The Conditioning Classroom
What if someone told you to run as fast as you can into the side of a brick building — they convinced you that you had the power to run through walls just like in the movies and you tried it. And then after two weeks in the hospital and six weeks of rehab, you could finally walk again. OK, so now someone else is telling you to run into what looks like a brick wall. Would you do it? Of course not! Not unless they show you that it’s really just a towel that only looks like a brick wall and will easily move aside when you run through it. Many of the things that we believe to be solid brick walls in the world of fitness are really just towels that — when you finally believe you can run past them — they move quietly to the side and let you through.
What brick-wall beliefs are you holding on to? Let’s examine a couple:
Eating more will make me fat!
As you run toward this one, do you believe you can run through it, or does it stop you flat? You’ve been to the seminars with the fitness professionals and the nutrition specialists who tell you that you need to eat enough to support your body. If you starve yourself, your body will actually hold onto the fat because it wants to survive. But you’ve also heard over and over again that you need to eat less to lose weight. If you reduce your calories by 3,500 in a week, you will lose one pound of fat, right? So you should really just count calories, right? But the true professionals are telling you to eat enough to support your body and your goal of losing weight. You need to concentrate on eating the right foods each day: lean proteins, complex carbohydrates and good fats, and not just focus on calories. Eat more to weigh less, they say.
Can you accept this fact and run toward that brick wall, believing it is merely a towel that will wave as you blow past it? I know it sounds difficult because that brick wall seems so real — but you need to believe the science and your trainer, your doctor, your dietician. Run confidently toward lasting success in changing your body.
I won’t get lean unless I add hours of cardio to my workout routine.
This is a huge misconception, and a big brick wall that stops a lot of people, that hours of cardio are necessary to creating a lean body. Consider Heather, who was a successful competitive bodybuilder. She spent 2 hours a day on any number of cardio machines as she prepared for her competitions. Then she had kids, 2 beautiful children for whom she is very grateful and with whom she now enjoys each day to the fullest. She came to me to “get her body back and feel better about herself.” She didn’t want to compete anymore, but she wanted to get back into her pre-pregnancy clothes. As we started her program, she kept asking me when we would start incorporating the intensive cardio that she was used to.I told her that she really didn’t need it. She trusted me…sort of. She nervously followed the program that she later realized fit, amazingly, into her life. Just minutes each day — not hours. Time to spend with her kids. Real food — clean food — not coolers filled with plain chicken that she had to haul along on her vacations. Heather ran toward that brick wall that she thought was solid, that wall that told her she needed to kick up her cardio into high gear. She didn’t realize it was just a towel that looked like a brick wall until she went into her closet and tried on clothes that she hadn’t worn since before her children were born. Those clothes fit, and looked better on her than even before her competition! She was able to run right through that brick wall that said she needed to commit hours each day to cardio in order to look and feel her best!
These are just two examples of common “brick wall” beliefs.
What beliefs are holding you back from real success? Take some time to examine your goals and the typical way you approach them. Do you try to lose weight by starving yourself? By spending hours doing cardio on boring machines? Maybe you should re-examine your beliefs and trust the fitness professional in your life to help you run through these brick walls into the gratifying arena of true success!
Dianne has been providing professional weight management and sports conditioning training for individuals since 2002 and opened The Conditioning Classroom, a private personal training studio, in 2006. She earned the prestigious designation of Certified Strength Conditioning Specialist from the National Sports Conditioning Association in 2007. Dianne is dedicated to helping others learn to truly live as opposed to simply existing. From self-defense classes which teach living as an acute response, to helping create the right exercise and nutrition plan so that life becomes chronically enjoyable, Dianne and the trainers at The Conditioning Classroom have helped countless numbers of individuals become vibrantly alive!
Email your fitness questions to Dianne at:
DBailey@TheConditioningClassroom.com
Mindset Self-Defense 