If you’re not reaching your fitness goals fast enough, it may be time to give your mindset a jump start. Got fitness superstitions? While it may sound like a silly add-on to your exercise plan, it could pay off by leaps and bounds. Take it from true pros like Michael Jordan and Serena Williams: sometimes the best way to ‘up’ your game is to depend on a quirky, magic formula of success!
Professional Athletes Do It (Shouldn’t You Do It, Too?)
Serena Williams is one of the most feared female tennis players of our time, and credits the losses she does face to failing to implement her superstitions correctly. What’s her magic formula? Tying her shoelaces in a certain way, and bouncing the tennis ball five times before her first serve. Hall of Famer Wade Boggs used to (famously) eat fried chicken before the start of each game, as well as draw ‘Chai’ in to the dirt before he took his turn to bat. It may sound silly, but these athletes may be on to something!
The Mind Leads the Body
At first glance, superstitions sound pretty bizarre, random and unusual. But aside from the kooky shoelace tying, chicken eating routine these athletes have depended on to win each game, it’s not about the ritual itself but how the ritual transforms their mindset.
That’s what superstition really is, for better or worse. It’s a tool to help you up your game, go the distance, and push yourself past your breaking point, no matter if you’re on the tennis court, track, in the weight room or outdoors, running a marathon. Here’s why you may need a fitness superstition in your life—if you plateau, if you can’t seem to lose weight no matter what you do, if you get bored with your weekly workouts, or if you struggle to get to the gym at all—superstitions may give your mind that kick start, turbo charge you need to thrive.
Superstitions become habits, and as long as they offer a positive outcome, why not add some superstitions to your weekly cardio workout or daily lifting session? Do you need something to get you through your daily run, and listening to iTunes just isn’t cutting it? Here is one superstitions to try out: Wear your ‘good luck’ workout gear every time you get ready for the gym. Nothing says you’ll ‘rock it on the treadmill’ like your favorite band t-shirt, or a pair of good look pants.
Any superstition you choose—from chewing gum during every workout to using a particular water bottle to make it through spin class doesn’t matter. What matters is believing in the superstition so that you can use it as a tool to take your workout to a whole new level!
