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Cardio to the next level: follow these simple strategies to take your mind off all that aerobic effort

Men's Fitness, Jan, 2003 by Frank Claps

Runner's high? You mean those feelings of unbridled bliss, unending joy and maybe a touch of nirvana that help you transcend the daily 30 minutes of painful pounding of the pavement or treadmill? Fuggedaboudit.

Even around the MEN'S FITNESS office, it's a rare man who gets his jollies from extended torture sessions benignly known as cardiovascular workouts. "A lot of cardiovascular activities are very repetitive," says Suzie Tuffey Riewald, Ph.D., associate director of coaching for the U.S. Olympic Committee. "And with such exercises as running or biking, people experience some discomfort, and they experience it for quite a long time."

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What's more, because the rewards of cardio are not immediate, it can be difficult to keep them in focus, says Marc Sagal, a former professional soccer player and managing partner of The Winning Mind, a San Diego-based performance-consulting firm that counts several professional sports teams among its clientele. "You don't get fit or lose weight right away. And unlike weight training, where you can feel a good `pump' or imagine you are getting stronger or looking better, cardio exercise can be difficult to get immediate satisfaction from."

HOW TO STAY SANE DURING CARDIO

Since cardio sessions do provide plentiful rewards--including better health, fat loss, increased stamina, and a confidence-building sense of accomplishment--you need to find ways of making your aerobic experience more palatable. Some are obvious, such as playing sports, using a CD or MP3 player, exercising in front of a television, finding a companion or group to work out with, or varying your activities and locations. But beyond that, exercise psychologists have found that mental strategies known as "dissociative" techniques make the time you spend doing cardio go by more quickly.

"The key is to draw your attention away from the pain, the fatigue, and the mundane nature of the task," explains Jeffrey A. Katula, Ph.D., director of the behavioral health and fitness laboratory at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Here are some particularly useful ways to take your mind off the work involved in your workout:

1. Plan your life. Well, maybe not entirely, but use the time to plan what you might do today, tomorrow or over the weekend. "Make a `To Do' list of what you're going to do for that day or the next," suggests Olympic coach Riewald. Many businessmen use their morning exercise sessions for just that purpose.

2. Solve a problem. Something bugging you at work or at home? There's no better time to weigh all the options than during a run or ride. "I sometimes write whole lectures in my head while I run," says Katula. If you aren't exercising quite that long, you can at least compose a few e-mails.

3. Develop daily fitness goals. "Identify the reason you're out here doing cardio," says Riewald. "Be specific about what you're trying to accomplish on that given day. It can be the pace or heart rate you want to maintain, the level you want to ride on the bike--anything to give you a clear reason for doing this today and doing it with a purpose instead of just going through the motions." You can also focus on the amount of extra calories you'll burn both during and after a metabolism-stoking workout.

4. Set short- or long-term fitness goals. Sagal advocates having milestones or yardsticks by which you can measure your success--for instance, an increase in distance of speed you want to reach within the next month, and another within the next year. Or the amount of calories you plan to burn during the next week, two weeks, two months and so on, until you reach your target body-fat count. (Note: A pound of loss is equal to 3,500 calories.)

5. Get positive. "If every day I go out for my run and the last thing I think of is, `I hate this,' it's certainly going to make for a long 30 minutes," says Riewald. "Instead, focus on how it's helping you control your weight, or all the health benefits you're getting." Or that you're extending your life by improving your immune function and ability to handle day-to-day stressors, such as that long drive to work.

6. Become environmentally aware. You probably pay attention to your surroundings when you're running through a park of on a beautiful country road, but there's plenty to keep an eye on even if you traverse the same urban jungle every day. Be aware of which stores are more or less crowded, the progress on a construction site, or different people that cross your path. This can be similar to a "mindful walking" meditation, in which a person focuses intently, assessing every detail of the passing environment--a practice that is thought to improve focus in every area of life.

7. Vary the intensity of your workout. "Try using a 1-to-10 scale to rate the intensity of your exercise," offers Sagal. "Work at 3 or 4 for a minute, then 7 or 8 for a minute. Even this very simple kind of variation can make a big difference."

Cardio to the next level: follow these simple strategies to take your mind off all that aerobic effort

Men's Fitness, Jan, 2003 by Frank Claps

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