i haven't a clue what goes through my head most of the time--exercise is truly automatic and most of the time I just do it. My only thoughts before are things like, "oh good, it's stopped raining for a bit, so I'll walk the dog." My hard workouts are in the morning, so my mind perhaps isn't fully engaged enough to resist the idea at all. When I'm walking the dog, I think about the bulbs blooming and tell him occasionally what a nice walking companion he is and think about things I want to get accomplished. Sometimes I imagine a conversation where I explain my long efforts at weight-control--sometimes I imagine that conversation taking place a year in the future with someone who has never seen me at all overweight and finds it hard to believe I ever was.
Inside the gym, I do a lot of counting, I guess, which fills my mind pretty full (gee, that sounds awful!
) I feel compelled to count reps, even though I usually work muscles to failure. I think, "huh, I wonder why 130 feels so heavy today and it didn't last Friday." Especially on leg work when my muscles are engaged, I tend to look at them and think admiring thoughts about definition. When I'm running on the treadmill, I am doing intervals and often clock-watching. I convince myself to keep going at the current pace, "just a hundred more right footfalls" and then count them down, or "just until the timer says 13:15" and stare at the thing like it's some sort of answer to the meaning of the universe while it counts down. Sometimes I focus on a point on the opposite, far wall, and chant affirmations to myself: "building a strong body; building a healthy heart"--stuff like that. Sometimes I try think of romantic fantasies or sex--but it's hard to hold that thought and run, I find. The more I'm at the gym, the more people come up to me and chat while I'm running--I don't love chatting at the gym, but I stay friendly. Sometimes I think, "ow ow ow" in a sort of hypnotic rhythm -- especially when my calves are cramping while running. When I do yoga, I do loads of counting to keep my mind from thinking about work issues or chores. Breathe in to the count of 8, breathe out to the count of eight.
As you can imagine, my counting skills are quite good by now--forwards and backwards.