Lately I’ve been into Tabata cardio elliptical workouts. In the one I’ve been doing the end is really hard. After 6 sets of Tabatas (go as fast as you can for twenty seconds then as slow as you can for ten seconds, at varied inclines and resistances) you have to keep the incline at ten and crank up the resistance to twelve and push hard with your arms for also most two minutes. The trainer, Paul Romeo, talks about embracing the discomfort at the end. He says it’s where our survival instincts kick in and our brain is trained to deal with discomfort. For him, this is especially helpful when preparing for a race. It’s learning to see it through to the end without giving up.
What people don’t realize is how much our exercise trains our brains to see difficult things through in life, too. Both yoga and exercise are mind body connections. Without any form of exercise your brain is being deprived of training that could help you be more resilient in life, which in turn could help relieve stress. I often hear people saying they are thin and look good enough and don’t need to exercise. I also hear heavy people say they don’t care how they look. When are we going to realize exercise isn’t about how we look? It’s not about getting skinny. It’s about being strong in both mind and body so we can withstand the storms of life without hurting ourselves.
And so, as another day goes by, once more I climb on that machine to learn to embrace discomfort, and…I have written.
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