How to Program Your Mind for Physical Excellence (Part 2 of 3)

by Doug Jackson, M.Ed.,CSCS

Yesterday, in part one of a three-part series on "how to program your mind for physical excellence", I shared with you my belief that our core beliefs and thought processes have a dramatic and under-appreciated impact on our fitness level.

I shared with you the TFAR formula which states that:-Thoughts lead to feelings-Feelings lead to actions-Actions lead to results

Thus, our thoughts will dictate our actions, which ultimately dictate our results.

If we want better fitness results, we need to examine and be aware of our current thought processes.

I promised that in part two of the series (today), we'd examine specifically how we develop our thoughts about fitness, and how those thoughts affect our long-term fitness results.

So let's get to it!

Essentially we develop our beliefs through:-Personal experience-The experience of others we know-The feedback we receive from others

The summation of our experience in each of these categories equals our attitudes about fitness at any given time. If, on the whole, our personal experience, the experience of others we know, and the feedback we receive from others is negative, we will have a low confidence and low personal expectations when it comes to fitness. This mindset will lead to half-hearted attempts to get in shape, followed by excuses as to why "it didn’t work". In this case, we have subconsciously developed a "loser mindset" and will allow ourselves to fail.

On the other hand, if our personal experience, the experience of others, and the verbal feedback we've received from others has been positive, imagine what a difference that makes! The person with this positive mindset will have more self-belief, will choose more successful exercise strategies, will exercise more intensely, and stick with it longer than the person with a poor belief structure.

On a scale of 1-10, with one being extremely negative and 10 being extremely positive, rate your own experience in the following:

-personal experience regarding fitness and exercise

-the experience of others you know regarding fitness and exercise

-the feedback you've received about your own ability within fitness and exercise

How'd you score? The higher, the better.

If your score, wasn't as high as you'd like, you can begin to change that immediately. Any strategy which allows you to develop more positives in the three categories will help you develop a powerful mindset which will allow you to achieve great things.

In part three of this article series, I'll teach you specific strategies to enhance your mindset, the foundation of your success.

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