3 Tips for Developing a Tougher Mindset While Working Out

Some workouts are so physically demanding that they require mental toughness to complete, but what if I said you could develop a stronger mindset by walking, doing calisthenics or any other activity?

Depending when you train, you can build physical and mental toughness together with either easy workouts or the most difficult ones. This type of training happens every day, and most people do not realize it. By pushing outside of your comfort zone, you can slowly redefine your physical and mental resilience by making things a little more difficult. In turn, difficult things become easier.

Here is a simple list of how to add mental toughness to your workouts:

The Time of Day

Any workout can be mentally tough, depending on when you place it into your schedule. Waking up earlier than usual requires mental fortitude and discipline. Every time you do it, you gain mental toughness by breaking the comfort bond of a warm bed. Adding a pre-school or pre-work workout to that early wakeup multiplies the mental toughness required to accomplish that task.

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This can be your regular workout, but it is nothing complicated. Doing it in the morning will make it just hard enough to elicit a level of mental toughness. However, consistently repeating the early morning act will soon make it a habit, and you will find a new level of discipline, confidence and mental and physical toughness.

Staying up later to finish a task (work or school) also requires pushing through tiredness. Working out after a long day of work or a night shift is also a challenge. Any workout done when you are least feeling like it, but you do it anyway, is a daily scoop of discipline that builds mental toughness.

Outdoor Workouts in Any Weather

Adding a component of weather to your morning wakeup and workout builds an extra level of toughness. It takes time to acclimate to seasonal temperatures, but you will notice in a few weeks that the cold (or heat/humidity) affects you less mentally and physically. You also learn to dress, fuel, hydrate and prepare for these hot or cold extremes.

Here is a smart way to add heat and cold to your workouts: In the heat of the day, try a short run or ruck for 20-30 minutes, but immediately have a cooling-down source available after the hot/humid event. We usually run in the heat of the day, about 30-40 minutes before our afternoon swim. This helps us to be safe. Ensure you prepare for cooling down, rehydrating and replacing electrolytes after being exposed to the heat.

The same goes for colder workouts. In colder weather, dress warmly and always have a quick place to be reheated (indoors or vehicle). Once again, the workout itself is not creating the mental toughness; the discomfort is helping you develop mental and physical toughness.

Hard Workouts

As you progress with your fitness, you should increase your training level as workouts that crushed you in the past are now your warm-ups. Any increase in intensity, frequency or duration will push your physical capabilities. If you work hard enough, the training becomes more than physical and engages mental toughness to see the workout through to completion.

Be smart, though. There is a fine line between being mentally tough and making poor choices. Being sore and taking it easy for a few days is OK, but pushing yourself to the point of injury that prevents workouts for weeks or months is not worth the effort.

Breaking the comfort of warmth, sleep and effort is the best way to help you push workouts into the mental toughness zone. Doing anything when you do not feel like doing it is also a big piece of the puzzle as well. You can read more about mental toughness and challenging workouts in the Military.com Fitness Section.

Related: Can Service Members Develop Mental Toughness?

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