Imagine you could exercise anytime you wanted for as long as you wanted. You were in total control. Now, imagine you had to exercise at the same intensity, time, and place as a friend. Your friend dictates the workout. If they want to swim hard at 5 am in the middle of a snowstorm, then you swim hard at 5 am in the middle of a snowstorm. If they jog at night on poorly lit sidewalks, you stumble along after them.
You'd likely be miserable in the second scenario. At least that was the finding in the "Rat One & Rat Two Study" shared by Dr. Robert Sapolksy on Andrew Huberman's Huberman Lab Podcast, Episode 35. Sapolsky claims the first rat (who selected the time and duration of exercise) got all the benefits. The second rat suffered severe stress, even as it experienced the same energy expenditure and identical movements.
So what does it mean to be Rat One? It means the most important story is the story you tell yourself. Controlling this narrative is as critical as doing the work.
Later in the same show, Sapolsky references another study on marathon runners, which measured testosterone levels of the finishers. You would think the winner would have the most significant increase in testosterone levels at the finish line, but this wasn't the case. If the winner ran three minutes slower than the previous year and imagined the media publishing a story about his aging body, his testosterone levels were depressed. Very much a Rat Two response.
Meanwhile, another competitor channeling his inner Rat One finished a glorious 73rd. To the researcher's surprise, this finisher had elevated testosterone levels because he far exceeded his expectations for the race. Both athletes finished with drastically different results and physiological responses, not determined by the performance or outcome, but their perception of the event. The story they were telling themselves.
Similarly, in the Huberman Lab podcast episode 56, Dr. Alia Crum detailed the importance of mindsets. She described how people digest a milkshake faster if they believe it is high in fat (even though it's not actually high in fat). Crum's definition of "mindset" matches my definition of "the story you're telling yourself." Crum also describes how maids receive the physical benefits of exercise once they learn their jobs mirror exercise. Identical work led to weight loss and decreased blood pressure for the maids after the researchers informed them of their professions' exercise benefits. Athletes can have the same physical fitness from one day to the next but experience different results based on their thinking, concluded Crum.
What occurs in our mind is our interpretation of reality. Not reality. The reality is both rats did the same exercise.
Recognize the story you're telling yourself and be Rat One.