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Training Hard
We all love to train hard. We love the feeling of working our asses off, yet I think training hard, truly training hard, is greatly misunderstood. Hours of media featuring Energy Drinks, Athletic Shoes, and awesome-sports-movies-action-montages has lead us to confuse training hard with intensity. We have this image in our head that training hard is finishing a workout sweaty and gassed, lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling like somebody just punched us in the face and stole all our money while quoting Jame Joyce. That outcome turns out to be fairly easily achieved: just do 50 burpees as fast as you can without stopping... it will take you less than 5 minutes and if you really commit to not stopping you will finish on the ground regretting life.
Slay you should and Slay you must
There is this feeling you get when you go to the gym and everything goes your way. I call it The Slayer, because it feels as if Beyonce did a Metal Song: fucking EPIC. You get it in one of those days when the warm up feels light and easy. Your technique sets are a display of grace and control. When you hit your workout the weights move as if they were feathers, your breathing matches your movement in perfect harmony, your transitions are smooth and short, and the only time you trip in the whole workout you stay composed AF and correct immediately with a smile on your face. You fucking slay like Queen-B. Heck! Even your hair game is on point! You finish on the ground exhausted but proud: I am so motherfucking fit, you think to yourself.
Who is talking to you?
This happens to Hector all the time. He is in the middle of a training session and he encounters a place of challenge. If the struggle gets real, his mind starts going. At that point, he looks at me and he will explain he had a long week, or that he has never been good...
Two Brains: Short Term vs. Long Term
Somebody more intelligent than me pointed that we never fully understand anything. What we do is we go one step back in the line of causality. That step back gives a sense of ease and brings us calm. The more I study neuroscience, the more I agree with that view. Today's video is one example of what that means. When making a choice, do you ever feel like you have two brains? ... Well, neuroscience kind of says you do. However, my aim isn't to give the step back but to use that description to improve your decision-making process in the future.Okay, okay, alcohol is complicated, and I wish the answer were that simple. In today's video, I try to embrace its full complexity. I present some ideas I consider valuable when thinking what's the role that alcohol should play in your lifestyle. If you like this video or this topic, make sure to check the references below.
Why train?
In the world of fitness it’s common to hear that you should find a “why” for your training. The idea behind this practice is to find an emotional connection to some part of your identity to use as motivation whenever you feel like you want to throw in the towel, or not get out of bed for your morning workout. Although this can be very useful, it is also the source of a plethora of cheesy motivational memes and worse, it comes with the assumption that exercise is inherently good for our health and all we need is more motivation and willpower. This seems like an innocent idea but it is NOT. This way of thinking takes from us the opportunity to question the physiological purpose of our training, and in doing so set us up for failure before we even start, regardless of how many hours of sweat we put in. I believe that this is the kind of “why” we should identify. Let me explain.
The different models of Mindset and how to apply them to training
Mindset training is one of my favorite coaching experiences. Teaching somebody how to do a muscle-up is deeply satisfying, lowering a marathon time is surprisingly rewarding, improving sleep quality is not valued enough. Helping somebody change their mindset is a different thing. It really connects our shared humanity.
