Willpower - How self control and making decisions affect your work out

[Saintsqc]

There was a fascinating interview on the radio...I was incredibly bored at the job so I thought it would be good to share the content with you. I hope you'll like it!

***Definition***

Willpower can be an abstract concept. Some seems to have more than others. It is not a phyisical asset. We can't see it, we can't touch it, we can't measure it. Does it really exist or is it just a metaphor?

Our mind has limited energy. We have all experimented mental fatigue. Bad mood, aggressive temper, impatience, irritability. I'm sure I'm not the only one who get pissed more easily at the end of the day rather than in the morning.

Mental fatigue is affected by self control and decisions. I'll take 2 tests that could help you to understand :
They've tested students in different situations. A control group and fasted students. Fasted students were sit in a front of fresh baked cookies with a simple task : "do not eat cookies". When you are starving, this task require a lot of self control. After some time, they were challenge to complete an impossible mathematical puzzle. Those who had to resist the cookies were giving up on the puzzle in half the time than the others. They were mentally exhausted!
In a similar test, they ask students a ton of questions such as "Do you want a pen or a t-shirt?" "A blue one or a red one?" "In a box or in a bag?", etc. They had to take plenty of decisions. The purpose of these questions was to mentally tired these students. After that, these students had to put their hands in freezing water as long as they can until they can't bear the pain anymore. Students who ahd to make plenty of decisions before were the first to get their hands out of the water. Their resistance to pain were less than those who were not mentally tired!



***Real life application***

Mental fatigue, also known as decision fatigue or ego depletion, has impacts in your day-to-day life.

Researchers say it is influenced by blood sugar level. Brain get his energy solely from glucose. When your blood glucose level is low, your brain has less energy. That will cause mental fatigue.

It is also influenced by self control. Self control is hard on your mind .It can take any form. Resisting the temptation of eating a donut on a cut. Resisting the temptation of ******** instead of studying. Resisting the temptation of punching another guy who speak to loud, says stupid thing and act like a moron.

Finally, mental fatigue is influenced by decisions. Have you ever feel exhausted after an exam? Have you ever feel exhausted after a day of shopping? These situations are physically easy...you sit or you walk...it shouldn't be exhausting...but mentally, taking decisions is hard.

Researchers discovered that those with more willpower use different techniques to save their "mental energy". A balanced diet will provide all the energy you need thorough the day and will avoid glycemic crash. Having a routine, rules and habits reduce the need of self control. You dont have to resist the envy of eating a donut if you know you can eat it after your lunch. An organized day and a good planification will avoid too much decisions making. An agenda, memos, a budget, presetted actions, habits reduce the need to make decisions. Another tips would be to make big decisions earlier the day.

***Mental fatigue in the weight room***

With all that being said, how can it be used by weightlifters?

Mental fatigue hinders your self control. As said before, self control has several aspect, but some of them can be related to weightlifting :

Paint tolerance : Heavy squat is painful, deadlift is painful, high rep sets are painful, PRs are painful. We apply huge mechanical stress on your body and strain our muscles every work out. It requires a lot of self control to get through such a punishment.
Weightlifting mindset : You don't set PRs without the right attitude. If you doubt, you will fail. This mindset also require a lot of self control.

We all have bad days in the gym.
If you enter the gym mentally depleted, chances are, you will have a bad day...

How to avoid that?

-Take an extra rest day, if you feel like ****, stay home
-Have a good pre work out meal, delay your work out and take your time to eat a good meal and digest it
-Relax, maybe you need 1 hour or 2 to get psyched for you work out after a crappy day
-Power nap, restored your energy with a short nap



***Mental fatigue during a cut***

A cut is mentally challenging. Temptation everywhere, hungry all the time, physically tired and even, sometime, bad/depressed mood.

Considering the reality of mental fatigue, there is some tips that can be done to ease a cut :

-Plan your meals, determine early what and when you will eat. Simple way to avoid temptation and decisions.
-Eat healthy, IIFYM is cool, but a sugar crash will cause hunger and mental fatigue
-Allows yourself cheatmeals, whether it is a candy everyday or a cheat day every month, having cheat meals can help to deal with temptation and ease the self control
-Eat before thinking, mental fatigue is caused by low blood sugar. Get your calories in before you have to make decisions, it will help to keep your mind clear
-Avoid temptations, dont worry yourself and stick to your planification, that way, you will save energy and it will be easier to deal with your cut.

There is nothing new...

I'm aware this is not a revolutionnary post. The purpose is to offer food for thoughts. I thought this interview on the radio was very interresting and that the content could be use by weightlifters.

Cliffs
-You have limited mental energy
-Self control and making decisions consume this energy
-Blood sugar level influenced mental energy
-When you are mentally fatigued, your performance is less in gym and a cut can get a lot harder
-Habits, routine, planification, rest, meal timing, etc., can help you to avoid mental fatigue

[Coolcicada]

1st.

brb reading.

[ConnorBryant]

This radio story/ information is partially true.

Willpower IS a physical asset.
Forget the name of the book and the site
Something about PATH TO WILLPOWER
and the website was
LEARNING THE STEEL I think

But the book there is amazing. Huge gains in my lifting, diet and overall health, self control, discipline after reading this