Fitness Help: Are You Mentally Strong Or Mentally Weak?
By admin
My grandmother can’t swim. She’s tried to to learn several times throughout her life and it just never happened. My mom was a lifeguard in high school and spent the summer attempting to teach Grandmama to swim. As long as my mom was by her side, looking at her, she would do fine. Float, even go a few yards with a shaky but successful stroke was no problem. However, the second my mom would turn her back, my grandmother would sink like a brick to the bottom.
My brother, Gmama and me
Needless to say, I’ve never seen my grandmother get in a pool.
What got me thinking about this? Dan and I did a What The Fitness Podcast last night where I talked about the mental aspect of working out and competing.
The 70-miler this weekend really drilled into me how much of fitness is mental over physical. There were so many times that my body wanted me to stop, rest, walk, and give up. It was only because of my will power to finish what I started that got me to the end. I wouldn’t have been able to handle the regret of giving anything but my all.
How many times do we stop short?
I truly believe that we are able to accomplish so much more than we think. It’s because of our self doubts, most people never realize their true potential.
When you work out, can you honestly say that you workout with everything you’ve got?
I see far too many women walking on a treadmill, lifting 5 pound weights or hitting up the weight machines and pumping out reps like it’s nothing… clearly a sign that they are neglecting the “work” part of the workout.
I loved the responses I received from last week’s Top Ten (why you’re not getting stronger) because several of you said it was out of fear or intimidation as to why you don’t lift heavier.
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But here’s the thing… what’s that doing for you? If you know that you can do squats with 15 pound dumbbells for 10 reps, then what makes you think that you wouldn’t be able to do at least 6 squats with 20 pounders?
Here’s a promise: you won’t drown. You will have to work a little harder for the repitition but at the end what’s going to happen?
You’ll realize that you can do it. And that MENTAL boost of confidence is going to do more for you than you can imagine.
Here’s another story, promise it’s a good one.
From 0 – 6 In No Time
I have a boot camper that works extremely hard in each and every class. But since I have known her she said that she couldn’t run a mile. Well, she ran a mile in class, in under 10-minutes!
And the following weekend, I received a message from her announcing she ran 3 miles… non stop.
Then just this past Saturday, I received another message letting me know she ran 6-miles. Seriously, this is all within a span of 4-weeks.
Could she have done 6 miles before? Physically, probably. But because she didn’t even think a mile was possible, those 6 miles wouldn’t have even been attempted.
Pep Talks Are Mandatory
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I can’t tell you how many times I give myself a pep talk. When I load up a bar, I have moments of doubt if I can do it. But then I remind myself:
“It’s just 5 more pounds (or whatever)… this is possible. Treat it like you did the last weight.”
Seriously, this is a real dialogue!
When it comes to my running, I will say over and over gain: running is 25% physical, 75% (or more) mental. It’s easy to stop when the breathing gets harder or when a side stitch comes out of no where. Or if no one is around… but its only with your mind and willpower that you’ll finish as you intended… running through the finish.
– Do you have any mantras?
– Are you good at pushing outside of your comfort zone? Or do you think you might stop short of what you can do?