All it takes is sixty little seconds to a quality workout! Yes, that’s right, only sixty seconds – one minute.
How many times have you hurried into the gym for your workout, still hectic from the day’s activities? How good did your workout go because you never really got into it?
Here’s a suggestion: take a minute of your time to gather your thoughts and clear your mind of distractions. Think of QUALITY workouts, not just rushing through to get it done so you can move on to something else.
When I say take a minute, I mean take the time to settle down and relax for that minute. Sit off by yourself, close your eyes and relax by yourself. Turn the music down or turn it off so you can concentrate during this time. Take the time to breathe easy and focus on the task at hand.
Pre-workout is the perfect time to visualize. That is, “see” in your mind’s eye, what your perfect lifts in your workout will look like. Forget “numbers”, but focus on the actual lift. “See” yourself performing a perfect lift. You can visualize as if seeing yourself on a videotape or you can see yourself from the “inside” point of view (as if you are looking at the surroundings through your own eyes). Either method works or a combination of the two. You don’t need to go into deep relaxation to do visualization well, but if you are somewhat relaxed, the mind receives the message better and more effectively. With practice, this is a very effective way of improving your lifting.
Remember to speak to yourself in “positive self-talk”. Of course, you don’t need to talk to yourself out loud (people will really think you are nuts!) but internally, most of us use negative terms about ourselves and our actions. With practice, all of your talk to yourself should be positive and upbeat. Even if you don’t feel positive or upbeat, fake it! You’d be surprised how well it helps!
“You only get out of a workout what you put in to it!” Take sixty seconds to put more focus into your workout – before you even get started!
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