Do you find that an inability to overcome your workout fears is keeping you from using your gym membership (or signing up in the first place?). Do thoughts of inadequacy, danger or other discomforts make you less likely to achieve your exercise goals? You don’t need to be a victim to these feelings. It is possible to get past them and get more out of all the benefits regular exercise has to offer.
Check out the following tips and tricks to overcome your workout fears. Remember that this is a gradual process that you can take on over a span of days or weeks to get comfortable with your exercises. You don’t have to leap headfirst into a public competition. Baby steps can help you to reach a level in which you’re challenging yourself, feeling great and reaping the rewards.
Use These Tips and Tricks to Overcome Your Workout Fears
Visualize
Before you head out the door to walk or hop into the car to head to the gym, use visualizing to overcome your workout fears. This means that you take a moment, slow your breathing and visualize the best possible outcome. You may feel anxious about doing something, particularly if that something scares you, but use your visualizing to show yourself how great it could turn out.
For instance, if you are supposed to use a rock-climbing wall, and you’re afraid of heights, visualize the pride you’ll feel in yourself when you push past it and reach the top. Think about how good you’ll feel when your feet gently touch the floor again, and you look up and know you conquered both the wall and your fear. Imagine the feeling of having used the muscles in your shoulders, arms and legs to climb the wall. Imagine the lingering feeling of the texture of the grips on the wall. Visualize the strength you’ll feel in yourself from having done it.
Stop Fear as It Happens
If you can feel discomfort starting to set in, take immediate action to overcome your workout fears. If your mind is telling you “you’re going to fall,” take a moment and breathe. Breathe in for two full seconds, hold it for two full seconds, let it out for two seconds then wait another two before breathing again. This automatically slows your heart rate, whether you can feel it or not.
Once you’ve taken control of your body to overcome your workout fears, it’s time to talk to your mind. Don’t argue with yourself, reassure yourself. You and your mind are on the same side! It’s just overreacting at the moment. Affirm your safety. Remind yourself that you are using quality equipment in a safe environment. Remind yourself that you’re not really that far off the ground and that you are perfectly capable of doing this. People have done it before you, you’ll do it, and people will do it after you. You’ll achieve your goal and it’s going to feel great.