Gold Medal Mindset: 4 Ways to Achieve Any Fitness Goal

You’ve resolved to get bigger, stronger, faster—or maybe you just want to score an extra 5000 steps. But pushing out reps or logging miles isn’t always the most efficient way to achieve super-heroic muscles and speed. Here are four mental tricks to help you reach your fitness goals, when your physical prowess can only take you so far.

The Goal: Bust Fitness Plateaus
The Game Plan: Focus on the Process

“A goal with a specific number can act as a ceiling that blocks progress,” says United States Olympic Committee (USOC) senior sports psychologist Sean McCann, Ph.D. “Switch to a process goal such as excellent technique.” The extra focus on your form can help you train more efficiently to get more out of your muscles, to improve your results over time. The same goes for speed: Focusing on time takes your head out of the game. “Instead of setting a time for a 400-meter swim, for example, focus on keeping your hands and arms relaxed, and your turnover high,” McCann says. You’ll then achieve greater speed and endurance, because you’ll actually get the job done—better.

The Goal: Increase Strength
The Game Plan: Train with Someone Better

“Exercise with friends who are much stronger than you, because it boosts your expectations,” says San Francisco-based CrossFit instructor and chiropractic sports medicine specialist Anthony Gustin, DC, MS, CSCS. “It’s partly why CrossFit is so popular. You’ll not only be motivated by what’s possible, but when you surround yourself with others who have succeeded in accomplishing goals above yours, your expectations automatically rise to their standards. You can then work until you meet those standards.”

The Goal: Track More Steps (and Miles)
The Game Plan: Go with the Flow

“Getting into a meditative state when you walk or run can help you enjoy the moment so you can keep training,” says ironman athlete and sports physiologist Tom Holland, author of Beat the Gym. “You’ll hear birds, your footfalls, and can take in the smell of the grass, and feel the sun on your face.”

If that doesn’t do it for you, Holland suggests counting foot strikes. “Pick a number: 10, 20, 100, and start over when you reach the chosen number. This will help keep you focused, and put you into a meditative state,” he says.

You can also talk to yourself. “I have a library of mental mantras I repeat over and over in my head,” Holland says. “Some are song lyrics, some are made up: ‘As the race gets longer, I get stronger.’ ‘Let it flow, let yourself go, slow and low—that is the tempo.’”

The Goal: Motivation to Exercise
The Game Plan: Create Habits

“The only guarantee for long-lasting fitness behavior (like regular workouts, or getting your daily steps in) is to develop habits that maintain the behavior without any conscious effort,” McCann says. “Otherwise, the deadline, meeting—anything else, can win. Avoid hard choices by developing a workout habit you can do with as little thought as brushing your teeth.”

Holland suggests pre-prep to help make habits easier to adapt: “If I don’t put out everything I’ll need to train in the morning, for example, I will sleep in,” Holland says. “Lay out your clothes, tracker, and supplements. I even put my oatmeal in a bowl the night before, so it’s ready to be microwaved. The mind seems to accept getting up early much more easily when you do as much pre-production as possible.”