You truly need to be an Einstein to follow the theory of relativity in its entirety. But there’s an element to it that any exerciser can comprehend.

Even the ones who find the book considered to be a must-read for all exercisers because it’s so helpful and motivational — Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autobiography, Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder — to be a tough read.

It’s that time does not exist independently. That it’s not absolute.

That it’s always relative to your frame of reference.

So if your frame of reference is, as Schwarzenegger’s sometimes was in his pursuit and then dominance of the preeminent bodybuilding title, Mr. Olympia, the very start of a brisk half hour effort on the stationary bike — after up to five hours of weight training — those 30 minutes pedaling are going to seem to take just as long as the lifting.

But you lifting that long is probably just as improbable as you winning Mr. Olympia, so here’s a more likely scenario. You see a mile-marker sign as you ride your bike on the D&L trail, do some quick math, and realize that, because you were feeling so good at that time, you pedaled past your normal turnaround point by more than two miles.

But that time has come and gone.

In fact, you’re feeling so bad now you’re considering walking the bike to keep it upright and wondering if you’ll see nightfall before you see your car in the trailhead parking lot. And whether your car comes into view 26, 36 or 46 minutes from this moment, one thing’s for sure.

It’s going to feel a helluva lot longer.

The point to this biking hypothetical is not keep you from upping the mileage of your rides, but to make it clear it would be good to know more about those frustrating times when even though your legs are still making the bike move slowly, your mind’s making time stand seemingly still.

A few years ago, researchers at Canterbury Christ Church University in Canterbury, England felt the same way, and it ultimately led to a paper published in the April 2024 issue of Brain and Behavior. In their study, they recruited 33 “recreationally active adults” and had them do three 4-kilometer simulated cycling time trials on stationary bicycles using Velotron 3D software to create “a visual, virtual environment.”

During the time trials, which were performed in no particular order, one effort was truly a solo one. The only avatar pictured on the Velotron screen was the participant’s.

During another, the screen showed a second avatar, but it only served as a “passive opponent,” meaning it rode alongside and really wasn’t much of an opponent at all. In the third, though, the avatar was out to win, and the participants were instructed to defeat it.

In the course of all three rides, the participants were given a task. To estimate 30 seconds of time at the 500-, 1500-, and 2500-meter marks.

When those estimates were compared to pre- and post-ride 30-second estimates, they ran“slow,” meaning it felt to the participants as if time took longer during the time trials than before or after. This held true regardless of the distance when the guess was made or the role the avatar played.

While this study’s interesting, the results are as expected. As expected as you saying, “Of course” if asked, “Does this slowing of time on the bike or a hike, in water or the weight room, hold true for you?”

But before you utter anything, let me interject this. There are times, although they are certainly in the minority, when the opposite does indeed occur.

When you’re exercising hard or not so hard and time seems to not slow down but speed up. If those times for you are like those times for me, every single time it feels two grades better than good, as if you’ve been given an out-and-out gift from the exercise gods.

A gift so out-and-out that giving it to yourself should become your number-one exercise goal. But if that’s the case, how do you reach it?

The answer becomes apparent with a little reminiscing.

Think back to three or four bouts of exercise that immediately come to mind as being excellent for one or more of the following reasons: unusually intense, exceptionally productive, or especially pleasant.

In each of these remembered instances, I bet there’s a large block of time where you lost track of time. And that the reason you lost track of it is because you were too busy keeping track of what was happening in your body as a result of the exercise.

So if you find exercise time goes too slowly for you, what you need to do is get better at focusing on the sensations it produces in all parts of your body.

And pay no attention to any appendages other than yours. Like the arms of a clock.