Mental Toughness Course Lesson 1

You're only as strong as you want to be. If you want to build strength, than you have to push yourself not only physically but mentally as well.

Over the next three lessons get into the mental groove so that you can push through the physical demands and come out victorious.

7 Commandments to Make You a Mentally Tough Power Woman!

Together we can be mental masters!

Mental toughness goes a long way when it comes to deciding whom in this world is going to succeed and who is going to fail. Without mental toughness most people will hit a set back, get discouraged and walk away to try the next fast solution. If you have mental toughness, which you do right?... you will succeed guaranteed.

So if mental toughness is so important how exactly do you go about building yours up? Can you build it up?

Heck yeah you can build it up and if you devote learning how, you will out right be unstoppable. Let's get into this...

1. Confidence

I want to pose a quick question to you... can you be confident without any results to back that up or do you need prior results to be confident?

If you think you need prior results to have confidence you are going to fail. You don't! You need to build personal confidence before results because it is that confidence that will produce those results... and then explode that already high confidence.

Confidence is knowing you are prepared and having a strong belief in your abilities to reach your intended goals. Being prepared, for you and weight training, is knowing you will succeed. You have all of the tools you need here at The Art of Weight Lifting to become a fitness model if you wanted too... but you have to have belief.

Do you believe you will either get ripped or take your already ripped body to the next level?

You better. The greatest thing about weight lifting and working out here is the fact that when you see your results over the coming months, you confidence and your belief will skyrocket. You almost don't have to worry about it. You just have to act!

"Confidence is about who puts it on the line, who has the courage to compete like a warrior without fear or failure" - Jerry Lynch

2. Program your Mind

Become your own success zombie... the unwavering and unstoppable zombie that keeps coming and coming and succeeding. Don't you wish you could be like a zombie sometimes? They get shot, get up, shot again, get up again, shot again, get up again... they never seem to quit.

Too bad for that ugly dead thing right?

What you need to do is program your mind with affirmations and visualizations. You need to expect the best from yourself and affirm what it is you are going to do. Affirm that you are going to kill it in the gym today. Affirm that you are going to hit your 3 month goal. Affirm that you are going to get ripped and reach your ultimate goal.

Next, visualize. Sit down and close your eyes... literally see yourself going through the motions of succeeding and kicking butt. See yourself weight lifting and see your muscles becoming more ripped. If you can see it, it becomes real to your brain. You will then simply make it so.

3. Build a Success Routine

I am not a big fan of routines, but if it is a success routine then heck I will adopt it. If you have ever seen golf or play golf, you might have noticed that before a player does his pre-shot routine there is something that triggers it.

For example... some players will tug on their glove or tip their hat. Something small, but this is a signal to their brain to get into concentration mode. You need to use this same technique for your weight training and life.

Develop a small, almost unnoticeable trigger that will signal you are in the zone and performing. This will help you build a little winning routine. For example... after I get in the shower in the mornings, I like to do my ab wheel and whip off as many pushups as I possibly can. I am developing a trigger for this... need to make it a habit.

Part of your routine is committing yourself to learning, practicing, and participating in your goals. By being part of this community, you are learning, practicing, and most importantly ACTING towards your goal. That is great!

4. Learn to Let Go of Mistakes

Not just let go of them, but let go of them fast! Making mistakes can be very disheartening. You need to train your brain to give it the "oh well" attitude. If you make a mistake, just say, "oh well." Learn what you did and move on.

If you let it affect you then you might just be taking 5 steps backward before you take one step forward. Regressing is not he name of the game. Learn to compensate, adjust then trust. If you can compensate for your failure... adjust your methods... and trust you are doing the right thing then you will probably succeed.

Even if you fail again you just keep going. It is about persistence. Think about this... if you commit to yourself that you will always be persistent and always keep trying to hit your goal... then it is literally impossible to fail. It might take you a little longer to succeed, but my guess is you will probably succeed a lot faster with an attitude like that.

5. Notice Negative Self Talk

I don't like to get all bogged down with self talk because it can drive you crazy. Just know this one thing about it...

Never say things like "I can't, I won't, I'll try, I think, etc..." Instead you have to trick your subconscious into believing you are doing it. Always tell yourself that you are doing whatever it is in the present tense.

Say... "I am ripped and I eat healthy every day." I know it sounds hokey and has that Stuart from SNL vibe to it, but it works. Your subconscious doesn't know what is right or what is wrong. So if you just tell it what you want as if you already have it... then you will.

6. & 7. Failure is a Stepping Stone & Step More Out of Your Comfort Level

I am putting these two together because we already discussed failure. At least all you need to really know about it to become the mental monster. But failure is very closely related to 7: stepping even further out of your comfort zone.

One of the fastest ways to build determination is to do something crazy. If you are trying to lose a lot of body fat to become ripped... go out in public wearing something that is a little revealing. You probably won't pull it off, but you are stepping out of your comfort zone.

You will grow from this and make yourself achieve that goal. The thing is you will fail most likely when you step out of your comfort zone. So you have to persist to keep moving. So whether you want to compete in fitness competitions, wear killer clothing, and take over the boardroom, whatever... try it and then adapt to that.

Weight training will help you build all of this, but you also need to build this to help you in the tough times when you are weight training. They do come and you need to blow by them. What are you going to do when you come up again your next brick wall?

What about those mornings when you wake up from only 5 hours of sleep of after a 10 hour day at work. The last thing on your mind is a workout... but push through it. Don't let "I'm too tired" be your exercise excuse.

Get more information about exercises to lose weight and make sure you check out our fitness courses podcast where we talk about current fitness events and give you help to get great results.

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