Club Blog

by: Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.

So you think if you could only increase your will power, you’d do more workouts, lift more weight, do more cardio and improve your overall fitness.  Well, that’s one theory.  Problem is, it doesn’t seem to always work.  And it sure doesn’t work for everyone.

Here’s why.  Will power works best, it seems, after you’ve started on your plan.  The old, “I will,” is a fine piece of self-talk after you are on your way to showing up more and doing more. 

But if you are looking for the kick-start, it’s all about true desire more than just will power.  It’s more about self-empowerment and less about feeling overpowered.  Not too many of us enjoy doing things we have to do. In fact, powerlessness usually leads to resentment.  So forceful change loses out to “desirous” change. 

Research demonstrates that we certainly can talk ourselves into doing more exercise.  But as soon as our self-talk leads us to feel forced to continuing, will power, “I will,” ceases to work. 

Think about how you feel after you say, “I will.”  It begins to feel like coercion if you say it enough—even if it’s your own words. And coercion is a nasty concept when compared to choice. 

The point I’m making is there is a difference between self-discipline, “Will I?” and will power “I will.”  One allows us to get started in overcoming laziness and procrastination.  It helps us control our impulses, up to a point.  The other keeps us going.  It adds perseverance, and the ability to overcome difficulties that otherwise blocks us.

Will power keeps us going. Self-discipline gets us going.  The former is following an order, “I will.” The latter follows our heart, our desire, and our choice.  The former is force.  The latter is autonomy.

Here’s the simple way to develop your choice.  Don’t say, “I will.” Instead ask yourself, “Will I?”  Then the answer is your choice to make.  You create a decision not a declaration you may feel forced to live up to.

Surprisingly we all have, according to research, a limited amount of will power.  Roy Baumeister, a psychology professor at Florida State University, noted that it is, “…a limited resource. People make all these different New Year’s resolutions, but they are all pulling off from the same pool of your willpower. It’s better to make one resolution and stick to it than make five.” 

Strategies to improve your “stick-to-itness” recommended by Boston psychologist Eric Endlich, PhD and exercise scientist Kathleen Martin Ginis, PhD, of McMaster University include:

• Schedule exercise. Plan your exercise, including trips to the gym and the classes you want to take, ahead of time and have everything ready to go to avoid that 20-minute search for your running shoes. “If you’ve planned what you are doing and have everything ready, you avoid the big debate with yourself about whether you will do it or not,” Endlich says.
• Get a trainer or an exercise buddy. Being accountable to someone else is a great motivator.
• Get it over with. If you know you can’t make yourself exercise after an exhausting day, do it first thing in the morning.  I’d add, ask yourself if you will do it the first thing in the morning.

Get in a good mood. Studies suggest that people can muster more self-control when they are in a good mood. So listening to music that makes you happy or watching something funny online could be just another motivator you need.

by: Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.

Did you know that bicyclists ride faster when they travel in groups or pairs? We didn’t know this fact for certain until psychologist Norman Triplett confirmed this more than 100 years ago, in 1898 to be specific.  That’s when the field of sports, or fitness, psychology began at Indiana University.

The Sporting Club now boasts a fitness psychologist as the latest addition to its ever-expanding lists of exclusive member services.  Unlike any gym or fitness/health center in the region, The Sporting Club recognizes that its roster of members are interested in advanced well-being, not simply cardio or resistance exercise.  The club provides many progressive opportunities for highly developed health enhancing activities.  Number one among these sophisticated pathways is maintaining a positive attitude towards fitness.  It’s simply imperative. 

Beyond staying mentally positive, fitness psychology recognizes 8 other areas that athletes and exercise adherents benefit from:

1. anxiety control
2. concentration
3. confidence
4. goal setting
5. communication and intra-team dynamics
6. creative visualization
7. internal dialogue
8. time management

Whether you are an athlete who wants to enhance your performance or a several times a week gym attendee who wants to improve your psychological well-being throughout your life, spending some time with our fitness psychologist may be just the thing to give you the edge you are looking for.

Positive attitudes and fitness are intimately related.  The Association for Applied Sports Psychology suggests developing a positive affirmation to rely upon when you just can’t find your energy or motivation.  Dr. Mantell, the Sporting Club’s fitness psychologist, carries with him a list of these optimistic “I can do it” cues and is always available to toss one your way when you need it. 

“Stay focused on what’s in the glass, not what’s missing from it,” he suggests.  At the same time, he advises that exercise goals be “SMART” – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.  He likes helping athletes and exercise devotees create mental movies in which they see themselves actually running that extra ten minutes, doing a few more reps or another set, or showing up another day for a workout. He can show you how to produce, and star in, your very own fitness-boosting mental movie.

One of Dr. Mantell’s professors at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Martin Seligman, created the field of “positive psychology” and was among the first to investigate how people can create positive attitudes for many areas of performance, fitness being only one.

Marie-Josee Salvas Shaar, MAPP, reported 10 simple methods based on positive psychology to develop and further fitness and exercise.  These include:

1. Sleep enough and eat nutritiously.
2. Get into a good mood before working out.
3. Other people matter, so get an “accountability partner.”
4. Work from your strengths to increase your fitness.
5. Enjoy your burn.
6. Involve your mind to learn about cardio, endurance, strength and flexibility training.
7. Chart your progress.
8. Get in flow by chunking down your work-out sessions into manageable parts.
9. Use the peak-end rule so that you love the end of your work-out, at it’s peak.
10. Get good mind fuel after exercise and avoid what’s not enjoyable.

The Sporting Club has the finest environment, equipment and staff to help you achieve your health, well-being, fitness and performance goals.  It’s up to you to take advantage of these industry-leading services.

From enhancing your individual performance, finding your motivation to returning to exercise after an injury or during rehabilitation, to helping you simply stick to your training schedule with realistic goals, learning increased concentration and self-confidence, you will improve not only your body but other areas of your life as well.

by: Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.
Fitness Psychology

A couple of years ago, a series of studies came out that showed that couples who work out together increase their chances of sticking to their exercise program more than 90%!  This can’t be ignored and it got me thinking about couples I treat for relationship problems.  Maybe they ought to go from a therapy session to the gym, and they’ll not only stick to their exercise program, but also stick together.

You may know that I won’t take anyone into therapy/counseling unless they are working out or have a genuine plan to initiate a physical fitness program.  So why not make working out as a couple a therapeutic recommendation? 

After all, not only does going to the gym together enable couples to spend quality time with each other, it allows for discussion of mutual goals and fitness levels, sharing a common commitment to well-being, creating mutual motivation, developing a deeper bond with each other, and offers opportunities to celebrate each other’s successes. 

I see couples at The Sporting Club working out together frequently and have often wondered about setting aside time once a month or so JUST for couples to enjoy an evening of fitness, perhaps dine on some of Minh’s great food, and finish with a brief discussion on some aspect of relationship improvement.  Consider it a date night at TSC! 

Matters of the heart beyond cardio benefits are only some of the rewards you can look forward to with couples exercise.  Remember, there are studies that show that men and women who exercise regularly report better and more frequent sex with their partners—so how much more enjoyable can exercising with each other be?

Here are seven simple ideas to get started:

1. Take a class or two together.  From spinning to Yoga, stretching to Pilates, gravity to Zumba, The Sporting Club has enough classes each week to satisfy your interests and needs.
2. Do cardio side-by-side by finding two treadmills, stair machines, or bikes and work at your own speed – double head phones in the same iPod lets you share music!
3. Learn how to stretch each other – gently helping each other with a pull or push can ease each other’s muscles before and after a couples’ workout.
4. Develop some trust with each other simply by serving as each other’s spotter.  Knowing your partner is there to assist can aid in communication and trust building.  And there’s nothing like saying “thanks” to help a relationship.  Bench presses, chest flies, skull crushers all can provide opportunities to assist each other and demonstrate a feeling of safety with each other.
5. Do resistance exercises using each other as the resistance. Push-ups against the press of your partner and leg raises with resistance from your partner are only two ways to begin partner-assisted resistance.  It’ll help your arguments later.
6. Eye contact and communicating while exercising offer chances for intimacy building that can extend to other activities that are, well, a bit more intimate and reserved for out of the gym exercise.
7. One program I came across for at-home couples exercise is the “Fit2Touch” DVD fitness program that combines Yoga, Pilates and strength training.  You can find it on line.

It’s been well known that exercise is good for the body, soul and mind.  Now, we can add, it’s also good for our relationships.  The Sporting Club may just be the best date destination in San Diego.

Live Life Fit

by: Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.
Fitness Psychologist
The Sporting Club

The Brits seem to be doing some interesting research these days on basic physical tasks and mortality. I mean really basic physical tasks like shaking hands.  Sure a handshake is about the most widely recognized way of greeting someone worldwide and it’s just common sense that the way you shake someone’s hand matters in building a first impression.

But recent research reported in the BMJ (British Medical Journal), demonstrates that it’s more than first impressions and personality characteristics that show up in your handshake.  It’s also when your LAST impression might be coming.

That’s right.  Researchers studied more than 53,000, mostly elderly, people in the UK, and found that among the weakest, their death rate was 1.67 times greater than among those people with the stronger handshake grip.

This simple ritual of two people grasping hands with a quick shake carries with it all kinds of information but let’s face it. Between getting that job, impressing a client, offering congratulations or completing an agreement versus a signal of your mortality, it’s definitely your lifespan that takes top tier importance to you, right?

Did you know there are 8 different kinds of handshakes? From the “vice”, with the strongest grip as its name implies to the “dead”,  the most relaxed (often called the “fish”), each one says something about your personality.

A good “firm” shake is the norm, while the “blood sucker” holds on a little too long, making it entirely uncomfortable—just when do you let go?  “Wet hands”, from anxious sweat, “two hands,” as the name implies, and “encroaching” in which the handshake moves from between two people to a spot that’s invasively close to one or the other.  And finally, the “dominant” in which one of the two people turns their arm so that their hand ends up above the other one’s. Obnoxious.

All of these 8 aside, it’s the strength of the grip that counts if it’s longevity that you are interested in.  Remember, people in this study with the weakest grip had a 67 per cent increased risk of premature death compared with the strongest.  Ask one of the trainers in The Sporting Club to show you how to develop your grip. While a stronger grip has been shown to be associated with increased mortality, strengthening your grip also directly influences how much weight you can lift.  In the gym, there are two types of grip strength:  crushing strength and pinching strength.

The first, crushing, is used when shaking hands or crushing a can of soda for example.  The pinching grip is demonstrated by holding a heavy weight plate between your thumb and fingers and letting it hang towards the floor.  The latter is more difficult to train for. The grip the Brits have demonstrated is associated with longer life, is the crushing grip, and that’s the one you want to develop. Some describe a third, called holding strength, the kind needed to pull your body weight up a mountainside—how much weight you can carry in a bucket with a good grip.

So regardless of your handshake style, do exercises that will develop your crushing strength.

Keep in mind that the British researchers have concluded in their research, “a steep decline in physical capability may be a better predictor of mortality than is the absolute level at a single point in time.”  For this, simply insure that your exercise regimen stays consistent in order to keep your physical capability from declining.

Recent studies have shown that one of the best ways to stay fit is to take your pooch for a daily walk. Because you’re doing all that exercise for your dog, and not just for yourself, you stay committed to your fitness program long after other people have given up on their gym memberships or hidden their home exercise equipment in the garage.

You’ll keep on having fun for years, without spending a lot of money. All the equipment you need will cost less than a month at a gym. And the activity you’ll both be engaged in – walking – has been proven to be one of the most effective ways to get fit and stay fit.

If you don’t currently have a dog, and if you have a hard time forcing yourself out of the house because of chronic pain or depression, it may be time to “prescribe” yourself a canine walking partner. Many doctors around the country are discovering the healing power of pets.

In short, walking improves your fitness while your dog helps you stay with your program. Walking regularly also gives your dog the exercise he needs to stay healthy and happy.

Walking doesn’t just improve your fitness and health by burning off calories. Scientists have found that walking elevates your serotonin, a chemical in your brain. An increase in your serotonin puts you in a better mood, helps you sleep better, and controls your appetite.

In fact, walking can boost your serotonin levels by up to 47 percent, which could curb your appetite as much as 29 percent for six hours after you walk.

Starting an exercise program and sticking with it may not always be easy. Most of the time we exercise because we feel like we have to. We know it is good for our health, it can improve our moods, and assist us in losing those last 5-10 pounds we are always trying to take off. It always starts out well and then somehow plummets midway through. What can you do if this happens to you? Use the following 10 tips to re-motivate yourself to keep your routine in tact.

1. Create a plan. Sit down and figure out how many days you are willing to commit to exercise, what you are going to do on those days and for how long. Be realistic. If you are not working out at all, having the commitment of 6 days a week is unrealistic.

2. Create your own support system. There is nothing better than rallying your girls up for some exercise fun. If you have other people involved, it is most likely you will stick it out because you don’t want to disappoint that person or group.

3. Change it up. If you are anything like me, you get bored extremely fast. Changing your routine often is a great way to subside this. You will also see that your body responds faster if you are constantly confusing it.

4. Try something new. Take a class you always wanted to participate in but were afraid to try.

5. Hire a trainer. Get the undivided attention you need to kick your butt into gear. You will also feel committed to follow through with suggestions they offer because one, you don’t want to disappoint and two, you are paying them.

Here are some ideas for ways you can reward yourself for reaching your exercise goals:

1. A Day at the Spa: Everyone deserves a little pampering, especially after reaching such a tremendous goal of sticking to your exercise goals. A day of massages, saunas, or other spa treatments may be just what you need to reward yourself.

2. A Mini-Vacation: Many people do not have it within their means to plan a full blown vacation each month, but you can give yourself a day for a special trip somewhere. Maybe there is an art exhibit you’ve been wanting to see, or a day at a lake or beach. Traveling to places that are just an hour or two away can be a fun way to give yourself a mini-vacation.

3. A New Book: If you enjoy reading, buying a new book for yourself can be a real treat. It can also be inexpensive – there are many great books available out there for less than $10!

4. Music: Do you enjoy exercising to music? Downloading a few new songs can be a great way to reward yourself and keep motivated for your exercise routine.

5. New Shoes: Buying shoes is a great way to reward yourself for exercising, and best of all as you continue to exercise and lose weight, they will more than likely still fit! You can decide on a new pair of exercise shoes, or a pair of shoes for special occasions.

     Why are more than 12 years of education considered a protective factor in longevity? Well, according to research, educated people are able to take the long view, helping them have better self-care and life-long learning.  Additionally, educated people recognize the connection between learning, personal behavior and the consequences of their behavior.

                         Harvard University’s Adult Development research followed 800 participants from their adolescence throughout their lives.  Surprisingly, they found that aging well did NOT depend on one’s genetic pool, or stress and cholesterol levels. 

                            They did find that four personal character qualities predicted well-being:

                            1.  A future orientation and the ability to anticipate and plan positively (hope and optimism)

                            2.  The capacity for both gratitude and forgiveness

                            3.  The ability to see the world through the eyes of another (the capacity to love and be loved)

                            4.  The desire to do things with and for people (kindness, social intelligence)

                            It’s clear that the choices we make matter, our behavior certainly matters, our education and our character also matters.  We are far more responsible for our well-being, health and longevity than we may realize.  Exercising is a large part of it in that working-out encourages so many other positive choices and behaviors.

Working out keeps us feeling well, thinking well, looking well and being well. That’s a whole lot of well-being that can come from hitting the gym floor a few hours each week.

Of course science tells us every day that there are lots of other factors that go into living well, being healthy, aging well and being happy besides just being an active and regular member of The Sporting Club.

Keep in mind that 50% of the variance in our happiness may be the result of what some researchers call our “genetic setpoint,” while another 10% comes from life circumstances and 40% is the result of the choices we make.
More well-being  better-health  living longer. We would be wise to make smart choices today if we want to have many more tomorrows.

Having the following protective behavioral factors predict health and longevity 30 or more years into the future:

Never smoking or stopping young
Adaptive coping (turning lemons into lemonade)
No alcohol abuse
A stable marriage
12+ years of education
Not being overweight/getting some regular exercise

Perhaps it’s the result of having a new job, a new mate, or a new baby.You are overwhelmed with a feeling of excitement.Yet, you feel inadequate as well.As a result, you are under a tremendous amount of stress.At times, you might feel as if there’s no relief in sight as if you’re on a treadmill which shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

However, the secret to effectively dealing with the stress may be to get your body onto an actual treadmill. Exercise can be the key to stress relief.It’s an obvious antidote to fatigue.It can make you feel more energetic, improving your strength and resiliency.

It has been shown that individuals who are more physically fit often experience fewer health troubles.In addition,exercisers are less likely to suffer from psychological problems such as depression, binge eating, or insomnia.

Without exercise, you are increasing the likelihood that you will be afflicted with colds, flu, or other medical problems.Aerobic exercise in particular can improve your cardiovascular system and decrease your anxiety level.

Some studies have shown that, during aerobic exercise, a chemical is produced in the brain which helps to heal the body from stress-related conditions. You should exercise at least three days a week for 30 minutes at a time in order to improve not only your health but your mental outlook.

If you find it difficult to become motivated to exercise, there are a number of steps you can take.To begin with, you can join an exercise club.Knowing that you’ll have to pay dues to a gym may make it more likely that you will actually end up exercising.You might also consider enlisting the aid of a personal trainer.