Mentality

Training Schedule – Part 2: Mentality is 50% of the job

Often enough I hear people complain in the morning or evening that they have to go to the gym. They mention that they do not have the time to exercise or that they are so tired and that they are not having fitness progress. Why say that? The moment you say all these things to yourself, you will actually start to believe them if you say it often enough. I used to say the exact same things. Back in high school, I skipped the gym a lot of times because ‘I had so much homework to do’. Well, I can tell you one thing. It is not that I came home, studied for hours straight, ate something, and went immediately to bed. No, in the evening I gave up studying and went to watch TV or something. So there was actually time to work out.

What I want to say with this is the following: stop trying to find excuses for something. Because if you are looking for an excuse, you will definitely find one, as Denzel Washington once said in one of his commencement speeches in the US.

Why not find reasons to go instead of the opposite? What I always, and I mean always, do, is telling myself at least ten times before I head to the gym that I am excited to go, and that I am going to throw all the weights through the roof. I even tell myself that before every set that I do, every rep that I do. Even if I have an off-day, and I might not mean it. The moment you tell it yourself enough times, you will act and behave that way. Attitude plays a significant role in fitness. More than you think.

I like to say that going to the gym, performing in the gym, and sticking to your plan is at least 50% attitude. Never forget why you work out. Never.

Another quote of Arnold Schwarzenegger goes something like this: “I always smiled at the gym, while other bodybuilders who trained as long as I had sour faces. ‘Why, why do you look so happy?’ many people asked me when I worked out. Well, because I knew that every set that I did, every extra rep that I could do, would bring me closer to my goal.”

This quote is maybe the most important quote I will ever post on this blog. It has helped me so much with my attitude within the gym. Since I heard Arnold speak those words, I have never, ever, skipped a single exercise, a single set, or a single rep. I always gave it everything, because I just realized that every set and every rep actually takes me closer to what I want to achieve.

Another thing that is important to improve, is that you should always believe in yourself. If you go to the gym and you do not believe that you can do it, it will impact your performance. Let it be doing a set with one weight higher, you will not be able to do it. It takes tremendous willpower to want to always try picking a higher weight. Next, to that, you should never be afraid to fail. Personally, I have had countless sets where I tried to pick a higher weight, because I wanted to give it everything, and eventually, I ended up not even doing zero or one single repetition because I could not lift my arms anymore. But I did not care, I tried it, and failed. But next time, I will get it, I promise myself that.

You have to want it

This directly leads me to the next section. To be able to give it everything you got, you have to really want it. If you are hungry to get there, you will give it everything. With hungry I mean that you are doing your exercise whilst showing your most intense face struggling with the weights. People who are just standing there casually, not showing a single expression on their face, are not living up to their potential. If you just focus and get it in your head, you will perform way better, and you will achieve your goal faster: even if your goal is ‘get fitter’, you will get there quicker by staying hungry.

The last quote I want to post here is from Mohammed Ali. The quote is an answer to the question asking how many sit-ups Ali does. He said: “I do not know an answer to that question. I only start counting when my abs start burning.”

This shows how dedicated he was to his training. It is not just about doing 20 sit-ups or whatever. No, he knew that in order to improve his abs, he did not just have to do a number of reps. He had to do as much until he dropped down.

Think about yourself for a moment and look at how you think about all these things that are mentioned. Again, link it back to your goal. What is your goal? Okay, so are you going to stick to your schedule? Are you hungry? Are you going to give it everything you got? Give yourself pep talks, make your body and mind believe that you are ready! Let’s go!