Research has demonstrated that music can affect concentration, endurance, muscle tension, blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing. Music increases positive emotions and lifts spirits by stimulating neurochemical changes associated with healing. Feeling joyful may be triggered by listening to upbeat, fast tempos with simple harmonies and flowing rhythms.
According to the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America, training to music can bring good health, motivation, and harmony. Several studies have demonstrated the benefits of training to music. A treadmill study at Ohio State confirmed that exercisers felt less perceived exertion when they jogged to music. Another investigation reported in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness showed that music makes exercise seem less difficult, allowing the participant to continue longer.
Tips on Music Selection
1. Use music that makes you feel confident, calm, energetic, and relaxed.
2. Use your music regularly to summon feelings that you need during training.
3. Make a tape and keep a tape player around during your training.
4. When you feel strong and confident from listening to your music selections, visualize yourself as energetic and unstoppable. About sixty percent of those who begin training quit within the first six months. The most common excuse is boredom. Exercise is boring for some, but not for the disciplined. Although the bored and the disciplined train at the same place and at the same time they are opposite. Energy level, motivation, and intensity are obviously dissimilar. Bored individuals are mindlessly pounding the pavement; their disciplined counterparts are building an imaginary house brick-by-brick. Casual exercisers slack off at the first sign of discomfort; disciplined trainers begin at this point. The bored train the least. The disciplined focus. They are rarely bored. If everyone were disciplined, all would be in great shape.Exercise is half your training. The other half is mental and spiritual. Tap into your goals. Minute to minute, day to day, month to month, and year to year goals are reached, and new ones sought. Whether preparing for competition, improving health, getting fitter, or staying calmer, no two workouts are alike because each fulfills a different promise of perfection.
Tips on Improving Discipline
1. Train daily with a clear, uncluttered mind.
2. Spend a few moments in goal directed relaxation or prayer.
3. Visualize your ideal self.
4. Look forward to a slight bit of discomfort.
5. Set goals for your training such as becoming faster, healthier, or stronger.
6. Evaluate whether you reach a goal, then set a new one.
7. Practice zeroing in on your goals.
8. Visualize your goals and the training required to reach them. Ancient wisdom suggests to live in moderation. But too much moderation leads to mediocrity. Be adventurous. Make a wish list of long term fitness goals: Lose twenty pounds, win a golf tournament, complete a three mile race. Break these into smaller and easier to handle segments: Lose two pounds a week, take a lesson from a golf pro, walk a mile. Focus on arriving at each intermediate destination. Don't immerse yourself in the final goal until you are well on your way. By breaking down the ultimate challenge into manageable parts, you will enjoy incredible stamina one day at a time.
