Mindset

There is a famous quote often attributed to Ford founder Henry Ford “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right”.

I have seen time and time again people come into a gym with all the hope of losing weight but at the start of the conversation they say they would like to lose, for example; 10lbs, but then they start with the parade of excuses including, 20 year old injuries which haven’t been a problem for 19 years but may crop up so should be factored in, life commitments, a claim that genetically it is just impossible for them to lose weight and many other excuses, by the time they have finished talking themselves out of the possibility of achieving their goals they say, “but I’ll give it a go”. By talking yourself out of achieving your goals this much you aren’t jumping into the water you are barely dipping a toe, because even from the word go you aren’t truly believing you could achieve it!

At this point I always stop new clients and say to them that before we even worry about training or changing their diet we need to change their mind-set, they shouldn’t be surprised when they lose 1lb in the first week or 5 lbs in the next 3 weeks, if they are putting in the effort, staying focused and disciplined then you just need to put your faith in the process.

Telling yourself over and over again you are going to fail before you have even started is like trying to run a race but tying your feet together, you are just making it harder for yourself and making it less and less likely that you will get what you want!

Self belief is an extraordinary thing and sometimes when you start you can’t even imagine how far you will progress and what you will achieve. I once trained someone who their first session squatted 20kg, in only 1 year he was squatting 100kg – FOR REPS!! I have trained more people than I can count who start off with an “ideal” weight loss goal and an “acceptable” weight loss goal, I always say, don’t give yourself that easy exit of the acceptable goal, really think about it, what you really want then just go and get it. Aim for the stars and just see what can happen!

So what is the correct mindset and how to get it:

The correct mindset varies slightly depending on what you are doing, what your goals are, what your aims are and a variety of other factors but in short it is the belief in yourself that you can and will achieve what ever you set your mind to! So how do you go about achieving this positive mindset, well there are 3 things you need to stop doings first:

1. Stop saying you can’t – if you say I can’t the next logical question for your mind to throw up is “well why even try then?”. As humans we want achievement we want satisfaction and gratification so saying you can’t do something just tells your mind well this isn’t going to be a successful route to satisfaction and reward and your motivation will plummet! Tell yourself you can, you will, you are and NEVER say you Can’t.

2. Stop negative self talk – putting yourself down and hating on yourself is just going to make the journey much tougher than it needs to be, a boxer doesn’t punch himself in the face mid-fight he just gives it his all towards his opponent and that is how you need to think, attacking yourself mentally is just going to weaken you in your fight for success!

3. Acknowledge your past bad experiences then park them to the side of your mind – I have trained so many people who say they have tried to lose weight but they never seem to be able to, well there in that statement alone you are reiterating to yourself that this weight loss progress is unlikely to happen, so acknowledge the past (because there may be some valuable lessons to learn from it) then put it to one side and focus on looking forward.

So to sum up, with summer fast approaching and the fantastic news of gyms reopening soon, remember when you get started with your fitness goals, you can achieve anything, you just have to have the belief in yourself and not allow past negative experiences to seep into and dictate future experiences otherwise you will see the same results over and over again. That was the past this is the future, I always say to my clients when they first start training with me, it’s a clean slate, if they have traditionally had trouble losing weight, or toning up or putting on muscle well think of that as a different person, trust in yourself and the process and just see what happens and I can guarantee you will be surprised with the results.

If anyone has any questions or is interested in any of the services on my website, then just drop me a message.

Next week’s topic – Training split (Weight lifting)