brain Switch: How To Creatively Keep Your Fitness Resolutions: April is about the time New Year’s resolutions di… http://bit.ly/chNh6Y [...]

  • http://www.bicyclehighway.com/ Alan

    With exercising I put in that every other day I will do freestyle football (soccer tricks) training. This is actually just fun to me but I get fit. What an amazing combination.

  • http://www.jonathancody.com/ Julie

    With exercising I put in that every other day I will do freestyle football (soccer tricks) training. This is actually just fun to me but I get fit. What an amazing combination.

  • http://www.bodyincredible.com Kat Eden

    This is quite interesting; it reminds me of the book ‘Flow’. The only catch there is that generally a flow state is achieved while doing something you love, so I guess it makes it harder if you don’t already love exercise! In my experience, once you start getting better at something you naturally start to enjoy it more, so from that perspective it’s worth committing to at least 21 days of training and forming that new habit. I know that’s what you were talking about not relying on, but it does quite often work as a basis!

  • http://www.everydaybright.com Jennifer Gresham

    Kat,
    I haven’t read the book Flow, but will have to check it out. Exercise seems to be one of the few activities that takes just more than habit to keep people at it. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with combining a habit forming program based on time with this method, but the key is to focus on enjoying your time exercising. If forcing yourself to do something everyday pisses you off, you’ll likely never get to the state of mind I’m describing.

  • http://www.womanjogging.com/ WJ

    Very interesting and insightful. I can relate to this both from a jogging and writing perspective.

  • http://www.motivation-emotion.com Tobias Eichenwald

    I can definitly relate to these kind of problems. Rituals are a really important helper. I know a guy who used to take his socks of before writing. Kinda funny but it works.

  • http://www.eyelashlipocils.com eye lashlipocils

    I LOVE the tip about setting a timer! I haven’t done this in years, but remember it being very effective.

  • http://www.ibssymptomsguide.com/ ibs symptoms

    I think I’m going to try your advice. I found it hard to keep myself following a schedule and eventually gave up after weeks.

  • https://sixminutes.infusionsoft.com/go/success/JimmySuc/ JimmySuccess

    “You can’t hire other people to do push-ups for you” – Jim
    Ron

  • http://www.themindrelaxer.com The Mind Relaxer

    Very interesting technique… just hoping I could implement some of it..

  • http://www.electricbackmassager.com Electric Back Massager

     Awesome, this is going to be the perfect exercise to start with before diving into a more critical brain twisting.. thanks for the tips…