The Most Underutilized Body Transformation Tool

Mental Toughness for Body Transformation

Your lungs are burning.  Your legs feel like lead.  Sweat is burning your eyes.  You are hot, it is hard to breathe, and everything in you is screaming at you to stop.  At that moment, your coach screams, “Ten seconds left- PUSH HARDER”.  You have a choice to make- to push or to give up.  What you choose in that moment will have effects that reach far beyond that moment in time so it is important that you learn to choose well in these moments.  Learning to push when you would rather quit helps you to develop the most underutilized body transformation tool that exists- mental toughness.

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Getting fit is a mental game.  Almost everyone knows it but very few actively seek to engage in that game to ensure success with body transformation and life.   The level of mental toughness an individual has determines whether they will fall into the category of those who simply know what to do yet remain unsuccessful in following through to reach their goals OR those who do what it takes to make their dreams reality in what may appear to be an effortless manner.  The truth is that those who finish and succeed at body transformation work just as hard as those who don’t- the appearance of ease only comes from the fact that they have decided that they must finish and have totally abandoned the option of quitting.   So now that you know that getting mentally tough is required for your body transformation journey, here are three ways to get started on your journey to mental toughness.

#1: Start DOING.

The first part of cultivating mental toughness is showing up.  Once you learn what you need to do- do it. Show up for your workouts. Go grocery shopping.  Cook your food.  Do what it takes to give yourself a chance to succeed. Knowing what to do without doing it is worse than not knowing because you always have the annoying voice in the back of your head saying, “but you know what to do, just do it.”  Take action and silence that voice.

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#2: Develop the habit of finishing.

In order to transform your body, you will need to continue to exercise, eat well, and get rest even when life happens.  Even when you need to work late, the children get ill, or your car breaks down, there is still a way to take the daily actions required to succeed.  You just need to get very good at finding and then taking advantage of that alternate route to your goal.  Setting small challenges is an awesome way to develop the habit of finishing.   Give up sugar for 5 days.  Commit to working out for 10 days straight.  Pick a challenge and then pick another when that one is complete.  You will develop the winning habit of finishing what you begin.

#3: Keep challenging yourself.

You will not get mentally tough from continuously doing what you already know you can do.  Expose yourself to new PHYSICAL challenges constantly.  Try the harder variation of an exercise in training.  Learn a new physical skill.  Commit to doing something that scares you (something legal of course).  Sticking with the safe, expected, and familiar is a huge hindrance to developing mental toughness.  Embrace the unknown and unexpected.

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#4:  Learn and respect the difference between pain and discomfort and injury.

Pain and discomfort are both temporary and getting used to enduring both will help you follow through and finish.  Injury on the other hand (like a muscle tear, broken bones, etc.) is not helpful and should be avoided. 

#5: Spend time with mentally tough people.

You take on characteristics of those you spend the most time with.  If your friends are more likely to say, “I don’t know why you tried to get up that early to work out anyway” rather than, “Just set a second alarm.  You can do it.” – You are hanging with the wrong crowd.  Find people who challenge you and spend time around them.  When you are stronger, you can strengthen others so don’t feel guilty about spending less time with those that don’t challenge you and enable you to remain weak.    

The formula for mental toughness is simple- show up, don’t stop, do something harder, REPEAT.  Even though the formula is simple, the never ending journey is often times difficult.  When you feel like giving up, revisit your motivation.  Remember why you embarked upon this journey in the first place.  Think of all of the positive benefits you will enjoy as a result of following through then dig in and keep going.

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