Final Rep

I’m at the gym, gimme a sec…

I’m just looking for something…

I’m on my last rep and while I know my heartrate is dropping right now, I’m just trying to get it right…

Ah…there we go.  Mindsetting with music…

Less Demons

I’d like to think that I think I can do anything.

I’d like to think that I’ve made strides in quieting the voices in my head that would have me take a different route.  It’s been a process.

Or perhaps, like many conditions I treat, I’ve just chased them into a corner.  And there they wait – until there is even a bit of let-up.  But I have learned, as is the same when facing an opponent, never let up when they are at their weakest.

“The most dangerous time is when you have your opponent hurt.” – Kru Phil Nurse’s maxim (from Tapped Out by Matthew Polly)

Inspiration Board

Do you have a white board that you write on?  Send it to me (contact info in the right column of the home page) and I’ll put it up on the blog for the world to see!

This one will get wiped in a few weeks as I start to find other pieces to work on.

CTK

Life Lessons From Lifting

I haven’t lifted long but today in the gym I saw some parallels with life.  Herein I share what feel.

Warm up to the challenge (aka Don’t bite off more than you can chew): The iron doesn’t lie.  If I try to pick up a heavy weight before warming up to it, there’s a good chance I won’t be able to lift it.  This also goes with overloading the bar.  If my ego is bigger than my muscles, I could seriously injure myself – in and outside the gym.

Make a gain no matter how small: I believe those little 2½lbs weights mean something.  They say to me, “Make a gain today.  And then next week, when you add another 2½lbs, that’s 5lbs!”  They also speak to me in life, “Write a little more.  One more round.  Five more minutes.  Make that phone call.”  Keep pushing.

Visualize what you want to happen and then do it: Lifting is a physical (read: doing) effort.  Before I push against the weight, I visualize what I want to happen.  I even mimic the exercise without the weight load.  This confirms something so important – visualize + act = desired result.

Show up on a regular basis: Some might say that lifting once a week isn’t good enough.  Some might say that I need to be in the gym alternating between upper and lower body workouts every second day.  But I do what I can.  I decided that every Wednesday I would lift.  I took an hour out of every Wednesday and dedicated it to gym time.  That was the first step – and the last.  I give it everything I’ve got for one hour (usually 40 minutes).  One hour a week isn’t too much to ask.

Manage your time wisely: One hour to get it all done.  No phone, no chit-chat, no distractions.  Me and my tunes – pacing back and forth in front of the mirror psyching myself up, visualizing my outcome and scaring away the old folks.

CTK

Flip It

Why am I so poor? becomes Why do I always have enough money?

Why am I so miserable? becomes Why am I so happy?

Why am I not good enough? becomes Why am I so good at martial arts?

Why can’t I succeed? becomes Why do I have what it takes to succeed?

…and then write down the ‘because’ list for each question.  Get to work.

CTK

 

You

“Where the mind goes, the Qi goes.”

When you are sick, do you believe that you are a victim or that you are a co-creator of the illness?

When you are sad and depressed, do you believe that external influences have altered your mood or that you are in control of what goes on inside of you?

When you lose, do you believe that the opponent was better than you or that you were ill prepared?

When life takes an unexpected turn, do you believe that you didn’t have it coming or that you have manifested the outcome?

It’s up to you.

CTK

Building Steam with a Grain of Salt

Momentum: it works both ways.

Go do 10 push-ups right now and see where it leads.

Peace, CTK

Still Pumping

Some good words from Arnie about how the mental approach to body building can be applied to achieving any goals.

 

Tetris

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2QNsxXTuuQ