Its all in the head – Part one

Now is the time of year when we are inundated with adverts and slogans trying to sell us gizmos, gadgets, gym memberships, services and products all designed to help us achieve the #NewYearNewYou that we promise ourselves at the start of January.

BUT come February, the people who were out running or who joined the gym on the 1st of January will have mysteriously vanished and the people you see are the same ones who are out running at 5am or “gymming” away- month in, month out, all year round whatever life throws at them.

These people who we see throughout the year are made of the same flesh and blood, muscle, tissue and bone as everybody else. They are not superhuman. They undoubtedly have the same trials and tribulations that all of us do. A little voice inside that says, “Stay in bed-have a lie in” or “STOP! You don’t need to go see your personal trainer today” The big difference is that they will typically ignore this voice!

IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD………

It should theoretically, be the easiest thing in the world to slip on a pair of trainers and go out for a run or jog around the block or head to the gym. Yet most people cannot seem to sustain this beyond the end of January.

A likely reason for this is the classic “doing too much, too fast, too soon” and subsequently putting themselves off running or the gym for a good few months! Or they’ve not prepared adequately for the physical assault they place on their bodies and have sustained an injury (one that more than likely can be worked around given correct instruction).

The truth of the matter is-IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD!!!!

If you want something badly enough, you will find a way to make it happen. If you are not truly serious about achieving your goals, then you will let minor hiccups become major bumps in the road and ultimately will allow these things to get in the way of your results.

A typical example of this could be highlighted in me administering a workout to a well established client.

Within the workout, there will be peaks and troughs and the client can experience high points, low points, both physical and emotional all within 1 hour. knowing this, it is my job as a personal trainer to get the client through the workout.

During personal training sessions rarely do clients reach the point of “absolute failure”, where they physically cannot complete another repetition of an exercise. Or they hardly ever reach their true limit where their body starts going into self-protection mode to stop further “damage” being done.

They will stop short of this, generally because they know where their “perceived limits” are, and if they are experienced clients, they rarely want to push themselves to the point of feeling sick or faint.

AGAIN IT’S ALL  IN YOUR HEAD!!!

If you’ve ever seen the final few hundred metres of a 10,000m race in the Olympics or the last half mile of a marathon, you may likely see people’s legs buckling underneath them as they attempt to finish. Even a seasoned athlete like  Jonny Brownlee has been carried across the finish line to complete a race!

This is the human body at it’s absolute physical limit. The brain is shutting down parts of the body in order to prevent further damage being done.

There is also a part of the human brain that is so determined, it will still try and eek more out of the body to complete a race or task, even when on the verge of shutdown.

There are simple mental tricks that you can do to push yourself further and I will be covering this in my next blog….If you are one of those people that started this year with your “New Year New You” mindset but are now failing then get in touch! Personal training may be the mental focus to get you back on track to this being “Your Year”.

You can do it! remember – IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD

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