Using Bad Workouts to Train Your Mind

A common theme in any good training program is intent. When I’m making workout plans for an athlete, or even a 3-times-a-week warrior, my goal is always to be very intentional with my workouts. That means that each exercise has a purpose, targets a specific muscle group, and if done properly will lead to better results. When programming cardiovascular exercise, I try to deliberately plan workouts that specifically target certain heart rate zones, certain distances that I want to hit, or certain speed levels I want the athlete to reach.

As I’ve been doing exercise programming for a couple of years now, I’ve noticed that there is some value and utility in having a specific mental intention for each workout; this applies directly to athletes who require endurance, and especially to military personnel. I came up with this because oftentimes in sports and in the military, there are moments or 30-60 minute periods that are very physically and mentally demanding, but sometimes training for them can be difficult. How do we simulate being tired, stressed, lethargic, in a physical training environment?

I think a valuable tactic that can be applied to training programs is to use workouts where we don’t feel our best to train our mindset for future challenges. For example, I typically do my running or sprinting workouts in the morning when I’m fasted and have the most energy; when I was forced to do it in the evening, I noticed that I had a lot more discomfort, and quite frankly, it sucked. However, over time in forcing myself to do these runs, I found myself much more comfortable putting myself into a uncomfortable running pace and holding on for 30-40 minutes. My paces were slower overall, but I got very comfortable with the mindset that I was in. I saw the benefit pay off on my next 2-mile assessment where I held the pace I wanted for the entire time, because I knew that feeling and knew that I could endure it.

The lesson here is that even if your workout isn’t going well and you feel tired and sluggish, use that workout as an opportunity to train your mind to be tougher in difficult times, as it will pay dividends in the future when you are feeling fresh.