Excitement is not for the kitchen or gym
By: Michael Beiter
In Flow theory, boredom happens when you have a moderate to a high level of skill that is greater than the challenge you face.
The opposite of boredom is arousal or excitement. It happens when the challenge faced is greater than your skill level.
One of the bigger problems we face with getting people to exercise regularly is the complaint "I'm bored. It's not exciting."
I reply: "Good, it shouldn't be. We are after boredom because once you build a bit more skill you can be relaxed with any workout you're asked to do. That is the promised land."
Repetition breeds relaxation because you learn that you are capable and don't need to get all worked up to meet the demand.
Think of veteran exercisers who get through whole workouts while nose breathing, barely breaking a sweat, or with the look of minimum effort. Their skill set is greater than the challenge the workout produces, therefore they are relaxed throughout.
Professional athletes all make their sport look easy because they seem relaxed in what is an extremely challenging situation for the rest of us who aren't as skilled.
Tiger never started swinging tennis rackets because he got bored of being on the range swinging the same range of motion over and over again.
Kobe never played water polo when the excitement of shooting five hundred free throws a day wore off.
Both of them committed to their practice and worked through their boredom. Then they became the best in the world.
We can learn from them by avoiding the trap of chasing excitement and arousal with our nutrition and exercise.
Food logs are boring, but they work, so we need thousands of reps with them before we become relaxed in ANY food situation.
Resistance training is boring after years of squatting, rowing, and pulling, but it works and so we shouldn't try a bunch of novel things in their place because we're bored. We should work through the boredom til we can lift in a relaxed state forever.
I've always said excitement and novelty are not meant for the kitchen or gym. I'm going to keep saying it. Push through boredom. Relaxation is your goal.
