Top 4 most important things about mindful fitness.

I am so excited to write about mindful fitness. That is something I have practised for months now and I have also injected my friends and family to at least try.

If you haven’t try, or you simple never had any thoughts about mindful training it is time to at least understand the benefits and the principles behind it.

Imagine that during your workout, you don’t only train your body but also you train your brain. I think we never focus enough of the importance of our brain and its role in our life. It all starts in our heads and through our whole life we use brain nonstop, even when we are sleeping.

So, going back to the workout; learn how to appreciate each movement, each muscle that currently works so hard, all the fluids that pump through your body and blood that travels from head to toes. Observer you entire body; observer how your individual muscle reacts; practice focus. It takes time, your minds will be probably drifting away from time to time, but you can learn how to focus. Observe each inhale and exhale, notice how much energy you receive on each inhale and how much power you can give away on each exhale. It is amazing what our mind can do, how our brain connected to all corners in out body and in fact how minds and body work as a team.

If you notice that you are constantly loosing a focus, don’t panic, you can always return to it again later. Being mindful helps us to deal with difficult thoughts and feelings that can cause us stress or anxiety during our workouts. So be strong and don’t let it add to that stress.

Rather sooner than later, you will see that instead of being on autopilot, you can connect with your mind in the present moment and the present activity. And for sure that can help us deal with life’s challenges in a calm and assertive way while we are training.

But let’s start from beginning, first things first…..

Find your focus.

Find your focus, take few moments to think about your commitment to the workout, purpose of it, what you would like to achieve. The next step is to focus on your posture, your core and the glutes are support your whole body. Make sure your body is upright; shoulders dropped and relaxed. Same with your neck – long and relaxed. Oh, and don’t forget about your feet, they are the roots to the ground; they help you keep the balance.

Observer your surroundings, notice the sound or objects around you. Don’t ignore that only because you are in rush and want to just tick the workout for today. All the factors around you are important, focus on the smell, on the touch sense, try to be 100% mindful. 

Breath, breath, breath!

Although, everything is very important during workout – your focus, posture, environment etc, the breathing technic can make your workout be more productive, efficient and enjoyable. There are reasons why yoga teachers or fitness coaches constantly repeat: inhale, exhale, deep breath, etc. No matter what exercises you are doing, your breath is an important factor. By focusing on your deep breath, you can prolong your mindfulness by engaging your resting and digesting nervous system.

The purpose

During the workout you need to remind yourself why are you doing it. Go back again to the purpose of the exercises, what is your goal, how hard to you need to work? Exercising is essential to improve overall health, maintaine healthy weight, gain muscles. But sometimes the common thoughts are not enought. Perhaps, you would like to go extra mile, participate in completionism, become a bodybuilder, improve your cardio, and sing up for next year marathon. No matter what the purpose is, the importance is to have it in mind, remember why you are exercising and what motivates you.

Be Grateful

Another aspect – be grateful for your ability, for your body. Appreciate what you already have and how much more you can achieve. Don’t treat your body as an enemy, instead treat it as a best friend. When you push extra weight, when you run extra mile, when you improve your record, just be grateful, thank yourself.