Catharsis-Based Fitness

ca·thar·sis [kuh-thahr-sis]

  

noun, plural ca·thar·ses [-seez]  

1. the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.

Sometimes we just want to take out our emotions on something, or (unfortunately) on someone. As the definition highlights, many have done it through the arts whether it may be in the form of music, paintings, film, literature, or any medium used to reflect one’s emotions.

We hear about cathartic actions all the time. From interviews done with an artist about there album release and how they passionately say (in an almost cookie cutter manner),“Poured their heart and soul into every single song and with every word spoken, it resonates an emotion that they experienced in their life”. Another example may be reading a book where the author’s words paints such a detailed image in your mind that chances are they are probably pretending the one character that is being pummeled to death is someone in the author’s real life or even painters who would paint a graphic scene which would give you an insight on their emotions or even better, from the teachings of Freud, paint a work of art with no understanding of why they are painting it until it is completed and they analyze what made them create such a piece.

Exercise can be just like this.

Fitness is Fun?...Well, yes! I'm Serious.

There is something about doing an activity on a daily basis that is just repulsive. Waking up early, commuting on the bus, dealing with those customers, and in this case, working out in the gym.

Believe me, I’ve reached multiple points in my experience where I was just going through the motions of the exercise and really not taking it seriously as I should be. As if I just wanted to go through my routine and get out. But I was always found a way to get back on track.

Here are methods I used to reignite the burning passion of lifting things up and putting them down:

• Goal Setting – This is probably the most universally useful method in staying focused in the gym. Always create both long-term and short-term goals so that you can always find yourself achieving a target. When creating a goal, make sure you have a “due date” for that particular goal. It will force you to track your progress and will create a definite end for that goal so that you can create a new goal.  Ensure that your goals are very specific in order for you to evaluate on your progress and to realize if you can attain your goal within the target due date.
• Work Out With a Friend – Having a friend with you in the gym can go a long way in motivating you to go to the gym. Both or a group of you can help each other out in exercises, encourage each other, and lastly it is just a more relaxing environment when you are in a intimidating place like the gym when you have someone familiar by your side.

Motivation Can Help You So Much

Motivation really is a tricky subject. Extremely subjective, always changing, and maybe hard to achieve. This does not mean it is impossible to obtain, only to find.

Upon revealing the subject of this blog to my class, I received extremely (almost comically) minimal yet, eye-opening responses. Though I was only able to get the attention from a few people, their actions spoke louder than words. I was able to arouse their interest by simply saying, "My blog will be about making the gym an enjoyable experience". From this point on, I realized this is something people can universally relate to: Dragging their butts to the gym and doing a worthwhile routine while still wanting to go back to the gym the next day.