Mindfulness and strength training

Geschatte leestijd: 7 minutenWhat is the difference between an athlete competing at an Olympic level and an average weightlifter in the gym who is browsing on his phone between sets? The athlete at the Olympic level is fully present. This athlete lives in the here and now. He is not constantly preoccupied with thoughts of the future or his past or doubts about his physical abilities, but focuses his full attention and gives all his energy to the step he is taking at that moment. The enthusiasm, joy, and passion he feels for his sport fully flow into this step. This step is therefore an expression of perfection, of quality and enthusiasm, and that is the reason for his success. The Olympic athlete knows what his long-term goal is, but also knows that every journey consists of infinite small steps. He also knows that every journey consists of a single step that really matters, and that is the step he is taking at that moment. Therefore, he gives all his attention and the enthusiasm he feels for his sport to this step. In other words: whether and when you as an athlete reach your destination depends on the enthusiasm and quality of the step you are taking at that moment. All these small steps, taken with care, attention, and enthusiasm, ultimately lead to reaching your destination. In this article, we explain how a shifted focus to the present can help you achieve your long-term goals in the field of sports.

Mindfulness and strength training

Everyone knows the famous saying that “Even the longest journey starts with a single step.” This phrase comes from the Tao Te Ching, an ancient spiritual text from China. In the 64th verse of this book, the author advises us to live more in the here and now. The question is why all this is relevant to someone who wants to achieve a certain sports goal. Well, it is relevant because even a beautiful tree starts with a small seed, just as achieving your sporting goals consists of many individual steps that need to be taken. Of course, this does not mean that you lose sight of the end goal, on the contrary. When you go on a journey, it is very important to know where you are going. But many people forget that there is only one moment that is “real” in every journey, and that really counts, and that is the step you are taking at that moment. That is the only step that really matters, as long as you know where you are going. The goal of the journey you are undertaking is clear: you have a certain image in your mind of your ideal physique, and you feel great enthusiasm for achieving this goal. The physique you are going to build will be an expression of the enthusiasm you feel deep inside. For many people, this is the end of their quest for physical perfection. They are more concerned with whether they will reach their destination, with doubts, or with other meaningless thoughts that come to mind daily. While they are exercising, they think about other things such as school, their poor grades, the bad economy, the annoying boss at work, food, the annoying colleague, or their overdue bills, or worse: they doubt whether they will achieve their goal. What if they fail? What will everyone else think? They are totally absent in the present, and are totally identified with their thoughts, which means they live in the past or in the future. These thoughts create negative emotions that absolutely do not help you when pushing that 100 KG lying on that barbell. What happened to the step of this athlete that ultimately leads to his goal? Its quality will certainly not be as great as that of the Olympic athlete described in the introduction, who lives fully in the here and now and puts all his energy into the current moment.

Reach your destination from the present moment

According to psychologists, we have about 90,000 thoughts every day. And unfortunately, almost the same 9000 thoughts occur every day. These thoughts come randomly into your head, and unfortunately, most thoughts are negative. Not only that, but most thoughts are about the past, or about something you have to do in the future. The disadvantage of this is that when you follow every thought and think about it, you no longer live in the here and now. The sporting journey you are undertaking is then no longer fueled by your original enthusiasm, but by the negative emotions that these thoughts bring with them. You feel like you are constantly striving without ever arriving. Your sporting, physical journey is no longer an adventure, but only an obsession with little passion. Would an Olympic athlete achieve his goals in this way? We think not. Just as the goal of a concert is not just to see the end, but to enjoy every individual song, we believe that the goal of sports should be to take every step that matters at that moment with enthusiasm and enjoyment.

Where the mind is willing the body will follow

Imagine if we could reverse this. We have a clear goal, and we are going to work towards it. However, we are going to try not to lose ourselves in our thoughts, but to give our full attention to every step we are taking at this moment towards that goal. In our case, this can be a cardio session where, for example, we want to burn 500 calories for that day. Suppose you have been working for fifteen minutes, and you are doing well, sweat is pouring over your body and endorphins start to be released in your body. You decide to increase the number of laps a bit, but suddenly a thought comes into your head. “You have an exam next week, and you still have so much to learn.” You can now decide to think about this thought, which means you live in the future and probably decrease the effectiveness of your cardio session, and you certainly no longer enjoy it optimally. This is often the problem of people who are overweight and “hate cardio”. They don’t hate cardio, but hate the voice in their head that says, for example: “You can’t do this. You are too fat. You have only burned half a Snickers bar”. Do you understand which way we want to go? Fortunately, there is a way to put an end to this voice in your head, which sabotages your current step and therefore whether or not you reach your destination.

Return to the present moment

Back to the cardio session. You can also choose to simply listen to these thoughts. So when a meaningless thought comes to mind while you are exercising, you simply listen to it, without judging this thought (otherwise the same thought will come in through the back door again). You will quickly realize that there is the thought and you are listening to it. The thought will then quickly disappear, because you no longer identify with it. You will then quickly be able to return to the present moment, when all your energy, fueled by the enthusiasm you feel for achieving your ideal physique, went into your cardio session. If another thought comes up, repeat this process until your cardio session ends.

Give attention to the now

Another way not to be distracted by your thoughts is to simply give all your attention to the present moment, like the Olympic athlete did in the introduction. People who bungee jump, skydive, meditate, or have experienced an accident know what it feels like to live in the present moment, without thoughts about the future and thus creating negative emotions. However, you do not have to climb Mount Everest for this. Simply become very aware of your current sporting activity. When, for example, squatting, bench-pressing, or running, become fully aware of every step, of every part of the movement you are making. Feel the energy hidden in making the movement. Pay close attention to your breathing during the exercise, and feel the enthusiasm you have for creating a good physique that now flows directly into the exercise you are currently doing. When the set starts to get difficult, simply feel the pain of training to muscle failure. This allows you to train harder, deeper, and more intensely than ever. Don’t believe me on my word, but try it out for yourself. The process I just described is essentially nothing more than meditation: a form of consciousness where you are extremely alert, awake, energetic, and lively without losing yourself in meaningless thoughts. You can only know if you have been successful in the above way: ask yourself if you felt excited, alive, alert, and full of joy during the activity. If not, you are lost in thoughts, and your enthusiasm does not flow into the step you are currently taking. This way of exercising is worth the end of all excuses that previously caused you to give up, and also ensures that you learn to focus on the only step that matters when reaching your goal, and that is the step you are taking at that moment.

Conclusion

The question of this article was how you can reach your destination better and with more pleasure and enthusiasm by focusing on the here and now. The answer to this question is that you must realize that the entire journey leading here ultimately consists of the step you are taking at this moment. There is always and only this one step, which is why you give it your full attention. This does not mean that you do not know where you are going, on the contrary, it only means that you are focusing on this step. And what you achieve when you arrive at your destination depends on the quality of all these sports steps (such as training and good meals) that you give your full attention to. So pay more attention to the action itself than to the result you want to achieve through that action. When you learn to do this, everything you undertake is done with greater quality, love, and care, including even the simplest activity. In this way, the same enthusiasm that an Olympic athlete feels for his sport can also flow into your sports activities. After all, we all possess a certain drive inside us that motivates us to act. Our ability to evoke that drive depends on the enthusiasm we feel for certain activities, such as bodybuilding. If your enthusiasm is great enough, this will be the energy that flows into your activities that ultimately lead to achieving your end goal: letting your physique serve as an expression of your passion to be the best you can be. And that is what the ancient Greeks meant by “a healthy mind, in a healthy body.” Literature • Tolle, Eckhart., The Power of Now, Vancouver, 2004 • Tolle, Eckhart., A New Earth, Vancouver, 2004 • Kehoe, John., Quantum Warrior: the future of the mind, Vancouver 2012 • Mentzer, Mike., High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way, New York 1993 • Robbins, Tony., Unlimited Power, London 1997 • Robbins, Tony., Awaken the Giant within, London 1997 • Schwarzenegger., Arnold., Total Recall, New York 2012