Thirty minutes of walking on a treadmill at the gym can often feel like it's 10 times longer if you are bored. What you need are a few fun distractions to stimulate your brain as well as keep you from watching the clock and wishing time would move faster.
Television
If your gym has a flat-screen TV, watch a program that will take your mind off what you're doing. Sitcoms, sports and action movies offer visual variety and move at a snappy pace. You can also catch up on the news or see if you can outwit contestants on game shows. Get ideas for new recipes from cooking shows. Watch a foreign film without subtitles and try to figure out the plot and relationships.
Audio Entertainment
Download energetic workout music to your mp3 player. Pop in your earbuds and listen to the latest bestseller on tape. If you're taking a class, listen to recorded lectures to prepare for upcoming tests. Learn a foreign language.
Creative Visualization
Make up stories in your head, visualizing the characters and settings and imagining the conversations that would transpire. Meditate on a problem you've been trying to solve. Mentally rehearse upcoming presentations, speeches and interviews. Picture where you would like to see yourself in the future. Imagine that you are walking across the country and think about the sights you are encountering. Hone your observation skills by watching other people in the gym and try to guess their occupations and lifestyles.
Competitive Edge
If someone is on the treadmill next to yours, pretend that you are in an endurance race. The one who wins is the person who stays on the treadmill the longest. Another thing to do is pick out two people in the gym who are working out with the same equipment. Make a mental bet on which one will outlast the other before moving on to something new.
Road Trip Games
Think about some of the backseat games you played as a child to make a road trip less boring. An easy one to play by yourself on a treadmill is to start with the name of a city, state or country. Whatever letter it ends with must then be the first letter of the next place you pick. For example: Alaska/Arkansas/Saskatchewan/Nairobi/Iceland.
References
- "Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life"; Shakti Gawain; 2002
- "How To Analyze People on Sight - The Five Human Types"; Elsie Lincoln Benedict, et al.; 2010
- "The Definitive Book of Body Language"; Barbara Pease, et al.; 2006
- "Rand McNally Are We There Yet?"; Karen Richards, et al.; 2003
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