Physical Energy vs Mental Energy

Some people love to workout. They show up because they love the gym(lunatics). Others are disciplined. They hate it but they do so anyway. Like most, I’d say I’m combination of both. And as a marathon runner turned fitness guy I’ve had my share of great & not so great workouts.

What I’d like to do in this blog is help you position yourself to have the very best possible workouts every time. But first, let’s take a quick step back and be normal human beings:

• We wake up early thinking about getting to the gym

Or,

• We go through our work day. We deal with all our daily challenges knowing we’ve got to get that workout in when the day is over.

While both approaches work pending the individual, they also have similar challenges.

So lets cut to the chase:

• Our brain controls everything in our body

Every single movement we do, and thought we have is an action of our body’s organs and muscles(heart, liver, kidneys, hormones) communicating back to our central nervous system(brain) through various receptors. In short, it’s pretty darn busy, and accounts for a crap ton of energy expenditure. Combine the energy required for body to do its fundamental functions, the other stresses of the day and thoughts, our body’s control tower is likely totally smoked. And when that happens we suffer from fatigue, have judgment errors on our calorie intake and hormonal imbalances. I guess thats my simplified way of saying our body mass is far more than calories in vs calories out.

So how do we not let use of our mental energy get the best of our workouts?

First and foremost, we got to prioritize sleep. When our sleep is good, we manage stress better. And when we manage stress better we minimize judgement errors. We don’t misinterpret hunger for dehydration etc and we’re more mindful.

Secondly, we’ve got to find a way to disconnect.And when I say that I mean let go of everything we’ve been thinking about through the day(or before the day has started). Our central nervous system already has enough work to do. So when it’s our time to workout, its time to “zone out”.

I like to crank up the music, which can be different on any given day. Some like to listen to podcasts, others like audio books or even the company of the rest of the gym crowd camaraderie. Or maybe you just like to workout at home. But wherever you can find that place where you can mentally relax, thats the best workout place for you.