When you work out, it’s easy to get caught up in the numbers. How much weight did you lift? How many calories did you burn? And how fast can you run that mile? At the other extreme, you might find your mind wandering and not engaging with your training on occasion. Is there a way around that? Adding mindfulness to your weight training routine can be incredibly beneficial—and it doesn’t take a lot of time or preparation to do so.
Mindfulness is the practice of staying in the moment and paying attention to what you are feeling and experiencing. It’s a way to become more aware of your body, your thoughts, and your emotions and get more out of your workout. Here are some easy ways to start incorporating mindfulness into your training.
Start with a deep, diaphragmatic breathing
Diaphragmatic breathing can improve your weight training, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced lifter. Diaphragmatic breathing helps you maintain a calm and controlled state of mind, which is beneficial for any type of workout and can even improve your performance. By maintaining a calm and controlled state of mind, you are less likely to become distracted by your own thoughts and emotions and more likely to ace your workout.
Additionally, diaphragmatic breathing can help improve your focus by reducing stress levels and boosting confidence levels — both of which are important factors when trying to reach personal bests in strength training.
Try this sequence before beginning your strength-training workout:
- Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
- Focus on the breath, not the sound—the goal is to keep your attention focused internally rather than externally.
- Breathe in for five seconds; hold it for two seconds; then breathe out slowly for five more seconds.
- Repeat as many times as necessary until you feel more relaxed and less anxious.
Try doing this before your next workout and see if it improves your workout.
Set an intention
Before you start, ask yourself why you’re doing this. What do you want to achieve? Do you want to get stronger, build muscle, lose fat, or improve your health and fitness? Your intention will determine how you train. For example:
If muscle gain or fat loss is your intention, choose more exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once (such as squats and deadlifts), which will help increase the calories you burn during and after exercise. If it’s strength gains that are motivating to you, choose exercises where you can use heavy weights (5-8RM). Likewise, if your goal is to build muscle size, use moderate resistance and moderate repetitions, so your muscles spend more time under tension to maximize hypertrophy gains. Focus on that one intention when you train.
Tune in to your body
The mind-muscle connection refers to how well you can use your brain to control your muscles during exercise. Interaction between mind and muscle is not just a visualization exercise; it’s a way of involving your mind with what your body is doing while you exercise. Fostering the mind-muscle connection will help improve your form and make sure that you are using all the right muscles during each exercise. With increased awareness comes better control over your movements.
How can you increase the connection? Slow down the tempo of each repetition. Feel the muscle tension and visualize your muscles working in your mind. Focus on form over how the weight feels as you move it. Tune into how your muscles feel and what they’re telling you.
Interaction between mind and muscle is not just a visualization exercise; it’s a way of engaging your mind with what your body is doing while you exercise. Fostering the mind-muscle connection will help improve your form and make sure that you are using all the right muscles during each exercise. With increased awareness comes better control over your movements.
Eliminate social media and other distractions
To make your workouts more mindful, let go of distractions. Social media is a huge distraction for many people, as well as other things like using phones during workouts. If you can’t get away from social media and other distractions, try to use them as little as possible during your workouts. Posting photos of yourself while you exercise is an unnecessary distraction and shifts the focus away from your fitness goals.
Embrace the journey, not just the result
It’s important to keep in mind that your strength journey is more important than the result. The journey itself, who you become on the way, and all the things you learn along the way matter too. It’s more important that you enjoy the ride and make sure your workouts are an asset to your life, not an obstacle.
Be kind to yourself.
It’s important to be goal-oriented, but don’t pursue goals to the point that you harm your well-being. Be kind to yourself on your weight-training journey. Don’t push yourself so hard that you injure yourself or it affects your mental well-being. Don’t do unhealthy things like restricting calories excessively. Take rest days to give your body a chance to recover from your training. Be patient too. Making changes to your body composition takes time. Be patient too! Good things take time!
Conclusion
Mindfulness is an important element of any fitness routine and that includes strength training. It can help you achieve your goals, stay motivated and be more aware of your body and surroundings. It can also help you better understand how your body responds to exercise better. You’ll learn what works best for your body type and how much activity and rest your body needs to make strength gains.
By applying these techniques to your workouts, you can reap the benefits and improve your strength-training performance. You can use these mindfulness-building practices in all aspects of life—not just exercise sessions.
References:
- “Mindfulness meditation can change your brain and optimize performance ….” 17 Nov. 2021, https://www.hprc-online.org/mental-fitness/sleep-stress/mindfulness-meditation-can-change-your-brain-and-optimize-performance.
- “The mind-muscle connection: For aesthetes, not athletes?.” 09 Aug. 2019, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190809085749.htm.
- Calatayud J, Vinstrup J, Jakobsen MD, Sundstrup E, Colado JC, Andersen LL. Mind-muscle connection training principle: influence of muscle strength and training experience during a pushing movement. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2017 Jul;117(7):1445-1452. doi: 10.1007/s00421-017-3637-6. Epub 2017 May 12. PMID: 28500415.
- Ma X, Yue ZQ, Gong ZQ, Zhang H, Duan NY, Shi YT, Wei GX, Li YF. The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults. Front Psychol. 2017 Jun 6;8:874. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874. PMID: 28626434; PMCID: PMC5455070.
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