THE UNBREAKABLE MIND- 5 REASONS WHY MINDSET IS THE #1 FACTOR IN BUILDING YOUR HEALTH
Find out why your brain needs to be your strongest muscle in your quest for peak fitness and health.
In 1974, shortly after his devastating eighth-round knockout of George Foreman in the ‘rumble in the jungle,’ Muhammad Ali was asked by a reporter how many push-ups he could do. Ali smiled at the reporter and said, ‘Oh, about 8 or 9.’
This hardly impressed the newsman who shot back, ‘Only eight or nine?
Ali winked at him and replied, ‘Yeah, but I only start counting when I can’t do anymore!’
That conversation perfectly encapsulates the power of the mind over the body. When Ali’s body said it was time to stop, his mind kicked into high gear and forced the body to follow through. Ali's story could be mirrored by top-level athletes the world over. Each one of them had a mind that was far more powerful than their muscles and more instrumental to their success than any natural talent or genetic advantage that they may have possessed.
Not many of us can develop the boxing skill of Muhammad Ali. But we can all enhance our mental toolbox to conquer our personal health goals. Here are five compelling reasons why a powerful mindset is the #1 factor in building your health.
Reason #1: The Mind Provides the Reason
Imagine two people digging ditches. One is a convict on a chain gang. His job is to dig a hole six feet deep and three feet wide and then promptly fill it back again. The other is a new homeowner who has been told that there is a box buried with $200,000 cash somewhere in his backyard. It's not hard to guess which one will have a greater motivation to persevere. More than likely, the first man will be merely going through the motions, slacking off when the guards aren't watching. The second man will likely keep digging day and night, ignoring the sun’s heat, the ache in his back, and the calluses on his hands.
Yet they’re both doing the same thing.
That scenario perfectly illustrates the power of having a reason to do something. Without it, we have no motivation. And with no motivation, we will, at best, just go through the motions and, at worst, give up altogether. That is as true when it comes to healthy lifestyle habits as it is of digging a hole.
It is your mind that provides the reason behind your physical endeavors. That reason could be to look good for your spouse, to set a role model for your kids, or to be fit enough to play with your grand kids. Whatever it is, keeping it to the forefront of your mind will keep you going when the going gets tough.
Reason #2: Goal Setting
The mind is the vehicle through which we set goals. And goals are a crucial tool in the pursuit of our health objectives. Through them, we can take a general conception of what we want to achieve and quantify it in terms of specific, time-bound results. Furthermore, goal setting allows us to take an elephant-sized ambition and chunk it up into a series of stepping stone goals, each of which leads to the next.
The ability to properly set and then pursue goals is a major motivating force that keeps us going in pursuit of our health and fitness objectives.
Reason 3: The Subconscious
Your subconscious mind is a powerful resource that dominates everything you think and everything you do. It’s like the 90% of the iceberg that sits below the surface, unseen but all-controlling.
Even though we may not consciously realize it, the subconscious dictates how we think and what we do. However, the conscious mind can control the subconscious. By feeding it with positive affirmations about ourselves and our goals, we can train the subconscious to lead us toward the fulfillment of our goals.
The subconscious is geared towards negativity. If left unchecked, it will cause us to sabotage our health goals. But when we repeat statements like ‘I am working relentlessly toward my goals,’ and ‘every day, I'm getting stronger,’ it will steer us toward their achievement.
Reason #4: Visualization
Visualization is a powerful mental technique that has been used by professional athletes to improve their physical performance for decades. Over the last few years, it has also become popular among everyday fitness enthusiasts who have learned to use its power to improve their performance.
Visualization involves creating vivid mental images of some challenging activity that you are about to do. You see yourself doing the activity with perfect form for the required number of sets and reps. Nothing distracts you, and nothing stops your body from performing effortlessly. By the time you get to the gym and do the activity, your mind has already perfectly completed the workout. You are mentally primed to follow through with all the ease that you did it during your mental rehearsal. All you have to do now is follow through.
Combine the mental power of visualization with the nutritional power of Hyperload pre-workout. It’ll deliver the exact nutrients in the precise dosages that your body needs to achieve peak performance on the gym floor.
Reason #5: Fear of Failure
We often view the fear of failure as a negative trait that can hold us back from stepping up to the plate and going for our goals. It certainly can be that, but it can also be used as a positive to help us to achieve our goals.
When we are working out, the fear of letting ourselves down can be a strong motivating force. The thought of walking out of the gym with our mind condemning us as a loser because we wimped out early on that final set of squats can be a powerful motivating force when we’re in the thick of the fire. Not having to feel like a heel between this workout and the next can push us to a performance level that we would simply not be able to achieve if it wasn't for the power of the mind.
That same fear of failure can help us to stay true to our nutritional plan. The temporary satisfaction of a sweet treat is balanced against the feeling of having let ourselves down for the rest of the day. When we weigh it up we usually conclude that it's just not worth it.
You can fortify your willpower to resist those sweet treat temptations by taking a dose of Hyperburn first thing in the morning and again in the afternoon. Hyperburn includes ingredients that naturally decrease your appetite, allowing you to stay focused on your goals - not food!
Mastering Your Motivation
The mind can, indeed, be the unbreakable tool that catapults us to our health and fitness objectives. But it can also act in the opposite direction, stopping us from making any progress. The difference lies in what we feed our minds. Here are our top 3 tips to becoming a motivation master at developing your unbreakable mind.
Motivation Hack #1: Start Your Day The Right Way
Motivation starts when you first wake up in the morning. Having a morning motivational routine is a great way to stoke your fire for the day. This should include positive reinforcement statements such as ‘What will be is up to me’ and ‘I am the master of my universe.’
It should include your current monthly goals and a positive statement about the completion of your goals. For example, if my goal is to lose weight, I will have a statement such as the following:
It is December 30th, 2020, and I am at 10% body fat.
After reading your motivational statements, spend a few minutes in quiet meditation. During that period, run a movie through your mind showing how you are going to advance your goals and your passions over the course of the day.
Once you’ve completed your morning motivational routine, get your day off to a great nutritional start with Hyperburn. It’ll provide you with the energy, metabolism boost and mood elevation to fuel you for success.
Motivation Hack #2: Use Music to Motivate
Music is a fantastic motivator. Of course, we all have different songs that motivate us. Make a personal playlist of the songs that get you pumped up and energized, and that feed your motivation. Most people are pumped by the likes of the Rocky Theme and Eye of the Tiger, but for others, Taylor Swift's Bad Blood gets their juices flowing. Create your list of ten personal favorites and then create them as a playlist.
Motivation Hack #3: Just Do It!
Most people tend to overthink things. We often don't take action until we think all of the conditions are perfect. But if you wait until all the lights are green before heading into town, you will never leave your driveway!
You need to get beyond this mindset and become a person of action. Don't wait for the ideal conditions because they will never be here. Just Do It and do it now.
Here are three questions to ask yourself:
What is holding me back?
What is stopping me from just doing it?
What am I waiting for?
Wrap Up
With the ongoing challenges that 2020 has presented, it's more important than ever to develop a strong, resilient, unconquerable mindset. Feed your mind daily with our three key motivation hacks to stay on track with your physical goals.