BBC: Mental gymnastics

We're going to look at an expression that is all about doing hard work with your brain- 'mental gymnastics'.

'Mental gymnastics'. so, gymnastics- that's showing off your fexibility and strength doing different exercises with bars and ropes and other equipment, but what are 'mental gymnastics'?

Well, it can be the effort we spend trying to work out something difficult. This weekend, I need to go to three different places, at more or less the same time, and I'm doing mental gymnastics to try to find a way I can do it. 

So, you thinking about the different possibilities and coming up with a plan- that's mental gymnastics. 

Yes, exactly! Let's hear some more examples. 

To get a good score in a maths exam, you need to be good at mental gymnastics! This plan is too complicated, and I'm too tired for the kind of mental gymnastics I'd need to work it out. An orchestra conductor needs to be good at mental gymnastics, to work out what each musician should be doing. 

You're listening to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, and we are learning the expression 'mental gymnastics', which is a way to talk about your brain doing hard work. 

There's actually another, more negative, way that we use it. When people try to justify saying something that they don't really believe- we can say that they are doing mental gymnastics. 

Right, so when I tell my children not to use their phone so much, it takes some serious mental gymnastics to justify why I can still do it. 

Yes, it's hard work trying to come up with an excuse that you don't really believe!

I think we need to stop here, and you should go and write the next episode- that's going to take some mental gymnastics, isn't it!

Luckily, I'm full of energy today, so mental gymnastics won't be a problem!

-gymnastics: 체조