Tag: mindset
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A Bright Moment for the President’s Council on Fitness
At the start of 1963, Kennedy discovered Roosevelt’s 1908 order establishing the 50-mile march for officers. He sent it to Marine Commandant David M. Shoup, noting that the leathernecks of the time had been able to complete the trek within 20 hours on a single day, and asking if “the strength and stamina of the modern…
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A Year from Now You’ll Wish You’d Started Today
Maybe. One problem is that we sometimes don’t recognize the future self as “self” — consider the example of the young person who smokes even though they know the health risks. A stronger connection to our future self can help. That doesn’t necessarily mean “visualizing,” which can actually distract us from doing the day-to-day work…
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Comfort Zones and Safety Zones
When you make a new commitment to exercise, you get exposed to a lot of motivational sayings and aphorisms that come out of the competitive sports environment. “Obsessed is how the lazy describe the dedicated.” “You can feel sore tomorrow, or you can feel sorry tomorrow.” “Quitting is unacceptable.” It’s common to hear that you…
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Are You Enjoying It?
Do you have a particular food you can’t have “just a little bit” of? Some foods are easy to keep eating — not only do they leave you hungry, they may even leave you thinking you want (“need”) more of the same. Candy and chips often have this effect — people will eat as much…
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The Best Reason to Exercise: Health and Well-Being
Being obese is a risk factor for bad health outcomes, but it’s far too simple a story. Anyone, whatever their size, can improve their health with exercise. Exercising won’t necessarily cause weight loss, but anyone can improve their heart function, blood sugar, sleep quality, and bone density. Exercise even improves cognition and mood. So why…
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Why Athletes Love to Sleep — and So Should You
You can have a perfect eating pattern, a flawless exercise regimen, and still be unhappy, moody, and struggling with your performance if you’re sleeping too little. (See the whole infographic at Fatigue Science.) And yet many of us make every excuse for not getting enough sleep. OK, so most of us are not Olympic athletes…
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It’s Never Just One Thing
Some say you can’t outrun your fork, or “weight loss happens in the kitchen.” You can outrun your fork — if you love running (or don’t tend to eat a lot), and as long as you don’t get injured (and knocked out of your routine). And you can definitely out-eat your exercise schedule, as many…
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Cleansing the Mind of Snake Oil
You can’t actually “detox” your body, but a market eager to sell you One Weird Trick and various magic elixirs makes it impossible to go very far without seeing a pitch for it. The reality is both harder (a single purchase won’t restore health) and easier (regular walking and sensible eating can). So why do…
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5 Lessons About Exercise You Can Learn From Your Dog
Being in love with exercise is a minority attitude, but regular activity offers so many health and well-being benefits that anyone should be able to find it pleasant, even if they’d rather be curled up on the couch with a book. If you’re struggling with the willpower to exercise regularly, you could probably use some…