Bodybuilding Affirmations
Is It All in Your Head?
Today, I wanna talk about something that all of us can take advantage of, but very few ever really do…
Our minds.
I could get all ‘new-agey’ on you here, and talk about the power of the mind, how visualization can improve your state of being, and even how certain techniques can help program your subconscious (in a matter of speaking) to attain success, almost w/o you having to actively think about it.
But I’m not gonna go that route. Not b/c I don’t believe any of those things – b/c I believe every last one of them.
Instead, I wanna talk about how your own mind can be your own biggest stumbling block.
Know that old saying, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right?”
Well, that’s kinda what I’m talking about.
Lemme diverge for a minute…
Take a second, and picture in your mind the color green. Got it? Cool.
Wasn’t hard was it? You know what green looks like.
But how do you really? (Yeah, I know – dumb question. Just stick w/me for a minute…)
How do you know what color is actually green? I mean, you know what color you perceive and know to be green as “green”, but how do you know that you and I both see and perceive and know the same color as green to be “green”? How do you know that the color you know as “green” isn’t actually what I know as “red”?
Simple – b/c from a very young age, you were taught that the color we all see and perceive and know to be green was called “green”. That knowledge has then been reinforced through countless instances of outside affirmations – teachers in school calling the same color as green, friends talking about stuff that was green in color, the announcer on TV talking about the green grass on the football or baseball field.
There’s been no reason for you to suspect anything other than what we all know to be green as ‘green’.
You still with me?
Well, just for conversation’s sake, let’s say we had a kid that was born and raised in the mountains. No outside contact outside of his folks – no TV, no radio, no intrawebs, no other people – nothing.
Now, let’s say that he was taught that the color we all know to be red was called ‘green’, and that the color we all know to be green was called ‘red’.Say he’d been taught this his whole life, and had nothing but affirmations in his life that this was indeed true.
Well, say he was all of a sudden thrust into society in his 20s. He’d be in a state of shock when he found out that the entire world knew all the colors he knew, but knew they all by different names. He’d have a *very* hard time adjusting to the actual truth. And why is this?
Simple – b/c he’d been presented with a truth for as long as he could remember, and had nothing but affirmation for/to it, so after literally decades of affirming this truth, it would be ingrained in his mind what was ‘true’…it’d be very hard for him to imagine things any other way.
Ok, by now, I know there’s a bunch of you wondering WTF this has to do with training, your workouts, and why I’m going on about it…
I’m going on about it b/c too many times we put limitations on ourselves that are nothing more than self-imposed imitations. It’s not that something isn’t possible or doable or even a bad idea…it’s just that we have this self-imposed limitation as to what we’re “supposed” to be able to do, so that’s what we stick to.
Bullshit.
Exercise methods seem to take these RADICAL shifts over the years. One of the shifts that the exercise, fitness, and strength & conditioning industries are in now is that low volume workouts are better, and one of the reasons why is that the body can only handle so much work in a given period of time.But my question is…why?
Everybody likes to point to the insanely volume-heavy workouts that bodybuilders did back in the ’70s. Training bodyparts 3x/week, marathon workouts that lasted 3+ hours, or training 1.5-2 hours twice/day, etc. We say there’s no way anybody could survive that kind of training.
Why not? Plenty of guys did then. Why can’t they now?
Ahhh…of course. Steroids. All the big-name bodybuilders then were on drugs. Well…DUH.
No kidding. Are you trying to say that today’s big-name bodybuilders aren’t? They’re on massive amounts of drugs – more drugs, stronger drugs, more of them, etc.
So why could they do it then, and we can’t now?
There is no physical answer. The answer why we can’t now is “because (insert ‘expert’ name here) said so”.
(NOTE – I’m not saying the super-volume heavy programs of back then were optimal. Far from it. I’m just making a point.)
If somebody wanted to do this kind of volume heavy program, could they? Not right away – the volume would kill them. But could they work up to it? Of course – plenty of others did, and still made great gains.
The reason why nobody “can” now is that like the colors example above, they’ve been told for as long as they can remember that they can’t or shouldn’t, and everywhere they turn, be it a magazine, website, or whatever, they’re being affirmed that they can’t. So their mind believes it as truth…whether they really can or not.
It’s self-imposed limitation.
Again, I’m not saying we should all go out and buy Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding, join the local chain gym, and start in on the marathon workouts 6x/week. That’s not it.
What’ I’m saying is don’t be afraid to ‘buck the system’ a little bit. Don’t be restricted to what everybody else says you can or can’t, should or shouldn’t be able to do. If you’ve got something you think makes sense, and want to work your way into it – then give it a shot. Be smart about it, do the proper research, and don’t expect the impossible.
But don’t be afraid to go for something, even if status-quo says it’s a dumb idea…esp if people in the past have done similar.
Don’t accept self-imposed limitations.
About the Author
Strength coach, author, & internet marketer from Cameron, NC. Developed a MMA workout, cardio workout, and muscle building workouts for ‘regular joes’ (and ‘janes’).
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