The greatest challenge to a trainer is the trainee. Will they or won’t they follow through? Will they cheat on their diet and lie about it? The methods work, but only if they are followed.
This means the barrier between yourself and the body you want is not primarily physical, but mental.
But the mind can also be trained, with exercises and repetitions, just like the muscles. This post is meant to be an exercise, to be repeated, just like a curl or a press. I invite you to come back to this, to program your brain just as you program your body — not all the time, but every once in a while.
The following is a list of 9 mental reframes you can use, to program your mind to help yourself help them. These reframes are not “true” (or “false”), they are just different — and more helpful — ways of thinking, designed to keep you on the path and achieve success.
- Your body is your mind
You might have heard people talk about the “mind/body” distinction. This is an illusion. Your mind is a part of your body. How your body feels controls how you think. How you think changes what your body becomes. Once you grasp that these are not “connected,” but literally the same thing, remembering to train and care for your body will not feel like a good idea, but more like a law.
- Willing, not willpower
You may think it takes willpower to make yourself exercise and go to the gym. For people doing this alone, that might matter. But since you have a trainer, it takes no willpower at all. You simply have to accept the instruction, and allow your body to follow the instructions. You don’t need to will anything. You just need to be willing. Your body will take care of the rest.
- Your body is a car
Your body is a machine. It has to be fueled and lubricated just like a car. Filling your stomach with sugary, junky food is like putting diesel into a gasoline car. If asked, most people know what is nutrition and what is poison. You know too. You have to give your car the right fuel if you want it to drive anywhere.
- You move into your mood
Some people struggle with being “in the mood” to do something, like exercise. But our moods are the byproducts of what we eat, how we sleep, and how we feel. Depression is a lot like ‘tiredness,’ and it’s easy for people to confuse the two. You don’t need to be in the mood to exercise. Exercise is the medicine for being in a low mood.
- You were made to lift
Your body was built to be athletic. We are the best long-distance runners on the planet, and our joints and muscles were designed to lift and throw things. There is a certain biological basis for happiness, and we tap into that when we use our bodies to do difficult things. Lifting brings satisfaction because it is fulfilling one of the purposes of your body.
- Strength improves your relationships
We don’t need to go into detail about how being stronger and fitter makes you more attractive to the opposite sex (and makes sex itself much better, especially for your partner). But being strong and healthy doesn’t just change your romantic relationships. Your parents will be more proud of you; your children more in awe; your friends and co-workers more respectful, and perhaps even envious. Socially, attractive people just do better in life. Being fit brings you these privileges. It can be subtle, but it’s there.
- Sleep is kindness to yourself
A philosopher once said that he laughed at weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws. Being powerful allows us to be kind in a way that other people experience as real kindness, and not just weakness. But you can’t be kind to others if you aren’t kind to yourself, or if you are tired. Sleep deprivation makes you impatient and mean. It punishes others, as much as it punishes your own body. Be kind to your body, and get enough sleep.
- It’s only vain if it’s futile
You have heard people call gym-goers “vain.” But vanity is only a vice if it is false. “Vanity” means futility, and the association comes from a Christian idea that we should not dwell in the flesh, but in heaven. Taking pride in your body, and being proud of your accomplishments is actually an Aristotelian virtue called ‘maganimity,’ or ‘greatness of spirit.’ The lack of ambition, pride, and a sense of worth is the vice of pusillanimousness, which is a form of cowardice disguised as modesty. Don’t listen to allegations of vanity or narcissism.
- Your body changes the world
Your health changes how you see and experience the world… but you are also a part of the world to other people. How strong or weak, how athletic or frail, how vital or deathly you are is an energy that changes the world for other people. In a very real sense, you are the world, as other people experience it. To save the world, maybe the best thing we can do is to make it stronger and more powerful.
If you really want this to sink in, here is one final exercise you can do: go to FaceLab and upload a picture of yourself. Think of it as a “before” progress picture.
Now use the “age” tool to see what you might look like later in life. Really look at it. That elderly person is someone’s grandparent. And you are responsible for them. How will you treat them? What will you do for them?
That is what this training is about.
