3 Tips to get through that Gruelling Workout

We’ve all had them.

You know the ones.  Those workouts feel so hard.  The ones that make you doubt yourself, that make you think you can’t do it.  The ones that make you question why you are even doing it in the first place.

Those workouts.

So how do you change your mental game?

Here are 3 tips that have helped me change my workout from Hard to Doable.

Focus on your Breathe

Just breathe.

How you breathe during your workout will affect the outcome of your workout.  If you are in a part of your workout that is hard you may find that your breathing and heart rate are all over the place.

I have personally found that when I concentrate on my breathing I can control the intensity of my workout.

Simply counting my breaths in and out, and aiming to align them with my steps helps to get not only my breathing under control but my heat-rate and it also aids in stitch prevention.

Focus on why you are doing this

Why? It’s a simple question and it should have a simple answer.

We have all run an event and gotten to a point where we question why you are doing this.  Usually, we have gotten to the point where we are about to give up.  In our head, we’ve gone over all the reasons why we can’t do this.

Instead of focusing on all the negative things. Think about all the positive things.

I am doing this because:

• I can
• Look how far I have come
• I can do this
• I will do this
• I will not let (insert name) down
• I will finish
• I’m doing this for (insert name)

Keep repeating this whether in your head or out loud until you well and truly believe it.  You will know the moment.

Break it up

When I’m out running trails and come to a hill, I break it up.  I tell myself “get to that log”.  When I have passed it, I pick another landmark and aim for that.  I keep doing that until I can’t go anymore.  The landmark might only be 5 meters away, or 100m.  It doesn’t matter.  Just focus on that landmark, get to that, and then focus on the next one.

By breaking your workout into short segments like this makes it more doable and achievable.

All these tips can be applied to any workout, whether a gym, in a pool, out on the road, or in a class.

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What’s your tip for getting through a hard workout?