SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well, guess what, Alex?

SPEAKER_00 0:01

What?

SPEAKER_01 0:02

I can no longer complain about my tiny apartment in San Francisco.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Wow, why is that?

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Because I moved into a bigger apartment in San Francisco. Get this, get this. I actually have a whole extra room that I can use for working out.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Wow. So you have a home gym now?

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Uh not quite there yet, but definitely extra space for a yoga mat and some weights. Like, yeah, I'm coming up in the world here.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

That's amazing. So my big news of the week is I finally found a setting in which I'm not competitive.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

You're kidding.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Yeah. So indoor go-karting.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Indoor. I cannot believe I could I could see you being competitive in that.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

No, uh, my wife and I did it this weekend with the kids, and they went on the junior track and we went on the adult track, which was a bad move because you'd think these people actually think they're in the indie 500. Oh, seriously? Yeah, yeah. It was a rear-end incident. Uh it was bad. Yeah. So uh after like the second lap, I realized I don't care about this. So pass me. Like this is narrow little track. I don't even know how you're supposed to pass. It was, it was just I was not competitive at all. It surprised even me.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Wow, that's amazing. And probably a good life choice, too.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Yeah, exactly. My my wife currently has a minor case of whiplash after the being murdered by one of these hyper competitive people. So there you go. Wow. Welcome to Practically Fit, Real Fitness Over 40. I'm Alex Johnson.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

And I'm Jen Chamberlain.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

And today we're going to talk about some practical ideas for motivating yourself psychologically to achieve your fitness goals.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Yeah, we've talked a lot on this podcast about finding your inner fitness why, your intrinsic motivation. And we believe you should always start there when it comes to achieving your fitness goals. But today we're going to look at some additional ways you can motivate yourself to get back in shape, especially if you're sedentary or thinking about getting back into working out after a long layoff.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

That's right, Jin. We did some research and we have four different concepts around motivation we're going to explore today. And so we'll get into those in a moment. But first, I thought we'd start with something we think you shouldn't do when you're trying to motivate yourself. Absolutely. Yeah, so this is a new trend. It's called fitness wagering, and it's actually what got me thinking about this concept for the podcast. We wanted to cover it today because it seems a bit, shall we say, immoral, and it's starting to gain traction. So I first came across this the other day when I was uh watching a basketball game, and I see an ad pop on for something called healthwage.com.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Okay. Hmm. Wagering immoral. I I gotta hear more about this.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yeah, you know, I'm not I'm not against gambling, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

But on this TV commercial, it was endorsed by a major fitness personality, Gillian Michaels, of the Biggest Loser fame. Yeah. And I don't think we want to spend time today talking about how toxic and how unhealthy the biggest loser is. But let's just say it goes against our fitness fundamentals here at Practically Fit. And, you know, honestly, given Gillian Michaels' approach to fitness and weight loss in that show, I thought, okay, once I started to look into this, her endorsing this app and this website makes total sense. Um, so there's a number of these health wagering apps that promote the idea that a financial incentive can help you lose weight. And at its core, this is based on research that's out there. It's an interesting idea, right? Um and in fact, healthy wage, for example, there's a few of these sites, but this was the one I saw on TV. Cites a Journal of American Medicine study that found, quote, the use of economic incentives produced significant weight loss during the 16 weeks of innervision that was not fully sustained. So they're they're saying that this is the way to go in terms of losing weight. You make a wager with yourself. Uh, you you assess yourself a financial penalty in a sense. Uh in practice, though, I'd compare this using this service to the idea of going to a casino. Um, if you're familiar with gambling, if a company is promising you the chance to win based on a betting style system, I think one might want to assume that the house always wins, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah, that's right. Absolutely. We found a great article by Olga Lexel over on a website called The Outline that was titled Weight Loss Wagering Apps Are a Game You Can't Win. Exactly to your point, Alex. It explains how these apps work. Basically, at the beginning of your wager, you make a bet on the amount of weight you lose in a certain time frame. And then you literally give the app your money. You only get your money back if you meet your goal. You can win additional money if you lose weight over your goal, or through pots of money where the winnings are distributed evenly through members of the pot. So this is a high-level explanation of how it works. There's various parameters like height and weight that play into how much you can win. But the basic problem here, as cited in the outline article, is that studies show 95% of diet's weight loss attempts won't work. So you can see how this would be a lucrative business for companies running these apps. There's telling truth in this passage from the article. If you're thinking about using one of these, um, it's a must-read the article that is. I'll quote from it. One of the most controversial aspects of apps like Healthy Wage is that they have a strict no refund policy. Part of our job is to prevent you from giving up, so you can't quit, the company claims on its FAQ section. Scrolling through the online reviews, it's clear why this is an unfair system. One user writes in a Better Business Bureau complaint that Healthy Wage wouldn't give them a refund even after they were diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease that causes hormonal fluctuations and weight gain. Others report having to quit their bets after realizing they were engaging in unhealthy behavior to try and meet their goals. Almost every plea receives the same reply from Healthy Wage, reminding them that the no refund policy is clearly stated. And of course, Healthy Wage can't offer refunds. People who lose the challenges are the ones who keep the lights on. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Yeah, it's a really telling passage from that article. And again, if you're considering using one of these wagering systems for losing weight, I would recommend you go read this article because I agree with the opinion espoused in the article 100%. The house always wins.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah, not just that, but I was really concerned by uh the person who said they were engaging in unhealthy behaviors. I watched another uh news program over the weekend uh where a young um teenager had this uh got into something similar. It wasn't exactly wagering, but it was one of these um sort of TikTok fueled memes where it showed young women on these like very, very restrictive low-calorie diets, like 300 calories a day. And they talked about, you know, like having water for lunch and things like that. And um, it was just, you know, seeing those images over and over again really influenced her to engage in unhealthy behavior. So there's so much of this out there, so much of this toxicity, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, it just like I said, I I'm rarely one to be calling out things as immoral, but this definitely seems like from a business perspective, pretty immoral. So that's what kind of sparked the idea for this podcast today, and we wanted to share our thoughts around that. And yeah, just guaranteed to print money for these companies. But as I said, beneath the surface, there's an interesting idea here. And I thought we could cover that as a to today as a part of our practical tips for motivating yourself to achieve your fitness goals. So let's dive in. We've got four concepts we think can help motivate you if you haven't worked out before or if you're trying to break out of a fitness funk. We think these are all great concepts for people over 40 as well. So let's start with the tie-in to that healthy wagering. Our first concept is creating a fitness contract with yourself. So, again, this seems similar to what these health wagering companies are doing, but much less toxic in our opinion. Uh and there's a there's a lower chance that you'll simply blow your money. Uh, it's really a more positive way of thinking about betting on yourself and actually incentivizing yourself instead of paying a monetary penalty, you could incentivize yourself, for example, on the back end of completing a challenge.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Uh and this comes from the world of economics, behavioral economics. We found a working paper published by a group of economists through the National Bureau of Economic Research titled Committing to Exercise: Contract Design for Virtuous Habit Formation. Uh, and so these economists constructed a study that looked to see if they could use economic concepts to nudge people to longer fitness contracts. Now, I will say one thing I didn't like about this study was that it did include the financial penalties, similar to the healthy wagering concept as part of the contract, which again I think is sort of a negative thing, meaning you lose money if you don't work out a certain number of times a week. Uh, but the study did find that they could nudge people into longer contract periods, which was really the meaningful finding to me from this study, Financial Penalties aside. Um, the study noted, quote, commitment contracts are low-cost, voluntary means of linking future behavior, which would be difficult to sustain otherwise, to present intentions. Successful application of commitment contracts to exercise for individuals who find it hard to form exercise habits is an important addition to the range of tools available to improve health outcomes. So that led me to think: well, how do we turn this into a more positive concept? How do we uh get rid of this financial penalty aspect and flip it to something that's more healthy psychologically? And um actually, just in Googling around, I found something that was really great. And our friend Travis is going to love this because Kansas State University had the answer for us. Uh it just came up in a random Google search as I was uh researching fitness contracts. There's an example of a really positive fitness contract on KSU's website. Uh, and maybe we'll throw the link in the the podcast description, we'll make which will make Travis really happy. Uh but let me describe this contract to you.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Yeah, basically what this look like, basically.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Yeah, so at the top, you fill in your name and you commit to, quote, a healthy and active lifestyle. Uh, I really like the top, the statement at the top. It says, I realize that I will experience various live events which will conflict with my exercise schedule, which we all experience, right? We've had that the past couple of weeks. However, I pledge to do my best to stick to my plan. So kind of a really positive opener for the contract. And the example that's on this contract is walking 30 minutes five times a week. Great beginner fitness goal uh for any age group. Uh, and you know, it gives you can put your time frame in there. Um, so I don't know what the exact time frame was on this one, but you could do it for say three months. And then you say, if if I walk, you get you put your reward in. So this is where you flip this idea of a penalty on its head and you make it an incentive. This person said if they walk 30 minutes five times a week for the next three months, for example, then they get to buy a new pair of athletic shoes.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

And who doesn't love a new pair of athletic shoes? I know. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

So they incentivize themselves with shopping, which is awesome. Uh, it's external motivation, but I thought it was a really positive way to think about this. So, and then they talk about the activities that will support the goal. So, scheduling exercise sessions on the calendar, walking with their family twice per week, wearing a pedometer or uh a fitness tracker daily. A bit this form might be a bit outdated if it's talking about pedometers, but still great concept. Uh setting clothes and shoes out in the evening uh for morning walks, which is yeah, that's a great thing to do. And tracking their completed sessions on some sort of activity log or you know, fitness app or whatever. Then they list the barriers that could get in the way of fulfilling their contract. Like if it rains outside, what will you do? Well, you'll go use the treadmill at work during lunch. If you have a really busy day, try to pack in three 10-minute walks somewhere throughout the course of the day, split it up. If you're on a business trip, you take your old athletic shoes because you haven't gotten your new ones yet, and walk first thing in the morning. And I really love this phrase. This contract will be evaluated every Sunday and adapted if necessary.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

It's nice.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Yeah, it fits into our whole concept of assessing your fitness goals and adjusting based on reality. So the other really cool thing about this contract um is that it's signed by both the participant and a witness. So I think that could be a really great fitness friend who is signing the contract with you and being your accountability partner. So I thought this was an awesome contract. Jen, what do you think of this concept?

SPEAKER_01 13:07

I love this so much. Actually, uh, when we were doing research for this podcast, I was so motivated by this myself that I'm gonna do something similar. And I'm gonna combine it with another idea I had. Um, you know, there's this concept of in business of sprints where you work for a set period of time to achieve a very concentrated goal. Right. So I've decided I'm gonna go on a fitness sprint uh starting now through the next six weeks, and uh, I'm gonna use a contract like this, like to kind of set it out. And I love the fact that it um sets out some of the barriers and how to overcome them. Um it's just I think it's just a really great concept.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Yeah, way to go, Kansas State. And Jin, it sounds like you're combining the fitness contract with agile project management. Oh, yeah, that's that for everyone in business that might resonate with some votes.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yeah, of course. So expect to see my contract coming your way for signing for signature uh soon. But the other thing, other thing I wanted to say is a lot of the concepts that are in this uh contract idea are also um kind of drawn from behavioral therapy. And I wrote a blog post about this that talked about some of the fitness apps that are out there. You know, I think there's good and bad to fitness apps. You can become kind of obsessive around tracking everything. But some of the best parts of them, I think, are the elements that are drawn, drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy. And a lot of that has to do with positive reinforcement, with the idea of self-efficacy, which is the the belief in yourself that you can make these changes. Um, so I love, you know, I think that is really one of the strongest keys to motivation is positivity.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Yeah, absolutely. And I look forward to you writing about how your fitness contract experience goes. That sounds like we're gonna have that story coming in the future.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

I'll share it with the blog too. Uh so let's talk about our second concept. And the second one is sharing your progress, which incidentally I kind of touched on that in the last blog post too. But I have to say, Alex, this one goes against your rule about gym selfies.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Yeah, but so I think it gets to the intent behind the gym selfie. Let's keep let's keep talking about it. All right.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

So we found a 2013 study from the University of South Carolina titled Weight Loss Social Support in 140 Characters or Less. Use of an online social network in remotely delivered weight loss intervention. Love a clever research study title.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yeah, and this really takes you back because the whole 140 character thing and Twitter was like, that feels like an eternity ago on.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

It so does. It so does. But anyway, at a high level, this study found that people who use Twitter, Twitter again, to share updates about their fitness progress and workouts were more likely to lose weight over the time period of the study. So this would support the notion that social sharing around your fitness routine, including gym selfies, Alex, would track positively with achieving your fitness goals.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah, that that's what I took away from the study. So I, you know, again, it's an external motivator, but I kind of had to rethink my stance on gym selfies after I read this study.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yeah. Uh and it, you know, I wrote about this on the blog, but it took me back way back in time to when I first um, my first running tracker was an actual little physical thing, like chip that you put in your shoe. And you could get shoes that were specially designed for it, or you can just buy a cheap like little pouch to put it and tie it into your shoelaces. This is like, you know, way back in the early days of tracking. So I had it set to where all of my runs would upload to my Facebook account. This all is like so dating me. But anyway, you know, it was really motivating, especially because I was a new runner at the time. And when people would comment on um on my runs, it you know, it felt really good and kept me going. Eventually, I pulled some of my friends and found it was also kind of annoying. So I cut back on that a little bit, but I can really see, you know, how sharing your progress can be a motivating factor.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Yeah, and I think if you read the study, one of the things that was decided was the social aspect of it and people who are sort of in the challenge together and they're sharing progress with each other, which motivated them. So I think that's a really important part of the concept here. And so then you start to think, okay, that was Twitter in 2013, but now we have all these different fitness apps like Strava and Garmin Connect. So, really, like Strava, for example, would be to me the place you would do this today, or one of these other fitness apps, as opposed to like Facebook or Twitter, uh, or even TikTok. There's again, there's a very positive fitness community on TikTok. So it's just interesting to think how this has evolved since 2013. They were really on to something with the concept. Uh, maybe Elon Musk needs to look at the fitness functionality on Twitter. So he wants it to do everything. He wants it to be like the American version of the Chinese app WeChat. So, Elon, you might have a winner there on the fitness front. Go back and read this 2013 study.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Yeah, it'd be way better than a lot of what's out there on Twitter right now. I can tell you that. Yeah, it's so good. But uh yeah, I think also when you're talking about Strava, then you have a more targeted audience, right? Because it's other Strava users versus when I was just, you know, spamming my entire Facebook uh feed with my fitness stuff. People who are on Strava are generally going to be interested. So it makes more sense to be targeted that way. So I think it's a good evolution.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yeah, and something cool about Strava is you you just like naturally end up. So I my Zwift is connected with my Strava. And because people on Zwift are all around the world and it automatically detects when you ride with them on Strava, like I end up getting followers from all around the world.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Uh, and following back. And it's really cool because you see people that you have you don't know them at all, and they're posting pictures and rides and runs and walks. Like there's somebody in England and someone in Germany, and someone in Korea, and someone in Kyrgyzstan. I like it's really amazing to see people all around the world enjoying fitness. So I think that's a really cool aspect of some of these uh sharing apps as well.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Yeah, absolutely. So let's move on to our third concept, and this is focusing on positive self-talk. And this is something I have quite a bit of experience with. Actually, I have the most experience with negative self-talk, but it's something I've been working on for quite some time. And um, I actually, you know, uh talked about this a little bit too on the blog. But on the surface, it might seem like being hard on yourself will lead to better results. And in the back of my mind, I always think, you know, I should really be hard on myself because then it'll motivate me. In fact, it's incredibly unmotivating. It has the opposite effect. But on the other hand, I found this article from the Mayo Clinic that outlines the benefits of positive self-talk. So just listen to this. Some of the benefits, health benefits that positive thinking that's conveyed through positive self-talk could include increased lifespan, lower levels of depression, lower levels of distress, greater resistance to the common cold, better physiological and um better psychological and physical well-being, better cardiovascular health, and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and better coping skills during hardship and times of distress. Isn't that pretty amazing?

SPEAKER_00 20:19

It is. It's really amazing what they've linked to positive self-talk.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah, pretty incredible. So they they weren't really uh clear as to, you know, why the specific reason why people who engage in positive thinking or positive self-talk experience this. But one theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body. So I want to give some practical tips for reframing self-talk from negative to the positive. Um, and these are things that have worked for me that I've also, you know, read research on. One is you have to first recognize your inner critic. So this voice that's constantly telling you negative things. You can even have a dialogue with this critic and say, you know, that's interesting that you frame it that way. You know, what it what's the thinking behind it? So that's that's step one is recognizing it. And then one of my favorite uh tricks is to think about what I would say to a friend. So if I'm saying in my head something like, wow, you're such a loser for not working out today, you know, would I say that to you, Alex, or anybody else? No, of course not. Of course I wouldn't. So that's been one of my most useful trick tricks is to uh think about how you talk to a friend or even an enemy I wouldn't talk to as that, you know, badly. And then um the third one is you can identify a mantra. You know, I don't know, for some people this might feel cheesy, but for me it helps. And it could be something like I'm doing the best that I can, or I'll keep working on this. Or one of my favorites is live and learn. So, you know, when I didn't get to that workout because of XYZ, I'm like, well, you know, next time I'll I'll have a different strategy for doing it.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Yeah, and you can even incorporate the mantra into meditation. If you do that. The other one on the negative self-talk, I feel, is like the spiraling thoughts, the rumination, like we've talked about before. And so you can really derail those thoughts early if you if you are mindful and recognize that you're getting into it. And a really easy one for me is like, here I go again. What am I like? I just stop myself because you always go to these ridiculous worst-case scenarios. It's like, I feel I feel a little ache. Oh, it must be a life-ending tumor. And then you start thinking about so it's it's like getting yourself out of these patterns, as you say, uh, can have a really big impact on the negative self-talk. Yeah, absolutely. So, so Jen, how do we sort of translate this into a practical tip for people that they can use as they're actually working out?

SPEAKER_01 22:52

So we found some tips in a Well Plus Good article from a clinical health and performance psychologist named Leah Lagos. She's the author of Heart, Breath, Mind. And she talks about not only reframing your thoughts from negative to positive, but she also says, quote, on a physiological level, negative self-talk can raise your heart rate, cause perspiration, and increase muscle muscle tension. It's one of the most toxic things we can do.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Yeah, and I will add to that. How many times have you done some negative self-talk? This probably happens to me, I'll say once a month or even every few weeks, where you're doing a workout and you start to get into that negative mind frame of like, I can't for whatever reason, it it's probably usually a day when you're already tired, you know, if you've had a long day at work, and you just say, Oh, you know, if it's a strength workout, I I can't do any more reps. I feel really tired. Or if you're doing a bike ride or for a run, you're like, I can't, I can't go any further. And what happens the moment that you start to do that?

SPEAKER_01 23:58

You can't go any further. I've had this happen. Yeah, you give up. I had this happen so many times, particularly in the early days of running. You know, if I was feeling sluggish or tired, I'd be like, wow, like your your pace is so bad right now, you know, all of this in my head. And it actually, it literally makes the workout harder. It actually makes you uh work harder, which is what this article was saying. So it's such a self-defeating strategy, right? So, how do you reframe the positive self-talk while you're working out? It can be just a little tweak. So instead of saying, I'm going so slow, something I always say to myself, think this is a great pace, or this is a great pace for today, or this is where I am right now. Uh, instead of saying I won't make it, think you've got this. You only got a quarter mile to go, you got out here and did this, you know. So, like little things like that can really make a difference, not only in um in how you feel, but also like your motivation to continue.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah, I love the this is where I am right now. Like that's another one I've seen even with yoga where it's like, well, this pose isn't as strong as it would have been certain days, right? Or like I can't get as deep into a stretch or a pose. Like this is my body today. So exactly. I think that those are great ways to reframe when you're working out. I always try to like with the running in particular, I have this weird, it's it's not necessarily self-talk, but it's like this visualization I do where like if I feel like I'm starting to lag on my pace or if uh I'm getting tired, I like visualize a jet engine spinning back up. Like if you're ever sitting by the wing on the plane and you see the engine or you hear the engine spin up, it's a really um uh unique sound. So I I think of that, that like engine spinning, and that always helps me, you know, keep going. Uh that's kind of cool. Yeah, I think it's kind of that's that's not necessarily self-talk, but it's the same kind of concept, this positive way of thinking. Uh, so that was a great one. Let's talk about our fourth and final concept of the day to help motivate you psychologically. And this is another one that you can use while working out, and it's a really simple one. It's probably something a lot of us already do, but I'm not sure we always think about why we're doing it. So uh I wanted to talk more about today because it's a really fascinating subject, and that's using music to motivate yourself. So yeah, have you ever noticed before a big sports game when they show the footage in the locker room, or even if you go to a basketball game, um, if you've if you've ever been to like an NBA game, uh it's not even in the locker room. A lot of the NBA players will actually have headphones on on the court. Now, granted, the they'll be blasting music in the arena, right? Right. But um you'll notice that that you know, serious elite athletes like to listen to music and like to listen to their own music before games. And there is a reason for this. Um, there's been a lot of research done on how music can motivate people. So we found some great research from the American Council on exercise, on the impact of music on exercise. And they say you can track the use of music to motivate performance all the way back to Roman galleys on ships. Oh, wow. So so these drummers, you ever seen the drummers drumming to get the rowers in sync on these big warships? Right. So, according to Costus Kara Georges from London's Brunei School of Sport and Education, he's quoted in this article uh about this research. He says, quote, music is like a legal drug for athletes. It can reduce the perception of effort significantly and increase endurance by as much as 15%.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Wow. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Amazing. And so how does this work? Number one, just like these poor, those poor Roman rowers, you tend to get your exercise tempo in line with the tempo in the music, right? I mean, we've we've all experienced this when we're doing a workout and we listen to music. Uh the second way this works is that music tends to increase arousal, the desire to move. That's why we want to dance. Well, some of us, I don't personally really want to dance, but actually I do just not when people are watching. Because I'm a terrible dancer. But uh instead of dancing, you go for a run, right? If you listen to some music. Uh and the the third way this works is that it actually distracts you from music, can distract you from the discomfort of the exercise. Uh so this all makes sense to me and it explains to me why if I listen to Little John before I lift weights or box, I have a much better performance.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Yeah, they always play like really upbeat music in the boxing gym, too. So I'm sure that's one of the reasons behind it, you know. Um, and definitely I I think the distraction is a big, a big part of it as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Yeah. So if you're going for a run, for example, you should pick music that matches up with the tempo that you want to run with. If you're going for a slow run, I don't recommend hardcore techno, for example. But you know, you really want to match that pace. Also, you know, I was thinking about this. I I love the idea of music, but I don't think that listening to music while cycling outdoors is very safe, just saying like pro so we would not advise you to be listening to music while you're riding a bike outdoors. Uh and also I just want to I just want to pet peeve this. For for runners who are listening to music on multi-use bike paths or even people walking, like can you please be aware of your surroundings? I don't know how many times I've been on a bike on these multi-use paths, and people just like veer into my path dangerously because they have headphones on. So that's I think the downside uh to this. But uh otherwise it's a great, it's a great way to motivate yourself uh and to in terms of uh your exercise.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Yeah, maybe better for the gym than running. You the trails here are very um packed, multi-use trails too. So I don't think it's the safest for outdoor running here, but at the gym, like always have to have the music on, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Or your home gym, you can just blast it.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

I just blast it in my garage. So speaking of gym, what are your favorite workout songs?

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Oh, that's a good question. I like um I think my favorite workout artist is the Foo Fighters. I like to put just a mix of them on. But I was for a while, I was really obsessed with this concept. Um, so supposedly for running 140 beats per minute, it's like uh the perfect cadence. So I was looking for specific songs that had that to put into a playlist, and uh, oh no, it got a little repetitive. So now I just listen to upbeat things that I like, you know.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

And you can find those playlists on Apple or Spotify. Uh I've seen the specific beats per minute for running, so that's kind of a cool idea if people hadn't hadn't thought of it. Um yeah, I like a lot of different uh it would be hard for me to pick a favorite song. Uh I think we both know my my my running race pump out pump up song, which no one except for me seems to understand, but I just think it like sets the mood perfectly, which is uh In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins, because it like starts out really slow and then like you have to time it. You time the song perfectly to where right when the beat drops, the race starts, and you just boom out of the you know when it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

I don't know, Alex. I Phil Collins, I just don't, he's not a top candidate for pump-up music for me. But at least at least you didn't pick Susudio. That's all I get to say.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Yeah, that wouldn't worry. Uh no, I that's just that is just specific to races for whatever reason. It gets me really, but like I like pretty intense or upbeat music, like hip-hop or um like rock, metal, all kinds, you know, typical guy stuff from the 1990s. That's probably my best pump up. Jock jams, remember that? That was good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

Oh my gosh, no.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

So, Jen, that th that kind of wraps it up on our four concepts. Uh, what did we learn today?

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Yeah, I just want to kind of recap because we talked about a lot today, but I think the key takeaways are create a fitness contract with yourself. I'm gonna be working on mine tonight. Um, share your progress and practice positive self-talk and listen to music to motivate yourself. Four easy tips for motivating yourself when you might be lacking motivation or trying to get back into fitness.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

Yeah, we thought these were really cool concepts. Again, for your long-term fitness success, we think that you should look to your intrinsic motivation and really finding your fitness why. But um, yeah, if you've hit a hit a rough patch where you're feeling a little unmotivated, these are the types of things that could get you going again. Or again, get you started, especially the contract idea, uh, which I love. So would love to hear people take this idea on and try it out and what their experience is with it. But until next week, that's gonna wrap it up. As always, please go out to practically. Check out our newsletter, great content into your inbox every week. Uh, and you can also comment on the podcast there, and we'd love it if you'd if you'd share the podcast with others, or please rate us on your uh platform of choice. We really like ratings on Apple Podcasts. But uh, that's gonna wrap it up for this week. Until next week, remember.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Fitness is for everybody.