In a study sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, fitness tests were administered to 46 low-active women divided into two groups. Regardless of how they had actually performed on the fitness test, members of one group were told they had scored in the highest of five levels of fitness, while the others were told that their performance had placed them in the bottom fifth of the group.

All the women were then asked to work out on a Stairmaster. Those who had been told they had scored well on the fitness exam reported less fatigue and a greater sense of well-being from the exercise than the women who believed they had done poorly on the fitness test. Although the study was small, its lesson is an important one: If you believe in your fitness potential, you are more apt to live up to your own expectations!

— Food & Fitness Advisor