The Link between Positive Thinking and Fitness
Recently I have been thinking about the power of positive thinking. I consider myself a very positive person. One of my mentors once taught me that there is a direct link between your thoughts and what you get out of life. I really want to be a great dad, husband, son, brother, personal trainer etc and I know to do that flooding my head with positive thoughts will be essential.
But what is positive thinking and how in the world does it relate to fitness. And why is my boot camp instructor talking be me about thinking positive??? We’ll there is a direct correlation between your positive/negative thoughts and your fitness results.
“Think positive”. Has that ever been said to you? I know I’ve heard it a thousand times. Think positive. Sounds nice, sounds like the right thing to do. But what exactly does it mean? The power of positive thinking is something that some scoff at, some believe but have no idea how to incorporate into their daily lives, and some (mostly the world’s most successful people) breath it, feel it, believe it, practice it, preach it, and live it everyday of their lives.
The concept of getting what you want out of life through positive thinking is gaining popularity. People are now beginning to understand and believe that there is a real link between your thoughts and results.
“A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds”.-Ramez Sasson
The other night I was watching American Idol (yes, you can laugh at me) and I heard one of those odd contestants who has no singing talent say…”They took my dream away from me”. I immediately shook my head.
No one can take your dreams away from you. You control whether or not your dreams come true. What your mind can conceive you can achieve. I have always believed that.
This idea applies to all facets of life. Money, relationships, careers, and yes fitness. Having been in this industry for 15 years I have trained well over 1000 clients and I have seen a direct link between mindset and results.
In general there are two types of boot camp clients:
Client #1-This client comes to me wanting to lose weight, get in shape, get toned, and look and feel great. They come to me with a positive attitude just knowing that this is going to work for them. They can see, feel it, and even taste it. They are motivated, curious, inquiring, and ready to work.
Client #2-This client comes to me down and out, having tried “everything” out there to get in shape and lose weight. They have no faith that this is going to work either. They figure, “I might as well give this a try, nothing else has worked. This probably won’t work either but I guess I’ll give it a go.” They are just going through the motions EXPECTING to fail.
I will give you one guess who gets the better results almost 100% of the time. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes. It was said by Henry Ford:
“Whether you think you can or can’t, either way you’re right”
The person who approaches anything in life (for the sake of this article we’ll focus on health and fitness) with a positive attitude, knowing they will achieve it…will. It’s a foolproof plan. The opposite is true as well.
I have a friend who owns a local business. We’ve been friends since childhood but he is a very negative person when it comes to his business. He sells a very high ticket item and whenever a potential customer comes in to inquire about his services he expects them not to buy. And guess what? They usually don’t.
Now, he stays business because he is VERY good at what he does and the people who do buy continue to buy and refer friends and family. But he has been in business for 6 years and he still struggles to pay his bills.
His lack of success can be directly correlated to his negative attitude.
If you have struggled with your weight or have never been happy with your fitness results, I submit that your attitude has had something to do with it.
If you are my client you know I preach sound nutrition, proper resistance training and cardio. But this…a positive attitude…is the missing link. I suggest you approach your health, fitness, and weight loss in the same way you would approach anything else in life that you want to achieve.
There are several ways to turn negative thoughts positive ones. In order to change the mind from negative to positive, inner work and training are required. Your attitude will not change overnight.
If you battle with negative thoughts here are a few suggestions:
1.) Read about the power of positive thinking. Study it. There are a lot of books on the subject and I PROMISE you it will be worth the time.
2.) Visualize-Close your eyes and picture yourself in the body you desire. Feel what it will feel like. Do this on a regular basis. If you do, the body and mind will respond.
3.) When a negative thought enters your mind push it out immediately. Replace all negative thoughts with positive ones. Negative thoughts are stubborn. Once you push them out they will try to creep back in. You must be cognisant of this and continue to push them out. If you find yourself thinking “I’m never gonna lose the weight” or “I’m never gonna look like so and so”, the very next thing you do is push out those thoughts and replace them with “I am gonna get the body I want”. This is hard to do and takes practice but never give up trying.
4.) Positive affirmations-An affirmation is a wish stated as if it is already true. Thinking, saying, or writing affirmations is an easy way to bring positive change into your life. Amazing results in life come when we change our habits. Our habits change when we have a change in attitude. Affirmations are a way we can change our attitudes.
So, if you want true lasting results from boot camp a positive mindset must be a part of it. If negative thoughts prevail, lasting results will not! Just something to think about.
“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
