Mental. When you have been training for a long time, you know the importance of the mind. In sports, no matter how much talent you have, if you don’t have the mental aspect, you will not last. From a quote from Constantin Stanislavski, “talent is nothing but a prolonged period of attention and a shortened period of mental assimilation.” Fitness is such a constant battle with yourself; whether its food or staying consistent with exercising. Let’s take a look at why we need to continue to not just train the physical body, but the mind.
First, fitness is always going to have ups and downs and you need that mental to be strong. You get sick and can’t exercise for a long time; you gain weight, lose muscle, get depressed, and motivation drops. Those with a strong mentality will figure their way out of this “funk,” but those that don’t will continue to ride the slippery slope. You’re not always going to see progress, there may be times where you plateau and you MUST rely on the mental to keep going and stay consistent. At times, this may take months, even years. Key is to NOT give up and stay strong.
Exercising is one of the rare ways to take care of yourself.
Secondly, exercising is one of the rare ways to take care of yourself. Life is stressful. When you get caught up with work and have endless chores at home, there is ZERO time for yourself. Preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the family. Taking the kids to school. Commuting one hour to work. Work late. “When do I have time to workout?” I tell people, “you have to MAKE time.” If you don’t, you are just creating stress and that will CONSUME you. Muscles get tight, atrophy, gain weight, the list goes on with the negative aspects of being sedentary. Ask yourself this, “when can you escape for 1 hour from work and personal life?”
Ultimately, if you plan on exercising for a long time, your mental mind has to be strong. We get sick and life gets in the way. In order to stay consistent, you can’t let depression, not seeing results get to you. Exercising is empowering. What better way to improve yourself by getting stronger, toning, having better posture, releasing stress, and most importantly, NOT THINKING ABOUT THE STUFF THAT WORRIES YOU. Hope you liked this week’s blog. Stay tuned for more next Wed……………………………….Kei