We’ve all been there. In those intense, yet motivating group fitness classes. Where the people next to you become your competition and the class instructor becomes your enemy. (You know I love you!)

I have been doing a ton of new group fitness classes lately. And I have to be honest I love them BUT, I have to come up with every distraction imaginable to mentally get through the class. I put spells on the instructors. I make grocery lists. I think about who would play me in a movie. EVERYTHING.

Depending on the day, how my body is feeling, and my mental toughness level, sometimes the only satisfaction I feel during class is when the instructor finally yells “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” and they countdown the time remaining for that given exercise and the torture can stop, until the next exercise round of course. I feel that it is a true accomplishment to get to those countdowns in class some days.

I realized during class last week that it’s in those 5 seconds that the class becomes more mentally challenging than physically. Realistically, you can physically continue that given exercise for 5 seconds with no problem! But mentally, it’s often extremely difficult to push through it and get to the finish line.

I have been in classes where I often stop once I hear the hallelujah countdown begin. But, when I stop early I end up cheating myself out of 5 seconds of more movement. 5 seconds of more burn. And 5 seconds of more strides to the changes I want.

Now, I am no mathematician but let’s think about it. What if I stopped short of every movement in a class? Let’s say there are 15 movements a class for 1 minute each, repeated twice. That’s thirty minutes of movement. And let’s say I called it quits early at the 5 second countdown every movement. That would be almost 3 minutes of work per class that I would be skipping out on. And if I do group classes 5 times a week, that’s 15 minutes of missed opportunities to achieve my goals! 1 hour a month!

I am challenging myself and you to not give up when you hear the 5 second countdown call! I challenge you to forget about the physical burn during those 5 seconds and focus on the mental side of it. If you can’t mentally forge through something during a workout class, how are you going to do it in the real world? If you push yourself mentally to stay in it while working out, think of what you can accomplish outside of the group class. Make it an exercise for your mind when the going gets tough, or those burpees just won’t end!

Are you gonna push through the exercise or are you going to give up early? Are you going to work late to meet your deadline? Or are you going to hand it in unfinished?

The choice is yours! Join me for this challenge for your mental workout to get the physical results you want! In those 5 seconds you can be prepping your mind to conquer more out of the class and for your body to get in an extra rep or two. All parts win!