Focus Your Mind To Transform Your Body
Contrary to gym mythology, true strength training is not about your muscles but about your mind. In any endeavor mental focus seem to be key to high achievements. In fact having your mind in the “zone” can be the difference of simply going through your workouts or really pushing yourself to see maximum results.
Training for my Fitness & Figure competitions I had to position my mind in the zone 24/7. I was a full blown training machine! My daily schedule looked like this: am cardio, hit a muscle group at the gym, train clients, 45 minutes agility, train more clients, hit another muscle group and do my pm cardio even if it was midnight and all on a very low carb and calorie diet. I’m sharing this with you not because I want to scare you or expect you to train this hard but rather to give you an example where mental state of mind was the driving force in making me repeat this 7 days a week. Not to mention the mental strength it takes to not devour everything in sight when you can’t have it for 6 months! This was my dream and it paid off when I won the overall at my first ever show in both fitness & figure!
First show Overall in Figure & Fitness! Could not have done it with out being 100% focused!!
What I want you to take away from this is a true understanding of the importance and strength our minds have over our bodies and how to turn that switch on for your workouts! I can’t tell you how often I’m in the gym and see people staring off into space and simply going through their movements on the machines. If you want results you have to work for them just like anything in life.
Here are some powerful tips to get the most out of your workouts:
-Rev yourself up!! Whatever it takes get pissed, focus on why you’re there and what you want out of your workout. When I’m getting tired through my circuits I take a second and visualize my next set.
-Take your mind somewhere else! Think about anything….whatever comes to your mind first. While your body is experiencing that burn your mind is not. It’s almost as if you separate your mind from your body! *Of course all while maintaining good form!
-Listen to high RPM music or anything that pumps you up! I love the Podcast “Pod Runner” for my i-pod. Its high RPM music perfect for cardio and it’s FREE on i-tunes!
-Close your eyes! This may sound funny but it works! I always close my eyes when pushing through a set or on cardio- Just make sure you don’t fall off lol!
-Play mind games with yourself. When training clients or Boot Camp I always count down with reps or time. For example if we have 20 reps I will break it down into any which way creating smaller numbers. When doing cardio I will often count steps. If I’m on the stepper I will focus on my right foot and count out 30 reps then switch the focus onto my left foot and count out another 30 reps. By the time I know it I’m done!!
-Pick something and stare at it! OK if you can’t close your eyes find an object and give it all your focus. I’m always saying this to our Boot Campers! Anything to help you focus and take your mind off the burn!
*If you want to watch TV while on cardio I would keep your music blasting but watch the TV monitor to help pass the time.
-While driving to your workout visualize yourself kicking butt! If your training yourself at the gym, know exactly what your going to do for your workout before your get there.
-Commit yourself to achieving your fitness goals- You will see it when you believe it!
Quick story… I trained a client the other day who had not done the exercises in our program in a very long time. She was so mad at herself for taking a break with her training and gaining a few extra pounds. With all this adrenaline and mental state of mind she pushed through every exercise like a beast! I mean completely all out for four sets of 20 reps with minimal break as if she had never stopped working out! Mind you she had not performed any of these movements for almost a year! I could see the passion and intensity in her eyes…. She was in the zone and executed this workout as if she was a Pro!
From here on out get in the zone every time!! It’s just you, your workout and your fitness goals every time put everything else aside for that 1 hour!
“It is always the mind that fails first, not the body.” –Arnold
To Your Success,
Julia
PS- Next 4 week Boot Camp begins this Tuesday September 7th! These classes will fill up fast and spots are limited! Don’t Miss Out!
http://pinellasbootcamps.com
This is too synchronistic, Julia – finding this article on your site! That’s the name of the book I was just talking to you about this morning. I guess it was meant to be with all of us at the same show today @ Daytime. Looking forward to learning more about you!
lj
I do believe everything happens for a sequence of events 😉