My first Spartan Race
Why should we do hard things?
This year, my husband and two kids have signed up for our first ever Spartan race. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is a race filled with fun obstacles to conquer throughout the course of the run (think adult playground on steroids!). We’re sticking to the 5K because I have not completely lost my mind yet (the kids will do a little 1/2 mile course). Okay, so what’s the big deal? Why do a hard thing like that?
Well, turns out pushing our limits both mentally and physically have its benefits. For starters, it has been a wonderful challenge to look forward to, knowing that physically I may not be capable of some of these obstacles, but it has given me a bit of direction and added some change-ups to my training to try my hardest to complete all obstacles (monkey bars, bucket carry, climbing vertical walls, etc). Typically my husband, David, and I do some variation of CrossFit (tailored to each of our abilities and injuries that we have to work around). A good portion of that training has overlapped with the Spartan race style of training (interval runs, lifting, sandbag carry, pull-ups). Physically, the workouts have been challenging; and mentally, the challenge lies with having the energy and motivation to get the work done.
Mentally, overcoming a challenge is beneficial and is actually associated with changes in the brain (particularly a region called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex, aMCC). Recently, I learned of this while listening to a podcast by Dr. Andrew Huberman (it is a free podcast and it’s wonderful), where he discussed this very phenomenon that has been described in research. This portion of the brain controls perseverance, willingness to suffer through pain, overcome a challenging scenario, or complete a task you do not want to do (e.g. working out, avoid sugar, climb a mountain). It is the portion of the brain that responds to hunger, breathlessness and thirst(1). It predicts the cost of effort for the task at hand (e.g. is it really worth not eating that snickers bar when I could just so easily eat it? Should I really workout for 30 minutes? Maybe I’ll just do 10 minutes or stay on the couch…).
Understand this: increased activity of this portion of the brain is actually associated with increased motivation, less apathy (this is specifically linked to depression and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s), improved perseverance and willingness to push through! (1)
Here’s the good news, if you feel your motivation is lacking (maybe you have a sub-par aMCC?), YOU can CHANGE it! Studies suggest increased exercise and adherence to an exercise program will increase the volume of this portion of the brain! (1,2) Does that mean that training with exercise can influence your overall motivation in multiple domains? The answer is “maybe”. However, given the massive amounts of research on exercise and its health benefits, why not give it a go?
Tips for building a sustainable program:
Start with formally exercising just 3 times a week. Many times people try to set too lofty a goal (5-6 days a week) and their motivation fizzles out on day three, or they get injured doing too much too soon.
Exercise at the same time each “exercise day” and try to keep your routine. If you schedule exercise like an appointment, you’ll be more likely to keep that promise to yourself and say no to other things. (Change the language in your head from “I’d like to workout…” to “I workout at ___ on ___”.
Pick a few easy and functional moves and stay consistent with those for a few weeks to prevent excessive soreness and injury (more on that in a later article coming soon!).
Journal or log your workouts. Accountability is huge for success!
If you are currently a regular exerciser, good job and keep it up!! Your brain will thank you!
Thanks for entertaining my nerd speak and I hope you enjoyed learning!
Shannon Calenberg, PT, DPT, OCS, CMPT
References:
Touroutoglou A, Andreano J, Dickerson B.C., Feldman Barrett L. The Tenacious Brain: How the Anterior Mid-Cingulate Contributes to Achieving Goals. Cortex. 2020 Feb; 123: 12-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2019.09.011
Colcombe SJ, Erickson KI, Scalf PE, Kim JS, Prakash R, McAuley E, Elavsky S, Marquez DX, Hu L, Kramer AF (2006) Aerobic exercise training increases brain volume in aging humans. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 61:1166-1170.
*Shout out to Andrew Huberman, Ph. D. for offering his knowledge to the world.
*This is not medical advice and should not replace medical treatment or assessment from a medical professional. Always ask your doctor before starting an exercise routine. My writings here are separate from my employer.