7 Ways to Add Mindfulness to Your Workouts

December 29, 2019

by Cathe Friedrich

If you haven’t noticed, there’s a renewed focus on mindfulness. In fact, Prevention magazine lists “meditation as part of a workout” as one of its top exercise trends for 2020. No wonder! We live in a stress-packed, fast-paced world where our nervous systems are in overdrive much of the time. Without a way to counter that stress through relaxation, we end up frustrated, anxious and less happy than we are capable of being.

Working out is an effective stress reliever, but there are ways you can make your workouts even more Zen, so you can maximize the mental health benefits of exercise and feel better afterward. Exercise is an endorphin booster and lift your mood, especially if you add a mindfulness component. Here are seven tips for making your workouts more mindful.

Breathe Deeply Beforehand

Prepare for a workout by focusing on how you breathe before your sweat session starts. Spend five minutes before a workout taking deep breaths. Most people breathe too shallowly. Make sure you’re filling your lungs completely with air. Each inhalation should last for about 4 seconds and each exhalation about the same length of time. Pause for a few seconds after each complete inhalation and exhalation. This exercise will calm your nervous system and help you be more relaxed and mindful.

Add a Little Zen to the End of a High-Intensity Workout

High-intensity workouts ramp up your sympathetic or fight-or-flight nervous system, the opposite of the “rest and relax” portion called the parasympathetic nervous system. After a 20-minute HIIT workout, bring your nervous system back to a more relaxed and “chill” state by doing a 5 or 10-minute slow stretching session, followed by 5 minutes of relaxing meditation. If you reward your body with gentle stretching and relaxation, you’ll end the workout on a positive note and it’ll work wonders for your motivation the next time around.

Slow the Pace

When you strength train, slow the tempo during some sets. Rather than focusing on how quickly you do a set, concentrate on how your muscles are moving and the sensations you feel with each movement. Doing this will forge a stronger mind-muscle connection that will translate into better strength training performance. Slowing the movement down also increases the time the muscle is under tension and that can help you make greater hypertrophy gains. Forge a stronger connection with your muscles rather than just going through the motions.

Balance Exercise that Hurts with Exercise that Soothes

High-intensity exercise has substantial health and fitness benefits, but it serves you best if you balance it with exercise that soothes and relaxes. After a day of high-intensity interval training, do a slow, mindful yoga routine the next day for balance. Doing too many back-to-back HIIT workouts can lead to overreaching and exhaustion.

Stay in the Moment

Too often, people focus on what comes after a workout–what they’ll have for lunch, what else is on the to-do list and anything but soaking up the present moment. It’s even worse if you check your watch or the clock on the wall every five minutes! Tame your mind’s tendency to wander away from the present moment. When you catch yourself staring at the clock or your watch, focus back on your movements and breathing. Studies show that the mind plays a role in exercise performance too. When you’re engaged and mindful of your movements, your movements will be more efficient, and your risk of injury will be lower. Plus, you’re getting more mental health benefits from your workouts. When your mind wanders, shift it back to the present and marvel at what your muscles can do!

Have a Mantra

What are your favorite positive mantras? If you don’t have one, now’s the time to select a few. Mantras help us stay positive and motivated during a workout. They also keep you in the present moment. In one study, researchers measured brain activity in a portion of the brain called the default mode network while subjects recited mantras. This part of the brain is active when the mind wanders or is distracted. They found that this area was suppressed when the participants’ recited a mantra. So, doing this could help you stay in the moment and be more mindful during a workout. Choose mantras that inspire you, even if it’s something as simple as “breathe.” At the very least, replace negative thoughts like, “Oh, I don’t feel like working out” with positive ones like “Exercise is a privilege” and it is!

Play Relaxing Music in the Background

Music has the power to motivate and to make a workout seem easier. Some studies even show it can improve exercise performance during endurance exercise. To improve running speed and endurance, music with a fast tempo would be most beneficial. But if you’re trying to make your workout more mindful or relaxing, slow, relaxing tunes are best. Choose music without words. How about a little New Age music in the background?

The Bottom Line

Mindfulness can help you enjoy your workouts more and get more fitness benefits too. You’ll perform better when you’re relaxed and not distracted by what’s going on around you. Getting fit is as much a mental exercise as a physical one. These mindfulness practices will help you better listen to your body and get better results from your training. It’ll also boost your motivation. Use strength training time as an escape from social media and the surrounding hubbub. That’s the advantage of working out at home. You don’t have to deal with the noise and distractions of a gym.