Why Having a Growth Mindset is Key to Fitness Motivation

By
Dan J
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Success starts with the mind—if you want to make any progress in sports and fitness, you need to have a growth mindset. That is, you need to consider yourself to be plastic and malleable, able to improve and develop as you fulfill your fitness regimes. Someone with a growth mindset will diligently apply themselves to their own skill and development so that they can become the best they can be. Here are some top tips for developing a growth mindset.

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"The goal of training is not to prove yourself in practice, but to cause progressive adaptation." Steve Magness. I was reminded last week, of the importance of "winning" more workouts than I "lose." Winning a workout means I completed it on the prescribed pace and felt in control rather than struggling to hang on. I had fallen into the trap of trying to use my highly defined and specific pace and time goals as a goal to be beaten. If my workout goal was 88 second 400's, my mind said "oh, but 85 seconds is even better, and geez, if I can eek out an 80 second 400, that's way better." Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. There are times when we need to have those "go to the well" workouts and feel like we're sucking eggs through a straw, but most of the time the quality workout is more effective when we hit our pace/time and walk away feeling nicely worked, and feeling like we probably could have done one more, maybe two. That is "winning" the workout. And we need a lot of those. Yes, on those rare occasions we need an absolute maximal effort workout but not as often as you might think. And when you do have to "go to the well" you have to take extra care and time to "fill the well back up". Remember, every workout needs to have a goal and purpose, and usually that does not include collapsing in exhaustion. Is much more fun to feel like Hercules after a workout!! . . . #trainsmart #runsmart #runningcoach #effectivetraining #twmcoaching #thewellnessmovement #thewellnessmovementusa #successfulworkout #trackintervals #funrunning #iloverunning #runwithus #wehavefun #runningcommunity #wecanwarriors

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Redefine Success

You need to set the bar for your own success. Rather than comparing yourself to others, get to know your level and your limits and celebrate each time that you improve.

Challenge Yourself

To keep learning new things and pushing your personal goals, you need to set yourself challenges. Rather than shying away from them, think of them as an opportunity to improve.

Learn from Setbacks

When you set yourself a challenge and you fall short, learn from your experience and congratulate yourself for trying. If you keep striving in this way, the sky’s the limit.