Are We Like Pavlov's Dogs? Some exercises can be boring. Mini-crunches are easy but, if you are doing 500 at a time, they can become tiresome, not from stress and strain, but just from the 10 or 12 minutes it takes to do them.
Try this. Get an inspirational DVD (or add something inspirational to your iPod) and develop a habit of watching it, or listening, as you do your mini-crunches. You might discover that your mind begins tying the DVD to the exercises. It could be the same response as Pavlov's dogs. It becomes a conditioned reflex. You watch the DVD or hear the audio and your body automatically goes into exercise mode. Of course, you have to do this for a number of days consciously but in a week or so you might be pleasantly surprised to discover the relationship between what you are seeing or hearing and your body's desire to perform a normally boring exercise.
Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physician and physiologist who lived from 1849 to 1936. His became famous for his experiments involving conditioned reflexes. Most Americans first heard of him as a result of Russia's first successful launch of an orbiting satellite with a live animal on board. This was in 1957. The passenger was a dog named "Laika". Supposedly Laika had been trained using some of the techniques Palov had developed. The bad news is, Laika died from heat exhaustion shortly after takeoff and probably didn't perform many tricks.
Pavlov developed his concept of "conditioned reflex" by examining the rates of salivations among dogs. When a bell was rung as food was being presented to a dog, day in and day out, the dog would salivate as the food was presented. The dog would later come to associate the ringing bell with the presentation of food and salivate upon hearing the bell.
Wow! What a concept. Could this be applied to other things we dread like cleaning the house or doing accounting if you're a creative or sales person? Imagine if you could condition yourself to jump in the middle of doing your taxes at the sound of a bell. That's probably a stretch. At any rate, it's worth a little testing.
You may have already discovered a relationship between certain sounds and your desire to do otherwise unpleasant tasks. If not, try consciously developing a "conditioned reflex" to things you need to do but have been putting it off.
Seven years ago Bob Westbrook designed the procedures that make up Joe's Fat Book. Now, he revisits the "Game" and provides a daily recap of his own 21-day adventure documenting the results of each day's activities. In addition, other observations are noted in hopes people who want and need to lose weight might be encouraged by his progress. Find more articles as well as the opportunity to purchase the 51-page eBook go to http://joesfatbook.com/
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