Today we are going to talk some psychology. In fact psychology is my favorite subject, I love it so much I took it twice in college (okay that is sarcastic I don’t love it that much but I did take it twice). We are going to talk about it through a story because that is more interesting than the science.

The mind and the body are both powerful machines, they are powerful alone but together they are unstoppable. Has anyone ever heard of  the stories where mothers can lift cars off of their child or people can do superhuman things when it is a life or death situation (if you haven’t check out some videos on Youtube). Now while some of these may be myths I believe there is some truth behind it.

Now to my story.  Unfortunately it’s not one where I save someone’s life by lifting a car off  of them.  Now, if you come to Core Principles you know that we do monthly challenges to have some fun and create some friendly competition, and if you don’t you should come to Core Principles because the challenges are really awesome!

This months challenge is a Farmer Carry with ¼ of your body weight in each hand for as long as you can and then a plank as long as you can. First time I did the challenge I got about 2:30 on the farmer carry, did it again about a week later and got over a minute longer. Now I did not do any crazy training program during that week and I didn’t take any magic pill. So what changed? Two things. First was  I already had a time I knew I wanted to beat, and second I knew Haylin had a better time than me and I  wanted to beat him.

This shows the power of our mind. The first time I did the challenge I thought my body was physically tired but in reality I had more in the tank I was just not motivated enough.

So how can you apply this to your training to help you?

Every time you step into the gym try to pick one thing to get better at. Try to choose at least one exercise that you will either go up in weight with or do more sets or reps. Just try in one way to make an exercise harder. If you set your goal to beat whatever you did last time or get a little better you will be surprised how much motivation that gives you.

Find someone who you are close with who is around your physical capabilities and try to have some fun and friendly competition. You both will push each other past what you thought were your limits. The key here is to keep it friendly and safe, don’t start pushing each other to do things that will get you hurt.

Often times we are much stronger and can push ourselves more than we think. I hope those two tips will help you push yourself and achieve the goals you want while having some fun along the way.

P.S. If Haylin beats my time I will have to do it again, this may take a while but we will keep everyone updated.