In the short amount of time I have been training I've noticed when a beginner asks for advice on training the usual responses are to give advice on nutrition, form, rest, programmes and supplements. All of these things are important to a beginner (and beyond) and I don't think that anyone could argue with that. But I do feel there is an important compound that is normally missed out and that is the mind. Before any of the above compounds can be put into action it is the mind that must engage first. It's the mind that must resist the temptation to succumb to comfort.
Comfort in my opinion is the biggest enemy to somebody just starting out in bodybuilding. Sometimes it's much easier to put the weight down when things start getting tough 'I can't take this anmore', to miss a session because 'you've had a busy day', to stray away from your diet and eat something you know is not good for you 'because it won't hurt this once'. From my own experience and observations, this sort of thinking is very contagious. To many times I've heard 'I would, but I'm not feeling up to it, maybe next week' and when next week comes, the time doesn't feel 'right' and another week is added and so on.
I'm talking from my own experiences and experiences of people I know then I talk about this. Obviously sometimes it is necessary to miss a session and so on because listening to your body is important. It is when you unconsciously lie to yourself is when you must push past the feeling of comfort aside and pursuit what you set out to do. The minds natural inclination is to make things as easy for the body (and the mind) as possible, this is something as bodybuilders we must strive to challenge.
Which brings me to my next point, if we can lie to ourselves that is not productive to our goals so powerfully, 'I'm struggling here, it must be (enter excuse here)' why can't we take this line of thinking and use it as a tool? To many times I have walked away from a training session feeling like I have not really hit my potential, I feel I could have done more. I've even convinced myself that it will just come naturally and waited for it to grace me with its presence at any time. This is not often the case. What always hindered me was the little voice in my head telling me just how much I should do, telling me just how much burn was acceptable, telling me just how much stamina I had, telling me which exercises I like to do. What I Did to overcome this was I lied, I lied to the voice in my head, I told it just what I was going to do and how I was going to do it on my own terms. When I did this I felt I finally had took control over my workouts and how I could push myself to the direction I wanted to go.
When I hit the wall that I had created for myself, My internal dialogue was no longer 'that's it I'm done' it became 'I have more to offer myself, 3 more’ Through practicing I taught myself to love the tasks that I used to have feelings of apprehension about or even hate. Hard work is the backbone of any muscle building programme and learning to love working hard, learning to really enjoy striving and knowing you are doing this for your own development is a great feeling which I have found has brought massive amounts of energy and commitment to my workouts.
Whenever I am training almost throughout the entire session I am running internal dialogue. This is a great way of creating added motivation and also learning to be more aware of your body. It is a fantastic way to learn about yourself. Of course, not all internal dialogue is positive, especially if your a naturally pessimistic character such as myself. Sometimes remaining positive is just as exhausting as the work out itself. But remaining positive and energised is a must if you are to push your body past your physical and mental limits. Positive thinking is usually what has got most of us into bodybuilding anyway, on a conscious level or not we sought to make an improvement on our being.
When running internal dialogue throughout a training session, of course sometimes I crop up against negative thoughts or emotions. What I do is log the incident, I make a note of how it came about, when it came about, how it effected me, how I reacted and how I felt afterwards. If I do not like my minds initial response to the negativity I actively seek a way to better prepare for next time it happens.
A technique I use is to memorise a quote that inspires me, I drill the quote over and over again in my mind, just like you drill exercises over and over again to improve the body. I train the quote in my mind to use as a weapon and prepare myself for the next time negativity comes my way. I train the quote so much that when negativity does show in my internal dialogue, the quote I have trained is so powerful, leaves me so inspired, that negativity takes a very second place and soon shy's away. I find short sharp quotes better to use as they are easy to remember and can be used within a blink. As negativity can come about so quickly I feel it is better to have a fast retort. Here is an example of a couple of the quotes I have used:
"Failure will not overcome me so long as my will to succeed is stronger"
"Pain is only weakness leaving the body"
If you do log how negativity affects you as already mentioned, you can judge exactly when you need to practice staying positive and where. Recognizing when negativity is building up and how it got there is half the battle won already. It gives you the opportunity to do something about it and more importantly, know how to do something about it. Believe me you do not want negativity to attack you unseen and from out of no where, I've had moments where I've felt like walking out the gym the moment I stepped into it.
I feel a training log is important for noting the physical side of training too. Simply because at times we can get down about ourselves because we don’t feel we are making any sort of progress. It can be hard at times to appreciate the excellent work we are putting in. I feel seeing the numbers slowly rack up on the weights you’re lifting, your body measurements and you weight on the scale can really be inspiring. It's always good to log every single achievement you accomplish. For me knowing I’m making progress really allows me to have a more intense focus on my lifting because I know it isn’t just a meaningless task that I am putting myself through but a real productive and beneficial step towards my goals.
If you do not feel that any of the techniques I mentioned thus far are for you or wouldn't work, the one thing I feel you absolutely can't go without is goal setting. Goal setting gives us our direction and purpose when lifting weights. When you know exactly why you are doing this exercise and how you want to progress you will perform far better than if you are aimlessly just chucking weights about. You will know exactly what you want to do and perform with real conviction which will intensify work outs and enhance performance in the gym. Goal setting alters our way of training and mindset completely. For example if you are holding to much body fat and feel you need to cut it down, it would not be productive for you to train as though you were trying to bulk up. Nothing is set in stone and we need to make alterations that are specific towards our goals. Do not get trapped into 'one solution fits all' thinking!
When goal setting I like to set one big goal which is the finished product and then a lot of smaller goals which create the path towards the finished product. The small goals can be absolutely anything aslong as it is heading in the right direction. It could be to complete one extra rep in an exercise, put a pound of bodyweight on, add an extra kilo on a certain lift or eat a few extra calories and so on.
To set goals the most important thing to do is be completely honest with yourself. Are my goals realistic? Are my goals what I really want? Will my goals improve my mental and physical health? You must always be realistic with your goals, setting a goal that is unrealistic can be very disheartening if you are failing to achieve it. It can also lead to things that are not good for you such as over training and even depression. I've had circumstances in the past where I have quit training because I didn't hit a goal I had set. Looking back the goal I had set was completely unrealistic and would have proven impossible for just about anyone. The goals you set must be what you really want for you to successfully enforce the discipline and desire to achieve them.
A common mistake is to believe that your muscles are growing during a work out. This is wrong, we are tearing down muscle fibres in a workout, it is during rest that we repair and build the fibres. Without proper levels of rest our growth is hindered. This doesn't just apply to the physical side but also the mental. You cant take the excessive focus, determination and aggression required into the gym into every aspect of your everyday life. Some examples of this are perhaps when you are playing with your children, spending time with your girlfreind or just taking your dog for a walk. Such an intense mindset is just not applicable to some things and this is fine. The fact is the mindset that we have built to cope with the rigours of training is also very tiring. It can take a lot of time and effort to build this mindset and combined with physical training it exhausts our bodily functions even more so. A tired body can't function to 100% and neither can we expect a tired mind to function at 100% either. We therefore need to train the mind to rest effectively aswell as training the mind to work hard. Rest will enable you to keep the intense mindset sharp for your next training session, if your mind is tired it will without a doubt show it's effects on your body during a physical work out. We need to keep as disciplined with rest as we do with work, if one has more attention than the other an imbalance is created. The two extremities are working so hard our body and minds burn out or resting so much our body and minds become lazy. So how do we go about rest? Here are some techniques that I use:
Stick to a sleeping schedule, this is important in both the mind and body. Lack of sleep causes stress in both which will hinder your energy output. Also when you sleep is when the body is repairing those damaged muscle fibres.
Deep tissue massage, is an excellent way to rid your body of stress and allows your mind to feel relaxed. With the stress weight lifting can put on the body it is always good to give it some relief, we are human after all!
Breathe! Take intentionally deep and slow breaths
Meditation, the results for some people have been astounding, it is also a technique that some famous bodybuilders like Frank Zane use.
Great gains and looking good isn’t just for people you see on the internet or in books or magazine or the ‘lucky’ people in the gym, it can happen to YOU me anyone. These people have often had to go through the exact same thing that you have. If you apply an enthusiastic approach to all elements of your training and really don’t shy away when the going gets tough, your body will have no choice but to up and listen to you. Take command of your work outs, tell your body what you want it to do, structure and steer yourself into the direction you want to take and I believe you will achieve. Don’t just go with the flow and wait for things to happen. Work to make things happen. Enjoy discipline and hardwork, it is truly fulfilling and will be the backbone of whatever training routine you decide to do.
