We hosted a workshop for Yorkshire Wellness Events where we explored the importance of your Performance Cycle. By this we mean the full process of your exercise or activity - the before, the during, and the after.
It was clear in the workshop that there are many barriers to sticking to exercise or sports we love, let alone thinking about 'performance cycles’.
Time, guilt, family responsibilities, injury, and lack of confidence were some of the main culprits that made it feel impossible to prioritise fitness. And understandably so!
On the whole, when it came to physical activity most people take the approach of turn up, do it, and move onto the next thing in their day. Feeling almost as if the most logical thing is to make it seem to take up less space and time in your life, both mentally and physically.
But our idea is simple, if you can spend a LITTLE bit of time giving it some more attention, you’re more likely to keep doing it, and enjoying it.
Rather than seeing your workout as something to ‘squeeze in’ or ‘get done’ - we suggest seeing it as a ritual.
By this, we mean visualising your upcoming workout, acknowledging your wins, reflecting on your performance, and considering your physical and mental recovery. These are all ways to help you feel more in tune and connected to what you’re doing.
And before you say it, we’ll stop you right there, you really don’t have to spend a lot of time to do it!
Take these three steps:
1. Prepare - visualise what you’re going to do and enjoy (1 minute)
2. Perform - acknowledge how you’re feeling when you’re doing your activity (1 minute)
3. Recover - reflect on one thing that went well, and one thing you’d like to do again or do better (1 minute 30 seconds)
Being aware of our own rituals and habits can help us to stay physically and mentally motivated. It’s an act of self-care and prioritisation!
So it needn’t be a major big deal or take up too much time but it can do loads for your wellbeing, your enjoyment and your motivation.