Lead with the mind and the body will follow

I feel this is one of the most important philosophies in the gym and in life. When I began my fitness transformation years back, it started with my mindset. I had a concrete vision on what I wanted to accomplish, how strong I was going to be and even what I was going to look like. I took that vision and worked with passion and determination to achieve it. It was my focus, my goal and my destiny! It was the first thing I thought about when I woke to when I laid to rest and I learned to loved how it consumed me. Even though it took years for any real change to occur, failing never crossed my mind. I knew it was going to happen and all I had to do was keep working and doing the right things. I had faith, that pure untainted faith that comes from deep within. To trust in what you’re doing is the right thing and knowing the appropriate outcome will occur.

As we get older and have so many things going on in life , we can feel overwhelmed and wish we could focus more of our time and energy on ourselves; going to the gym, yoga, sports, swimming, running, cooking meals/eating clean, getting rest etc. Life gets in the way and I understand sometimes personal fitness is not the most important thing at that point in time.

That being said what I’m talking about today is mindset. Whatever you put your focus on you will achieve and as long as you always have fitness as part of your focus, you will always achieve it. It might take a little longer but be patient and don’t give up. We have to realize that fitness is a lifetime journey which evolves and never stops. Just because you miss a workout or you might indulge in something you know you shouldn’t, so what!! Tomorrow is another day and you have the rest of your life to make up for it.

Having a positive and optimistic mindset is essential to achieving your goals. Think about it; how can you achieve any goal unless you believe you can in the first place (Read my blog about setting 90 day goals). Have faith and truly believe that you will transform into that new person that you envision. That person could be the old you, someone you admire, something you would like to perform for the first time or you could set your goals really high and want to look and be as strong as my superhero action figures….lol.

Once you have your vision, commit to work as hard as you can towards it every day. This is the hard part because we all know that no two days are the same but that’s ok; just do what you can that day. If it’s that you didn’t eat the doughnut in the staff room and had an extra three glasses of water because you had a crazy meeting today, that’s progress and it’s amazing. It’s about being realistic and consistent, the more consistent you are trying to do the right things it then becomes a habit and then eventually a new lifestyle.

Change your focus from all the negative self-talk. Stop focusing on the things you don’t like about your body and the obstacles you face. Often I find we tell ourselves that we hate a certain area of our body or we say we will never achieve this goal, so you never really try to change it. It’s like we gave up before even trying and therefore we validate our failure. Instead, pay a little more attention and put a little more focus that is positive on the area you hate. Tell yourself “I can’t wait to see how my arms are going to look”,  “It’s going to be so amazing when I squat 2 plates (225lbs) for the first time!!” You start to envision what you will look like or see yourself doing that squat and the body will respond to your thoughts, trust me, your mind is a powerful tool! I truly believe this was the only way I am able to lift what I do. I would wake up in the morning with my lift on my mind. I would tell my friends, classmates, co-workers, and gym buddies. Everybody had to know what I was going to lift that day! I did this so it was my focus and I believed it was going to happen and when the lift came, I gave it everything I had and committed to the end.

In conclusion, it all starts with the mind, so keep your mind strong and positive. Keep it holy and pure, focused on your accomplishments and happiness. When you have time to focus on you DO IT and when other things have to take priority, that’s ok. Have a positive and optimistic mindset, the body will respond to what you think and believe. The obstacles you may have to overcome to be able to achieve you goals, learn to love them and give them special attention.

It’s all about mindset and I challenge you to start focusing on what you think about and replace your negative thoughts with positive ones!

Buddha said it best, “The mind is everything. What you think, you become”

Until next time

God Bless