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Ep.29 - Anchored in Bias: How mental shortcuts sabotage your Fitness progress
Manage episode 497537831 series 3638836
Ever feel like you’re stuck in your fitness journey, despite showing up, eating “clean,” and doing the work? You might be anchored. Not by your strength or your schedule, but by a powerful mental shortcut known as the anchoring effect.
In this episode, I unpack one of the most underestimated cognitive biases in health and fitness. Anchoring is the brain’s habit of clinging to the first piece of information it gets - whether it’s a calorie label, a suggested rep range, or your last 1RM, and using that as a baseline for all future decisions. And once it’s set, it shapes your training intensity, portion sizes, expectations of progress, and even how much effort you think you’re putting in.
We’ll explore how this bias shows up in:
- CrossFit and strength training (Rx weights, AMRAPs, scaling decisions)
- Endurance and perceived exertion
- Calorie counting, fasting, and food labels
- Mobility goals and flexibility benchmarks
- Fitness apps, daily routines, and goal setting
You’ll hear how anchors subtly shape behavior and how to reframe or override bad ones, especially if you're underestimating your potential. Drawing from research by Tversky & Kahneman and real-world applications in fitness and coaching, this episode will challenge the way you think about progress.
Whether you’re a coach, athlete, or just getting started, you’ll walk away with a sharper mindset, and smarter strategies to break plateaus.
Listen now, and if this episode helped you - please like, share, follow, and leave a review.
Let’s keep spreading the message.
Follow me on Instagram @sirwodsalot for more content like this.
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