Fool Your Brain to Enjoy Hard Workout With the Maximum Exercise Rule
If you find yourself postponing hard workouts because you remember how unpleasant they are, try redesigning your workout instead. As painful as the experience is, we tend to remember only two parts: the worst and the end.
This is called the “high-end rule,” and it seems to hold true for both athletes in races and people undergoing painful medical procedures. You can put up with severe pain if the peak pain is manageable and you feel good at the end.
To make this rule work for you, plan the end of your workout first. If you find the sprint at the end of your run fun and exciting, leave it alone; but if you end up diligently and leave you unhappy, plan a relaxing cooldown to end on a high note.
Then look at the worst part of the workout. Can you make this part less awful? Maybe you can put in more effort overall. Or, if you’re like me and hate the feeling that 5 minutes is turning into 10 minutes of hard effort, see if you can rearrange your workouts so that intervals are only 5 minutes long, but you’ve been doing twice as long.
Changing these two parts of your workout can make your memory more enjoyable, even if you continue to work on your body just as hard. Once the fear disappears, it will be easier for you to come to the next hard workout.
Afraid of this hard workout? | World of runners
Photo by the US Army .
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