Get better physical results with your training by changing your thoughts

Research suggests that we can potentially think up to 4000 words a minute in the form of self talk and research also suggests that up to 75% of that talk is negative self talk. So how is this affecting everything you do including the results with your health and fitness.

As you are reading this I would like you to take one minute to pause and start to listen to the voice in your head, ask your self how the past week has been for your health and fitness, your body, your life etc then jot these thoughts down on a piece of paper. Some thoughts might be about how you ate, how you feel about exercise, how you feel when you are exercising, what you think people will think of you if you make different choices with your health and fitness.

Now are these thoughts serving you? Beside each though put a + or – to represent either a positive or negative thought, there is a good chance that you have far more negative thoughts on your paper than positive thoughts and these negative thoughts could be crippling you from progressing and reaching your goals.

A lot of common thoughts are, I don’t want to eat healthy food because everyone at my work will think i’m a health freak, I don’t want to go to a gym because people will look at me and my current body, I am not progressing as fast as I want to, I feel like a failure because I didn’t follow my meal plan exactly. So many of these thoughts go through our head, but are they real or is the way we perceive a situation and a story that we can change?

with each of your thoughts that are negative take a few seconds and think about how you can turn that negative thought to a positive thought. Eg,
Negative thought – I don’t want to eat healthy food because everyone at my work will think i’m a health freak
OR
Positive Thought – I want to eat healthy at my work and hopefully it will rub off on my workmates so they can also be healthy or my workmates can have their opinion but I am really wanting to do something positive for my health so eating healthy is important to me!

Negative thought -I feel like a failure because I didnt follow my meal plan exactly.
OR
Positive Thought – Last week I missed a couple of things on my meal plan, I may not of been perfect but I am improving and learning a lot about my habits now its time to reset and get back on my meal plan and continue on my path towards health.

we are all on a journey and the journey to success is so often mistakenly for one direct line and when the journey has a twist or turn we start to listen to those negative thoughts and become so hard on ourselves. Success and the path to it will always have twists and turns you have the choice to look at each turn as a negative that is going to derail your entire train or a positive that is going to make you even stronger, give you the tools to grow into the person who is the version of success you want and ultimately become more resilient and have a more positive outlook.

we are our thoughts and we will always attract what we think about most, the choice is yours to choose negative or positive. I encourage you to take a little time to reflect on how often you let your positive or negative thoughts dictate your outcomes and then give yourself the chance to change them to achieve your desired outcome.

Health and fitness is a lot more than just exercise and eating, our thoughts will impact everything we do and we should work IN as much as we work OUT. I wish you an amazing a positive week and lots of self awareness that leads you to great success.

Dylan Fowler
Head Coach
The Evolved Personal Training & Performance
West End