How to Get That Focused Feeling…

Don’t ask me why, but movies have a big effect on my motivation

Rocky, Pumping Iron, 300, Warrior all get me pumped up and focused

….hell even American Psycho has some good disciplined workouts!

They all make me want to TRAIN

I find myself watching these films

 looking at male physiques that I can aspire to

and in my head, before I even leave the cinema sometimes

– I’m making plans as to how my nutrition, training and mindset can build a mighty, screen-worthy body!

Now I’m not saying this out of an egotistical perspective

But when your body looks and feels good, so does your mind

And it’s from the mind that we experience happiness

I believe it’s VITAL that your body is optimised so you can feel happy

SO how can we do this?

Well, focus comes from three things:

1) how you talk to yourself.

2) how your body moves

3) what you focus on

Try this exercise…

Sit exactly how a really depressed person would sit

Round your shoulders

Slump over

Head down

….it doesn’t feel good does it?!

Now sit proud and tall

Pull your shoulders back and chest out

Sit up straight

Head up

….feels a ton better doesn’t it!

That’s your physiology, your body, mirroring a successful posture

You don’t have to ‘be’ successful to walk, talk and stand like a winner

Research shows that by doing so, however, you’ll feel 10X better and enjoy your day, have less stress, be able to visualize success better and achieve more in your training

Now think about language, how you talk to yourself…

Are you saying negative things, or entertaining worst-case-scenarios or fears, or always picturing the bad instead of the good?

You can train your mind to picture only the best-case-scenarios and inspire confidence in yourself, always picturing the good instead of the bad

This simply comes from positivitity:

 - celebrate every positive, just a little pat on your own back will do

 - tell yourself, ‘I got this’, ‘I can do this’, ‘If others can do this then I can too’

Make sense?

That’s positive language

Now the last point, FOCUS

This means that each day your ACTIONS are goal-oriented

Boil your day-to-day actions down to the necessary and productive ONLY

For example:

Just prepare your meals once per day, eat those meals

schedule 3 workouts per week, go to the gym on those days

Get into bed by 10:30pm every day

Repeat until goal is achieved!

Daily action may seem BORING, repetitive and dull

In a way, I guess that it is

But switch your language up so that it becomes enjoyable.

A great example of this is Arnold Schwarzenegger who was often asked how he could repeatedly punish himself with 2-3 hour daily workouts that pushed him to the brink of what his body could achieve….

He stopped the person and said, ‘I don’t see it as punishment, I see every rep as a step closer to my goal, and so I’m not unhappy or in pain when I’m at the gym, in fact I’m really happy because I’m achieving my goals every second of every workout.

^^ now THAT is a positive focus, a positive language pattern…

…and you can bet that he walked, talked and behaved like a champion even before he was one.

He still does now!

Your awesome results are only achievable as a result of focus, language and physiology

So go walk the walk and be positive about it!!

Go take ACTION!

Anthony Shaw

Head Coach

Raw Strength Gym, Warrington