Leo Babauta: What to think during a workout?

One reader complained to me that it is so boring to run, he was ready to throw it up.

He also asked to offer him what you can think of in the classroom.

Good question: why do that boring? Is not it better, for example, read something funny?

Well, exercise is not only extremely beneficial to health, but also provide an excellent opportunity to concentrate and think.

I'll tell you a little about my experience.

One reader complained to me that it is so boring to run, he was ready to throw it up.

He also asked to offer him what you can think of in the classroom.

Good question: why do that boring? Is not it better, for example, read something funny?

Well, well, exercise is not only extremely beneficial to health, but also provide an excellent opportunity to concentrate and think.

I'll tell you a little about my experience.

When I first took up running in 2005, I led a nearly sedentary lifestyle and could barely stand the five-minute jog. With practice, I could have run five-kilometer distance, and then decided to take part in the marathon (not the best of ideas). A year later I ran my first marathon (breaking a couple of half-marathon and many other races). Then there were two more of the marathon and new races, including a few short triathlons. In the past year, I have overcome ultramarafonskuyu a distance of 80.5 kilometers. Countless hours I have spent the run.

I also do a lot of weights and other exercises. I do like it.

I do not do the music. It's distracting and takes away time that I can spend, thinking about everything in the world.

During long races (over three hours) I was listening to an audiobook. Still, I prefer to do in silence.

Exceptions are training with friends. Talk with nice people bring even more pleasure from exercise. Build body and friendship at the same time - that's fine.

But this does not mean that exercise alone do not bring me pleasure.

That's what I used to meditate:

• Ideas. The best come during training. The movement provides a rush of blood to the brain, I disconnect from distractions and think about everything. I can give advice: carry a smartphone to record some new ideas. I lost a lot of ideas, precisely because there was no place to record. I had to come up with memorizing circuit - I binds every idea to some image. So, coming back home, I have a series of head (pencil, apple and so on. N.). You can then transfer those images back to the idea.
• What worries me. If something turns in the head, it should certainly consider. Usually it is some expectations about situations that do not depend, for example from me, as I want to be perceived by others. I'm not thinking about it.
• Awareness of your body. I like to feel every part of the body at a time, and then try to go further and put into operation the whole body at once.
• Awareness of their thoughts. Sometimes I try to observe how your mind from the outside. Thinking - a unique phenomenon. Such contemplation creates a space between thoughts and action.
• The project, on which work. If I work on some project, during training I mention the important points, or to think about some kind of a daunting task that lay.
• Problems my family. If my family has a problem, I think, how can I help them. I put myself in their shoes to understand what they have to pass, and come up with a solution.
• The lessons that I drew. I often spend my experiments on himself, and while I do the exercises, I think about how things are going, what were the problems, and what lesson I drew from this. Such thoughts often become entries in this blog.
• The nature around and the road in front of me. I like to play in the street, fully experiencing the beauty of nature. It is easy to miss if you are self-absorbed, or listen to music / book. I like to run on the trails or in the city, watching the blossoming of nature, or explore new places while jogging, or exercise in the park. Very much I love to run in the rain or on a sunny day, when the rays seems to envelop everything around, or go out on the morning chill, feeling incredibly steep.
• Dumbbells. Work with weights hard, especially when doing deadlifts or squats. During the training is easy to get lost in their own thoughts and get injured. So I try not to be in the clouds, and focus all your attention lifting weights.
• The nature of things. Sounds pretty abstract, but sometimes I think about the fact that our ego can be an illusion, that we all may be just a drop in the vast ocean of life. More I think about why people suffer, and whether to be afraid of death. Usually this happens when I stumble and tuck the leg.
• I am a happy man. I think all the good things in my life: family, friends, my readers, shelter, food, favorite job, the book of favorite writers, and finally my body, thanks to which I can learn this beautiful world. And all this is so cool, I understand - how to live well!

Write in the comments!

And what do you think while playing sports?