Beginner's Fitness Programs

I know it is hard to maintain a healthy diet. I wish I had more willpower, but since I don’t, I will eat another slice of cheesecake…

How long can willpower keep you going? Most people think that willpower is a limited resource; if you use it up, the only way to restore it is to physically rest (which takes you away from whatever you were doing). According to researchers at Stanford University, it is all in your head. They gave a task to two groups of students. One group was lectured that willpower is a limited resource, and the other was lectured that willpower is something you can control. For a given difficult task, the latter did far better than the former. This means that everyone can have an unlimited amount of willpower, but how?

One way to utilize this idea is with “self-deception”. (Although self-deception could lead to total distortion of reality), used wisely, it is a great help to keep you motivated and strong, according to a recently-published study. For example, even if you are not good at running, if you believe you are a good runner, you can motivate yourself to keep running and eventually be that good runner. How do you deceive yourself into believing? It is actually not difficult. Our body and mind are very closely connected. That is why willpower can bring amazing physical power, such as a grandmother lifting a car when she sees her grandson trapped underneath it.

In addition, if you physically pretend to be strong, you will be. First, stand tall and look up slightly. Open your chest, and pretend you are Wonder Woman. Breathe deeply, with strength, and smile. Don’t you feel strong and mighty, with infinite willpower?

Another trick is to make goals achievable and feel good by accomplishing them. For example, a goal of losing 25 pounds is too vague for most of people, and won’t be motivating long-term. Many people, especially in the US, prefer quick results. So what you need to do is to make a series of smaller goals, each of which is achievable within a week or two. In our example, you may want to set the first week’s goal to reduce 1/3 of sweets from snacks. When you achieve this goal, congratulate yourself, and give yourself a big “A” in your log book. The second week, replace another 1/3 of snacks with fruits, the third week, add an extra 15 minutes of walking every day, etc. It is very important to make each goal achievable. Each time you accomplish one, you will feel good about yourself, strengthen your willpower, and later when you encounter difficulties, the combination of willpower and momentum created by a series of successes will help you overcome obstacles.

By the way, there is a quick way to strengthen willpower, when it starts to slip. Tighten your muscles! A study done at the University of Chicago found that if people tighten hand, finger, calf, bicep, or any other muscles, they are able to resist temptation much better than people with relaxed muscles. Actually, we already know this, and do it unconsciously. Now you can use this technique consciously when needed. The researchers pointed out, however, that this technique does not help people who do not care about the consequences of the giving in to a temptation. For example, when you are tempted to eat another slice of chocolate cake, if you are health-conscious, tighten your muscles help keep you from eating the cake, but if you are not concerned about the effects of the cake, tightening muscles will not affect your actions at all.

Source:
Ego Depletion—Is It All in Your Head?: Implicit Theories About Willpower Affect Self-Regulation. Psychological Science, 2010
From Firm Muscles to Firm Willpower: Understanding the Role of Embodied Cognition in Self-Regulation. Journal of Consumer Research, 2010
Self-deception as pseudo-rational regulation of belief. Consciousness and Cognition, 2010

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