Psychology beats physiology, EVERY time.

 I'm constantly reminded of this quote that I first heard from Alywyn Cosgrove years ago. It holds true with almost everything that I do. This simple statement dictates whether or not you will fail, or succeed.

  Let me give you an example.

 Let's say that you were going for a run. You have been doing a lot of sprinting lately, and you are trying to beat your 400m time. You lace up, grab your stopwatch, and go outside. Starting line. You imagine yourself pushing hard, and as soon as you hit that button on your stopwatch, you take off like a rocket. You pump your arms, drive your legs up and manage to run it in 1:03. Awesome. Your lungs burn and you can feel your heart in your neck.

 Now, let's say you take that same scenario, and set it up as a race. There you are on the starting line, with 7 other sprinters. You can feel that same heart beat in your neck before the race even starts. BOOM! Gun fires, you run. The crowd fuels you, and you push past the other runners to come out on top. You finish in 56 seconds. Awesome! That's far past your personal best. But, what has changed? Your training was the same, but now there was a much larger psychological factor involved.

 Next. You are walking down the street. About 400 meters ahead of you, you see an accident happen (you have amazing eyes, relax) and you hear a woman scream about her child. Dressed in street clothes you sprint as fast as you can to the scene of the accident to see if there is anything that you can do. You get to the scene of the accident in 50 seconds. How? You aren't even wearing your training clothes? Your dress shoes have as much support as a bath mat. How now, can you beat even your race time? Psychology. It was even more of a factor.

 Last one. You are hiking in the woods. It's a gorgeous day. You see a camp set up 400 meters ahead of you. You start to walk briskly towards camp when all of a sudden you hear something behind you. You turn to see a massive grizzly bear about 100 meters away from you, and he looks hungry. You drop your gear, ignore all running form and scream like Chris Tucker all the way to the camp. You barely close the door behind you when you hear the bear growling at your feet. WAY too close. But, you just ran a 400 meter, on rough terrain, in 44 seconds, while flailing your limbs. Was psychology a factor? A bear almost ate you, of course it was.

 The human mind is an incredibly powerful machine, capable of taking you places that you never thought possible. We are the ones holding ourselves back. I see it all of the time, training clients at All Canadian Fitness. I will have someone performing a deadlift (if you don't know what this is, you need to start deadlifting immediately) and I will put a 45 pound plate on each side of the bar, making it weigh 135 pounds. I then set it on the floor at look at them. They look at me, look at the bar, and immediately say, "No, I can't do that, that's too heavy." RIGHT THERE, they have already effectively talked themselves out of succeeding. Sure enough, when the time comes, they walk up to the bar, set up perfectly, attempt the lift, and it doesn't budge. They look at me with disappointment, and the 'I told you so' look. Ok, fine. I take the large plates off of the bar, replace it with a 25 pound plate and two 10's on each side, (which is still the same total weight) and set it on the floor for them. These plates are much smaller and look less intimidating, but mentally, to the client, I just removed 500 pounds from the bar, when in reality it's the same weight. They look at me and say, "That's much better." They walk up to the bar confidently, and though it looked tough, they always pick the bar up. What changed in that situation? The weight? Nope, that was still 135 pounds. It was the state of mind the client was in. Instead of the initial self-defeat when they used the bigger plates, they KNEW that they could pick up the bar when the smaller plates were loaded on. Psychology beat physiology.

 I want everyone to stop talking themselves out of pushing their bodies. Push your limits, and you will notice those limits become non-existent. If you are worried about an activity, or something at work, imagine how you will feel once you complete it, close your eyes and IMAGINE yourself completing it. Chances are, the anticipation of the activity, is much worse than the activity itself. And, if you keep building it up, and building it up, it becomes an impossible monster that you will always talk yourself out of doing.

  Pick one thing this week that is bothering you, close your eyes, and take a few minutes to complete it in your head. Now, make that a reality.

A little can go a long way

 Everyone usually takes the start of the year to write about resolutions. As much as I disagree with the whole idea of it all, January is a time where almost everyone sits down and thinks about their goals and where they want to end up in the coming months.

 FITNESS. It's usually pretty high up on everyone's list. Whether it be get back to a sport they lost a few years ago, run a marathon, or start working out 4 days a week, everyone usually sets pretty ambitious goals. I love goals like that. It sets the pressure to really push yourself to succeed. Unfortunately, it's not for everyone. If you are someone that already carries a very hectic schedule, then maybe finding the time to train for a marathon, or get to the gym 4 days a week can seem a little daunting. Where do you start? The end goal seems so far away that people usually give up.

 I see it all the time at the Studio. People come in who haven't exercised in years, their eating habits are atrocious, and I ask them what their goals are. Everyone has these unrealistic ideas as to what it is that they have to do in order to reach their goals. I hear the same few comments all of the time;

 "Ok, I guess I have to start eating salads now..."
 "I suppose I have to take up running.."
 "I am going to be practically starving myself..."

 I am here to tell you that you don't have to think like that. If you have terrible eating habits, and skip out on certain meals, why would you go straight to thinking salads are the answer? I tell people the same thing. If you don't eat breakfast, eat breakfast. The next question is, "Ok, well, what do I eat?" My answer is always the same.

  "Whatever you want."

 Get your body into the routine of eating breakfast first, before you even think about the foods you are putting into your mouth. Consistent, scheduled eating works wonders on metabolism as well as energy. Don't try to run before you know how to walk. . isn't that how the saying goes?

 That is a good 2 week goal. For someone who hasn't eaten breakfast in 10 years, making their body eat that early will be tough. Who cares about the rest of the meals in your day. Start with breakfast within an hour of waking up. Simple. Once breakfast becomes regular, you will feel better and probably even start gravitating towards more healthy food options anyway. Drop a rock into the pond, which in this case is eating breakfast, and watch the ripple effect in the rest of your nutrition.

 This same pattern is seen in exercise as well. I can't count the number of joggers I've seen in the last 2 weeks, most with horrible form - kind of resembling someone in a bad horror movie running from zombies..

 Chances are that they won't keep that up for long. It's too hard on the joints, and discouragement and pain are bound to set in.

 Why not just walk? If you go out for a walk for a half hour, it's probably more than what you've done in a few months. It's safer, easier, and you won't have people asking you what you are running from and if they should join you.

  All I want is for people to start thinking about smaller, attainable goals before they think about the final result. Goal setting is imperative to success, but you need to know the road to take. It's like grabbing a map, getting in your car and saying, "I'm going to China," and pointing at China on the map. You can drive west as far as you want, but eventually, you will drown. Instead, grab your map and a pen, figure out the fastest route, realize that there are obstacles along the way, and make a clear, concise plan with pit stops to check progress, to ensure success.

   Going from 0 to 100% is unrealistic and very difficult. Why not just take a few weeks and get from 0 to 10% first?