Mind and Body

Over the last 30 years of being both a personal trainer and mentor (on and off), there has been this lingering pattern I keep seeing. People want to work on their minds (mental strengthening) and bodies (physical strengthening) separately. Like the two are two separate entities. What ends up happening with this approach is they tend to sacrifice one for the other, depending on what is more important to them. Time (they are ALWAYS too busy) is the number 1 reason I hear. There isn’t enough time for both. Not wanting to get into some sort of argument or cast doubt on anything they are doing, I’ve always just shrugged my shoulders and said OK. It never sat well with me, however. I mean I understand their perspective and all but don’t we need both of them working together to be our best selves? What do you think? Should we treat them separately?

I stumbled upon another pattern by watching this same occurrence happen over and over again. I would ask someone I was physically training to do a particular exercise, one that they were uncomfortable with and required them to stay focused. In most cases, it was something they had learned to do improperly and I was helping them correct their form. If I reminded them of the correction at each rep, they could get through a whole set without slipping back. If I remained silent, they would start off with good form and slowly slip back into bad form by the 7th rep (if we were doing 10). It took me a while but I narrowed it down to two things. As they fatigued, they would resort to their former form because they were beginning to struggle and were more comfortable with the previous form. Or they could not keep their mind at the moment long enough to get through a whole set (even though it was usually no more than 1 minute). Their mind would drift to other things, causing them to slip back into bad form. Curious, right?

There is a circular argument going around on whether you need a strong mind to be physically fit or whether being physically fit will lead to a strong mind. One take was you need some sort of mental strength (a strong why) to not just overcome the initial soreness that comes with strength training but also to stay consistent enough to see results. However, there is something to be said for shutting off your brain and just doing physical work. Simple. Effective. And the resulting physical improvements tend to make a person more confident, leading to mental strength. So, which is it? In truth, this argument is completely unnecessary if you stop seeing mental and physical strengthening as separate. If you reconnect your mind and body as one thing, something that should be worked on together, you kill two birds with one stone. And in a world where we are always too busy, doesn’t that seem like the most logical way to proceed? 

The question you might be asking yourself is how do we do that? Well, you need a strength coach, someone capable of teaching both mind and body at the same time. This is extremely uncommon. Usually, you have someone like a therapist who works on your mind and then later you have a personal trainer who works on your body. Rarely does your therapist have you doing burpees or your personal trainer talking to you about overcoming emotional or mental obstacles. Why not? The easiest answer is one is not trained to do the other. Another answer might be economic, where having two jobs is better for the economy. I can’t help but think it really comes down to that’s just how everyone has always done it. Like everyone has always had a washer and a dryer. Until one day, someone realized (or discovered) that we could have one machine that does both things. 

And wouldn’t you know it, that day is today. Much like the washer/dryer combo now available, I have created a mind/body training session that works on both simultaneously. And the feedback has been great. My trainees really like how talking about all the mental stuff completely distracted them from the physical work. They are so busy thinking that the hour and a half passes quickly and before they know it, they put in some good physical work. And it felt effortless. Less dreaded. One of the biggest complaints from gymgoers is the constant need to think about what exercise to do next, what muscle group, etc. Here, I control all of that. They can just show up, do what I ask, and just get lost in the thought-provoking questions I ask them. Rather than turning their brain off, they turn their brain on high. Nothing too personal of course, it’s not that kind of therapy. No, the questions are designed to create awareness about who they are, what they want out of life, and how they might go about making that happen. You know, mentorship.  

I would love to have everyone come to my school and learn and experience this mind/body combo. There is something special about helping people find their best self and setting them free. It’s why I started my school. But not everybody can drive to Ventura, CA or has the time or money to come train. I get that. The data are clear though. People are doing a very poor job (generally) of taking care of their physical and mental health. You know it and I know it. It is not something we can keep overlooking. It’s preventing you from reaching your potential. Sure, you might go to a gym but are you really there with purpose, a goal in mind, or are you just going through the motions? And what about your mental strength? What on earth are you doing to improve on that little problem? Do you even know how to strengthen your mind?  

These are not easy questions. Mental strength is the ability to control oneself, particularly emotionally. It requires practice and trial and error to find how best you control yourself. It cannot just be assumed. You must work on your mind equally as hard as you work on your body and both MUST BE WORKED ON DAILY. Rather than thinking you will, make sure you will by stacking them both together. Don’t just listen to music or stare off into space (which nowadays in a gym can get you in real trouble), listen to something that stimulates your mind. A podcast. An audiobook. Those are quick fixes and perfectly good starts. If you are ready for something more advanced, take an evening in the not-so-distant future and sit down with a little notebook and jot down some questions. Who am I? What matters to me presently (not necessarily in the past or what you wish did)? Am I happy? Can I change that? Why does _____ bother me so much? Am I being the best I can be at work? In my relationships? In my friendships? What could I do differently to improve one of these things? What resources do I need to acquire to improve my life? Do I have a dream, a vision, or even goals for my life? Who could help me? Am I humble enough to ask for help? Just open your mind to asking yourself important questions. Put each question on a separate page in the notebook.

What I want you to do next is take the notebook with you to your workout and focus on thinking about just one question in depth for the whole workout. As thoughts come to you, jot down a few words or sentences between sets. Nothing big. Really focus on understanding the question and how it relates to your life. At the end of the workout, sit in your car (or wherever) and just kind of finalize what you came up with. Scribble it down. It needs to be right after the workout, not later. You will lose the thoughts. Do one question each workout. Not every workout of course but maybe once or twice a week. Then on Sunday, read what you wrote and jot down any new questions you might have thought of. Repeat each week. And watch where you are mentally in a week, month, or year. Reconnect your mind and body. You are both of them.

And if this works for you, reach out to us at the school and let us know. We love feedback.

Good luck!