Change Your Mind
Sometimes we have to change our mind before we create our muscles.
Mindset fucks people on their workouts. Yet it is the one part of the workout most people don’t want to talk about. I notice this ALL the time on social media and the amount of dropout I get when I start talking about how much your head plays a role in the success of your workouts.
As an instructor, I’ve gotten to see the power of how someone thinks for so many years in so many different people. I’ve seen the power of thoughts propel a person forward into doing something they didn’t think previously possible, and I’ve also seen the power of someone’s thoughts totally hold them back.
I made it a rule in my class that no one was allowed to say “I can’t” when it came to an exercise. As soon as that thought creeps in and you voice it, you won’t be able to do it. Even though I know before that negative thought came in, you very well could’ve done it and done it well.
Most of the time, it’s a matter of being patient and showing yourself compassion that the first time you do anything complicated, it’s going to be a mess. There’s a learning curve with anything, especially fitness. A lot of the times we think we can’t do it because we don’t know the progression of exercise that goes into the hard exercises. That you have to build muscle memory, you have to warm up and activate your body, and build up to the hard exercises.
This is where your mind is the only thing holding you back. Your mind is the only thing creating the excuses that are holding you back from achieving your fitness goals. It’s amazing the limitations we put on ourselves because we’re scared or intimidated.
But if limitations are self imposed, how do you get past that negative thought process?
Your mind is the hardest thing to change. It’s such a powerful muscle and it has so much control over everything we do.
How do you turn that tiny voice saying “Yes I can” into a roar?
Here’s the Top 3 Changes I made to get my mind on board with the change in my body I KNEW I deserved:
I started realistically. Not small, but realistically. I planned workouts 🏋️♀️ into my day that I knew wouldn’t have me rushing for time or stressed that it was taking up too much of my day. I made sure I had back up workouts planned for when my original workout 🏋️♀️ wasn’t going to fit into the constraints of my day.
I listened to my body and respected it. It meant shoving my ego out of the way and meeting my body where it was at for THAT DAY. Maybe that means going lighter on the weights because I slept funny or doing a yoga 🧘♀️ session instead of cardio because my hamstrings felt tight. Regardless, I was showing up for myself and reinforcing healthy habits.
I focused on how GOOD I felt AFTER the workout 🏋️♀️. I never forgot my ultimate fitness goals, but that is not my main focus during my workout. My focus is on the knowledge that I’ll feel amazing when my workout is done, regardless of the kind of workout I do.
