The research is well established at this point. Say a swear word out loud, and you can hold your hand in ice water longer, squeeze a grip dynamometer harder, and push a bike further. The obvious problem is that most people cannot shout profanity in a public gym.
So researchers tried the quiet version. Forty-two physically active adults repeated a word in their heads, once every five seconds, while working through three exercise tests. For two of the three, the swearing worked.
