Day Five: Your mind told you to quit
written by Kelly Halkett
Plain and simple, my mind told me to quit today. During my fitness evaluation this morning at Think Fitness with Stephanie I was doing an exercise that I was struggling with and it was obvious I was struggling with it. I started talking out loud saying to myself, “I am going to stop, I can’t do this” to which Stephanie told me to get through the pain and do 10 more seconds and I kept saying to myself I can’t do this. And guess what, I didn’t do it and I dropped. Stephanie said to me “your mind told you to quit and you did” ~ ouch, that got me going and got that inner voice inside of me to start beating myself up. I was thinking to myself how could I drop? How could I stop? You’re tough, get over it and DO IT!
Never before have I realized how big the mental mind game is with exercise and strength training. Case in point, later in my fitness evaluation, I was doing a leg press exercise where Stephanie loaded up the machine with huge, heavy weights for my legs to lift. First time around, I was okay, second time around with even more weight to lift, I punched out two presses (FYI… giving birth to my three children was easier than this exercise.) Not satisfied and feeling totally defeated I told her I wanted to try again it. This time with my mind focused and thinking of nothing else but pushing that weight up and then back down I got out 11 reps, wow, that felt good.
Again, I couldn’t have done any of this today without the skilled training from Stephanie. This is one tough lady; she is a fighter, literally. As I am talking with her I am learning that she is a martial arts expert and doing a status test tomorrow to advance to the next level. What does she have to do to get to the next level, fight. And who does she have to fight – anyone, male, female, bigger or smaller than herself, she fights them all and for three solid hours. I said men don’t want to hit a girl so how does that work to which she told me that once you get hit in the face you get over it and move on. Mentally I am sure she gets in the zone to push herself through what she is about to face.
To summarize, for those of you sitting on the fence thinking about exercising or starting a fitness regime, you need to get your mind into the game. Thinking about it isn’t going to do anything for you, get out there and DO IT. I realized today that I can’t do this on my own. In the past I have worked out and done my own thing but I dabbled in it and it wasn’t ever constant. With the focus of a trainer working with me and holding me accountable and giving me goals that I have to adhere to I can’t mess up. Without having the amazing team at Think Fitness behind me I would never be doing what I am doing and the fact that I am able to do it with the best team out there is making me the best that I can be and pushing me to new levels I have never hit before.
So with that week one is over. Let’s see what week two brings to the table but either way, my game face is on and it’s time to get moving. Lastly, one thing that I do know is that you will never ever hear me say the words, “I can’t do it” cause guess what, I can and so can you so get moving!
