Supercharge Your Workouts to Pump Up Your Mind, Body, & Spirit with Every Rep

Affirmations are powerful. Knowing this, many of us have at one time or another placed a stickie in the mirror with an affirmation or written affirmations into our journal to counter negative or unproductive thoughts, motivate ourselves, support positive change in our lives, or boost our confidence and self-worth.

What are affirmations? Affirmations are statements that we repeat to ourselves to help us affirm a new and more positive way of how we think about ourselves.

The practice of using affirmations is based on self-affirmation theory. Self-affirmation theory is based on the ideas that we are motivated to maintain our self-worth in the face of threats (Sherman & Cohen, 2006 via Psychology Today) Those threats can come in the form of our own thoughts, negative comments from others, or challenging experiences we may encounter.

Studies have shown that positive affirmations work when practiced regularly. The thing is that most of put the stickie in the mirror and repeat the affirmation for a few days and maybe even weeks, and then the stickie falls off or we simply ignore it. We may write a few phrases in our journal when we're feeling down, but we don't make it a practice.

Sound familiar? It does to me.

Supercharge Your Workouts

Incorporating affirmations into your workout is the perfect way to make them a part of your daily or weekly routine while pumping up your mind, body, and spirit. The more challenging the workout, the greater the strength your affirmations will provide to push through that rep.

In addition, integrating your affirmations is a great way to give your confidence a boost, express support for yourself, cheer yourself on, and clear out your head space of any negative self-talk.  

Here's how to get started.

1) Jot down some three to five affirmations

You can use fitness-related affirmations or general affirmations about yourself and your life. For the purpose of incorporating your affirmations into your workout, make them short phrases so you don't forget them and you can stay focused on your workout.

To kick off your affirmations brainstorming, here are some ideas for fitness affirmations:

• I get stronger with every rep.

• I am lean and fit.

• I am healthy and strong.

• I am vibrant and powerful.

• I move with ease.

• I get stronger with every stride.

• My body is strong and healthy.

• My body is at ease.

• I got this.

If you prefer to focus on other affirmations or positive self-talk, you can do that as well.

• I am enough.

• I deserve happiness.

• I love myself.

• I'm proud of what I've achieved.

• I am at peace.

• I am beautiful.

• I am confident.

• I am courageous.

• I show up.

• I will...(fill in the blank).

• I am...(fill in the blank).

On a Personal Note: I incorporate my affirmations into my HIIT workouts and regular runs, and I can tell you that this practice has changed my workout game and improved my well-being. My affirmations help me push through max-capacity reps, push out unproductive thoughts, and nurture my mind and body with loving and self-affirming thoughts. I feel fantastic afterward, re-energized, and cleaned from the inside out. I started this practice after a particularly challenging moment and it helped me re-center myself. I've kept it up since. I encourage you to try it, even if just for a couple of workouts.

2) Understand the proper technique of your movement.

If you're walking or doing movement that isn't technique-based, you can skip this step.

If you're at the gym using weights, in a Pilates or HIIT class, or engaging in any other form-driven workout make sure you understand the correct technique and physical alignment of the movement before starting your affirmations practice. This will mitigate your chance of injury whether you are engaging in an affirmations practice or not.

When unsure of proper form, take the initiative to ask the instructor or trainer for guidance instead of waiting for them to come to you.

3) Start your affirmations practice

Once you have your movement and technique squared away for your chosen movement, start repeating your affirmation with every rep.

Stay focused on the movement and use your affirmation as fuel. At the end of your workout, you'll feel refreshed and energized with a little extra boost in your step, and a regularly pumped up mind, body, and spirit that gets stronger with every rep.