Originally Posted by Clyde1820

IOW, does doing the same amount of exercise while in a happy frame of mind versus a determined/"work" frame of mind provide benefits above that of the other? I would suggest it certainly doesn't include some of the "bad" stress-related components of the other. (In the sense that stress and worry, itself, can induce greatly-increased blood pressure in an otherwise happy person. I know of a couple people like this. They can work out for a couple of hours, but the moment they stress about things during that workout their BP goes sideways.)

I suspect the same basic effects could be measured for general mindset/outlook distinctions.

I know that from my hard distance running, back in the day, it was clear that runs where I deliberately "let go" and didn't have much of a plan for the route or level of effort turns out to be the runs where I felt best during and after the run. Wasn't scientifically done, but it sure seemed a cause-and-effect thing to me. I felt better, more relaxed, fresher and more alert when going at such runs with a "better" mindset throughout ... even when the runs turned out to be at a higher performance level than other runs.

With swimming, years ago, competitions often resulted in better performance when I deliberately disregarded my concerns and worries, instead focusing on "letting go" and "relaxing" prior to and during hard swims. Perhaps it was simply a matter of allowing the body to do what it knew how to do, without unintentionally constraining the muscle movements and breathing with "bad mindset" (stress).

That being said, I certainly feel better when just heading out to "smell the roses," even if I end up pushing the exercise a bit. Whether commuting or on a training ride or whatever.