VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES UNCOVERED

Just finished morning cardio on my home x-trainer.

I must admit this morning i wasn't in the BEST shape mentally to do cardio.

In fact, I don’t think I’m ever OVERLY ecstatic about my cardio sessions.

HOWEVER, it needed to be done, and so it was done.

With me giving 110%

No excuses.

Just my feet running that ground.

Once the music is pumping it’s hard NOT to want to move!

Here’s what it looked like:

X-Trainer.
Level 4 – Warm up 5 minutes
Level 5 – 2 mins
Level 6 – 2 mins
Level 7 – 2mins
Level 8 – 2mins

REVERSE (stride backwards)
Level 5 – 2 mins
Level 6 – 2 mins
Level 7 – 2mins
Level 8 – 2mins

Level 4 - Cool down 5 mins

TRY IT OUT. Let me know how you go!

Stretched after that, quick protein shake, and we’re ready to ROCK N ROLL baby!

NOW.

I’ve always been interested in the mindset and techniques athletes and people who have been training for years use when they are prepping for a session. (especially on the days they’re feeling depleted, run down, and just plain shit).

Strength training, cardio, intervals, marathons, WHATEVER.

What separates the motivated athlete from the “all talk, no action, I workout when I wanna” type of guy/girl is improving and getting stronger with each training session even when you can’t be assed!

Up at 4.00am in the morning, pounding the pavement top speed, weather’s pissing down, nothing but a singlet and shorts on, pitch black out, had a shit sleep the night before.

No excuses.

Those people motivate me to shut the hell up and get on with it.

It's tough pushing through, noone said it was easy, noone said it was a sunday morning walk in the park, but noone said it couldn't be done either!

Every time my mind and my body come together and form some kind of a pathetic excuse as a reason for not giving it 110% and wanting to give up ¾ of the way through my leg workouts I’m learning to fight it.

Every day, that little bit more.
It’s the only way to beat it.

You gotta fight for your life and show your body who’s boss around here.

Your body doesn’t like the pain and the unfamiliar feelings associated with training hard, it likes to stay in that “safe zone”.

It likes that because it’s USED to that.

Change your frame of mind, change your ways, change your thought patterns.

Result - you will change your body in ways you never thought possible.

NOW.

For those of you who need a bit more of a push I’ve correlated some ideas from various articles on how to get you moving in the right direction.

VISUALIZATION IS MAJOR.

You’re finishing those last few reps and it’s starting to hurt like fuckin hell, you feel like you’re going to die and you’re ready to throw in the towel.

Give these a go . . . (but not all at once people)

GOOD NEWS

Get some good news RIGHT BEFORE you are going to work out.
How pumped do you suddenly get when you get a text message from someone you like, or your boss accidently payed you double the amount they were supposed to pay you!
CALL A FRIEND. Get them to jack you up.
Good associations & great feelings will follow and you will be in the zone you want to be in.

FIRE FIGHTER

Visualize yourself as a fire fighter! Someone you love is in the danger zone and you and only you can save them!
If you stop, if you quit, if you slow down, if you chicken out, something horrible will happen to this person that you oh so dearly care about.
This triggers empathy and pain and fear ALL at once.
It works for reps too: just one more to save someone.

REWARDS

Imagine someone just offered you a million dollars to get one more rep. You would freakin find a way to get that rep in. Use whatever reward gets you going!

MAGNETIC FORCE

If you're doing dumbbell presses, imagine they are two powerful magnets that are irresistibly drawn to each other. If you're curling, imagine your eyes as magnets attracting the bar towards them. If you're benching, imagine the bar being repelled by your chest. This technique is especially useful on that last, slow rep. It will help you squeeze a little extra out to finish the rep.

CHOPPED - UP SETS

Great for high rep sets.
· When you're starting to slow down, start doing consecutive small sets of five reps.
· When you can't get five reps, do sets of three reps.
· When three reps seems impossible, convince yourself to do just two more reps.
· When you can't do sets of two, tell yourself just one more rep.
· Keep trying to get just one more rep until you can't move.
Breaking it up like this will allow you to get many more reps than counting straight through one big set. You can do this right from the start as well. If you are doing a set of fifteen reps, do a set of five, another set of five, a set of three, then a set of two.

PAIN MANAGEMENT

Pain tolerance is a big factor in weight training intensity.
A good way to fight pain is to tell yourself that it is not your pain; it is somebody else's.

Imagine the pain you are going through is being felt by someone you don't like. The more you put yourself through, the more punishment they take.


LITTLE BITTY VOICE IN YOUR HEAD

Reprogram the little voice in your head. Most people have a little voice in their head that warns them not to do things that may seem unreasonable or threatening, e.g. you better not do that or you'll hurt yourself, you can't lift that much, this hurts, let's quit.

Reprogram your little voice to tell you things like: that felt pretty good, let's add more weight or you can do another rep. Don't get too out of control but don't be scared. You can usually do more than you think you can and you never know until you try.

UNREASONABLE GOALS

Set almost unreasonable but achievable goals for yourself. Say for example, you know you can curl 50 pounds for ten reps. Set the goal of twelve reps and fight madly to get those twelve. It gives you the incentive to improve.

COMPETITIONS

Have competitions with a training partner or with yourself. Whoever gets the most reps with a certain weight or percentage of bodyweight has to buy dinner. Challenge yourself to break personal bests and reward yourself when you do.

EXPLOSIVE IMAGERY

Just before a set, put images of explosive power in your head, e.g. rockets, artillery, a stampede, explosions, etc. This form of imagery will start up your adrenaline and give you a little extra kick in the pants to get your set going. Imagine this explosive power rocketing the weights you are using.

MECHANICS

Focus on the mechanics of what you are doing with each exercise and where everything is supposed to be positioned during a movement. Visualize the appropriate muscles being trained, and really concentrate on hitting that muscle hard. Cement it in your brain!
Even during your set, focus all of your attention on the movement itself and what you are doing to fully train that muscle.

CONTACT

Getting a spotter to just touch you and not push can give you extra force. This is partly psychological and partly physical. The contact of body's energy fields can actually give you a little extra lift.

POSITIVE & NEGATIVE STIMULI

When doing exercises where you are pushing something away from you, e.g. bench, imagine the bar as a negative stimulus (e.g, someone you don’t like, negative comments.). When doing exercises where you are pulling something towards you, imagine the bar as a positive stimulus (money, success, a chocolate cake, etc.).

DONALD DUCK

If you find your inner voice speaking negatively, change the voice so it sounds like Daffy or Donald Duck. You won't be inclined to take it so seriously.

ENJOY IT

Learn to enjoy the pain. Eat it up.

BORROW ENERGY

Borrow energy from other people. This can be done before a set or when the going is getting tough. Using a mirror or looking directly, look at someone squarely in the eyes. Give them a smile or a nod or a psychotic grin and imagine yourself drawing energy from them. At that point, two people are focusing their energy on the set. You may or may not make friends with this one.

MENTOR

Imagine you have a mentor or someone you are trying to impress standing over you and watching as you do your set. Imagine they are encouraging you and pushing you harder and harder.

THREATS

Threats can also work. If someone put a gun to your head and said "three more reps", you would find a way to get those reps. Imagine this situation to get those reps.


There we have it!

Like I said, apply one at a time so you know which ones work for you and which to throw out the window into the trash.

Everybody will relate to different things.

You don’t know until you try!

It may seem silly or awkward at first but doesn’t everything?

Just do the damn thing.

Shower time, food time, and BACK & BIS tonight.

YEAHHHH.

Stay strong, stay with it.

"Visualize this thing you want. See it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin."

- Robert Collier

References:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/betteru15.htm