We often talk about executive details of a certain exercise or subtleties in food choices. However, due attention is rarely given to the concept of "being present" when training.
It often happens, in fact, to train and end the training with the belief that you have had a terrible session: in most of the exercises you were not focused on what you were doing.
We tend not to focus on what we are doing because this effort becomes very onerous, both in physical and psychological terms. All the executive details on which we discuss are the result of the concentration and attention that is placed in every movement.
If this "focus" were not present then you would not even notice the numerous details that lead to a big difference in your training. All the tips and tricks are nothing more than the product of this focus.
A simple example is the following: most people know that when doing deadlifts it is necessary to maintain a physiological alignment of the spine and yet often we end up doing the exercise without paying attention to what we are doing with. our body.
If the attention were constant, you would be able to have a training that is always 90% effective because you have managed to attribute the intended purpose.
To conclude the example of deadlifts, we often end up focusing on how much weight we are lifting or we think about something else or we start chatting with a friend. You perform the movement, or at least you think you are doing it, but the mind is elsewhere and you end up having a bad execution and even getting hurt.
Training requires both physical effort and mental effort.
Mind - muscle connection
A gym for the mind. Does the concept of connection lie? muscle is a direct consequence of the focus. In order to feel what you are doing you need to be present in what we do.
When the results we expect are lacking, we start looking for shortcuts, solutions that may seem interesting at first glance or we end up blaming an unfortunate genetic potential. In most cases, the truth is that you don't get what you want because you don't do what you should do to get it.
In order to evoke an adaptive response in our body it is necessary to impose the stimulus for change; but how is it possible to do this if you do not train the muscle and instead you only perform the movement for maybe two hours straight. You cannot expect results if you do not commit yourself correctly.
When you train with focus the session is productive, it takes less time because the time you use is not wasted and you are more satisfied with yourself.
A gym for the mind: How to develop these good habits?
In general, the hardest part is always getting started. When you begin to see the results of your efforts, you are motivated to move forward in the right direction and to continue making sacrifices until this style of training (and life) becomes a habit.
Two "simple" tips for developing and maintaining this mentality are the following:
- Make constant effort in each repetition to feel what our body is doing
- Perform one set of 20 reps of squats and 1 set of 20 reps of deadlifts once a week
The first piece of advice doesn't need much explanation while the second is to constantly test yourself. If you perform a set of 20 repetitions of squats with a weight with which we would normally do 12, a strong concentration and constant effort is required to complete the set, the same goes for the deadlifts.
This effort leads to a change in the mentality with which you approach training and over time you tend to put aside all superficial things, in order to focus instead on what is really important.
Performing these two sets once a week is definitely a great workout for your body and, above all, a great workout for your mind.
Conclusion
With this article "a gym for the mind" we have seen the correlation between psychophysical well-being and training. Physical activity plays a great role in improving our mood and giving us the calm we seek.
Our articles should be used for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to be taken as medical advice. If you are concerned, consult a health professional before taking dietary supplements or making major changes to your diet.
