The Winning Mentality

In my last post I mentioned briefly that winners take the necessary risks to win. Today I’d like to expand on that thought a little more. These thoughts can be applied to any set of goals you might have, winning is not confined to competitive sports. You win by reaching your goals whatever they may be.

Winners don’t see problems they see opportunities and solutions. Winners continue to learn and evaluate their progress providing them with solutions to problems. Learning and evaluation are keys to continued success, if all you see are obstacles and no way to overcome them you will become stuck and your progression will stall.

Winners have a solid plan, but they aren’t afraid to change if it isn’t working. Not everything will proceed exactly as you expect so take a chance and change the parts you don’t think are working. There is a saying, “Do what you have always done and you’ll get the results you’ve always gotten.” Fantastic if you are progressing as you’d like, terrible if you are not moving forwards or are going backwards.

Winners are competitive and challenge themselves. Challenge yourself by setting goals and give yourself a timeframe to complete them. Success will be easier to measure and you will push yourself harder knowing that you have goals to attain.

Finally winners continue to challenge themselves and don’t rest on past successes. There are always new challenges and new opportunities to improve. Continue to take these on and remain a winner.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. The challenge is deciding whether to continue to improve your strengths and specialize in those areas or to bring your weaknesses up to par and improve more generally. This decision depends on your goals and your reasons for training.

A person who is trying to improve their overall fitness, lose some weight and generally look and feel healthier is probably better served by training to improve their weaknesses. If you determine that you are lacking strength, then by focusing on improving your strength you will look and feel better. Similarly if you lack endurance you probably don't feel able to move very far without running out of breath. By focusing on that as a fitness quality you can improve your overall fitness and continue towards your goals.

Athletes training for performance are different however. Although they need to reach minimum standards across the requirements of their sport, once those minimum standards are met they are best served by focusing on their strengths. This really goes against the most common thought of bringing up your weaknesses to become a more complete athlete but outstanding performance comes from being able to use your strengths to their fullest. Think of the most explosive and dynamic athletes, they are the ones who utilize their strengths the best rather than minimizing their weaknesses. They also take the chances required to win rather than minimizing the risk of losing.

Once again it depends on your goals as to which path you take but as an athlete it is better to excel at one aspect than be good at none.

Specificity of Training

Your training must be specific to your goals. This is particularly true if you are training for performance. If your performance relies on you being able to run, then you must be able to run. Lance Armstrong’s performance in the NY marathon is a great demonstration of someone seemingly having the appropriate attributes to perform well but not having trained specifically enough. A sub 3 hour marathon is a great performance for someone who didn’t train for it at all but considering Lance is the best road cyclist the world has seen you would think his performance would have been closer to an elite one.

Unfortunately for Lance his fitness on the bike didn’t transfer to running fitness. If it didn’t work well for one of the world’s elite athletes then it it’s probably not going to work for a genetically average person. Fortunately you can reach your goals despite your genetics if you train specifically for them. Increased strength will require you to lift heavy weights. Increased running speed will require fast running speeds during training. Ball sports require motor skills like running and jumping that must be practised as often as hand and foot skills like throwing and kicking.

Cross training can occur through using general means to supplement your specific training. A sprinter for instance will lift weights to increase their strength to help propel them down the track. This is in addition to their sprint training that trains their technique and speed. If all they do is lift weights they will become stronger but their running technique will fall apart and they’ll get slower.

Make sure sufficient time is devoted to your specific training before adding general training means. This will allow you to progress most directly to your goals.

The Importance of Strength

I have previously written about the importance of strength here. In the past few days I have read two other blogs that really highlight the importance of strength, not just for performance but also for longevity.

In his blog Alwyn Cosgrove talks about strength as the greatest equalizer in sport and the importance of strength training in physical preparation. Check out his Moments of Clarity IV.
Lou Schuler from Male Pattern Fitness notes "I've cited studies in my books, and probably on MPF as well, showing that strength is correlated with longevity in men and women. The correlation between cardiovascular fitness and longevity is probably stronger, but it's pretty clear that muscular fitness matters for those seeking a longer, healthier life" in a post on 40 years of aerobics.

It would seem quite clear that no matter what some form of strength training is vital to reaching your goals.

Abandoning Gimmicks

Watching late night or morning TV you are certain to see a string of commercials extolling the virtues of some new piece of exercise equipment or diet. These ads always seem so appealing with their use of fitness models showing just how easy it is to look great. Fabulous customer testimonials are also a feature of these ads invariably with before and after shots showing just how much smaller they are compared to their previously oversized pants.

I think it’s great that these real people have been able to transform themselves. The question has to be asked though, was it the diets or equipment that caused the results or the people that caused the results? I mean there are so many different products and all of them seem to work, so why is one better than another?

Some are obviously better. Long term results will weed out the true gimmicks but even then it depends on the person following the system. Tried and tested weight management techniques have worked for years and will continue to work. The similarities between these techniques though are much greater than the differences. Details change but the basics don’t.

In order for change to occur it is you who must change. It is your attitude, will power and decision making that will bring about change, not a new diet or exercise equipment gimmick.

Sabotaging your Success

Are you subconsciously sabotaging your own success? This can occur when you reach higher levels than you have previously. Success, even when it’s expected can make you feel uncomfortable. If you have changed your body shape dramatically or reached higher levels of performance you may not be ready for the increased attention you receive. Many people experience this situation and some will subconsciously sabotage their own success. They feel it is easier to go back to being average and become wallpaper once again.

Mental preparation is therefore vital for continued success. Not only preparing for how you will look or feel once you have reached your goal but also how others will see you and how the extra attention will affect you. Prepare yourself to deal with everything in a positive manner and use it as motivation to push you forward.

Once you are prepared for the extra attention you won’t subconsciously sabotage yourself because you are uncomfortable with you new situation. This will allow you to set new goals and progress even further.

Dealing with Injury

What do you do when injury strikes? Even with fantastic preparation and injury prevention techniques sometimes injury is unavoidable, especially in contact sports. The first thing is to establish the extent of the injury. If it's in any way serious it's usually necessary to see a specialist to diagnose the exact nature of the injury.

Follow the specialist's advice when it comes to rehabilitating the site of the injury but don't be afraid to ask questions. Ask for specific rehab advice and if the injury has been caused by overuse or poor training techniques ensure the underlying cause is also treated. Failing to make this sort of correction is only going to set you up to injure yourself again.

Once the exact nature of the injury is known and treatment proscribed you need to plan how to keep the rest of your training going. If you don't remain active and train the unaffected parts of your body you will fall behind. Not only will you be missing training during the rehab period but you will then spend more time just trying to catch up to your pre-injury level. This effectively doubles your injury time and pushes your ability to achieve your goals back much further.

You will most likely need to adjust your training plan during the rehab period. However if you remain active and continue along a similar training path you should still reach your goals in an acceptable time frame.

Pre and Post Training Nutrition

Your nutrition in the hour before and after training is critical to your success. By using good pre-training nutritional practices you are not only preparing yourself well for the session, you are also getting a head start on recovering well from the session.

Choosing what to eat isn't too hard, anything you would eat post-training is a good place to start. Keep it simple and easy to digest and make sure you don't overeat. There is nothing worse than training with an overfull stomach. If you experience any sort of nausea you have probably eaten to much or eaten the wrong type of food. Some of you who have been training for a while may be used to training on an empty stomach and may experience some discomfort initially. Start with very small meals and gradually increase them. Making sure you're muscles are full and ready to go before training provides a huge performance boost.

Post-training nutrition is so obviously important it's surprising that more people don't take it seriously. The post-training period is when our bodies are most receptive to anything we eat and therefore the time when most gains can be made. Even for those on low carb plans should be sure to include some, if not most of their daily carb allotment into this period. Your muscle glycogen stores are depleted by training and you will be at your most insulin sensitive, so any carbs eaten post training will be used to replenish muscle glycogen and won't be stored as fat. Protein is also very important as your muscles have been broken down and ingestion of protein creates the amino acid building blocks of your muscles.

How much protein and carbs to ingest depends on your size and weight but a 50:50 protein:carb ratio is often suggested. Convenience is often a factor in post-training nutrition and a large portion of the enormous supplement industry is devoted to products catering to post-training nutrition. Everyone has different requirements and tastes so I don't want to recommend any one product. Don't always choose the cheapest though as the quality can vary substantially and remember there are plenty of real food options for this important meal as well.

Combating DOMS

We’ve all felt the effects of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) before. Delayed because it usually takes a day for the soreness to eventuate. Often you get out of bed the day after a session feeling ok but get gradually worse throughout the day. Just starting out or are returning after a long layoff it is common to experience DOMS after the first couple of training sessions. Even experienced exercisers can experience DOMS after a change of program or intensity. It seems unfair, just as you’re excited about a new exercise regime the soreness strikes. It’s not too surprising though, our body has to have some way of slowing us down and protecting itself from more serious injury.

The good news is DOMS is only temporary and we can reduce the severity so it doesn’t wreak too much havoc on our training or daily lives. The number one thing we can do to reduce DOMS is to be cautious during our first session with new exercises or intensities. I know the desire is there to push yourself hard but your body will thank you later if you ease into it. Still once you have DOMS how can you reduce the severity?

The first thing to understand is that our bodies need fuel to recover. It gets this fuel from the food we eat or from the stores we already have. This is why post training nutrition is important and why there is such a huge market for nutritional products that help us refuel out bodies post training. Just fuelling the body isn’t enough. We need to get the fuel into the sore muscles. There is a number of different ways to do this. Anything that promotes blood flow to the sore areas is good.

The first thing to try is some light exercise emphasising the affected areas. Again I stress this must be light exercise. It’s no good trying to push too hard as you’ll only make the soreness worse. Climbing stairs or walking uphill works well for the legs and similarly light pushing and pulling work well for the upper body.

Light massage either by yourself through the use of foam rollers or balls (tennis ball work well) or from someone else for the hard to reach places gets the blood flowing to the right areas. Performing a gentle warm up and the stretching the affected areas can be helpful in restoring the muscles to their proper length. You can also try contrast showers. Sprint coach Charlie Francis recommends cold for 1 minute, the hot for 3 minutes, repeated 3 times. There should be a noticeable difference between the hot and cold temperatures and you should feel refreshed afterwards.

Try these methods and see which work best for you. Don’t let DOMS derail your training right when your enthusiasm is highest.

Nutrition Basics

Keep it fairly simple, there is no need to count calories or weigh your food until the basics are being done on a consistent basis. By consistent basis I mean 90% of the time, this leaves 3 or 4 meals a week that can be outside these guidelines. Most people will get the results they are after without having to go any further or follow a more strict diet.

1. Eat 5-6 meals a day. Breakfast is the most important meal and must not be missed. It elevates the metabolism right from the start of the day and ensures you don’t overeat later in the day. Other meals should be smaller and at regular intervals. Meal times should include breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, post training and dinner.

2. Eat protein at every meal. Good choices include red meat, chicken, fish and eggs. Dairy especially yogurt is good, milk and cheese less so. Plant and soy proteins are also ok occasionally.

3. Eat vegetables or fruit at every meal. Most people don’t get enough fibre in their diet and vegetables and fruit are the best sources. Also try to get most of your carbohydrates from vegetables and fruit, which leads me to the next point.

4. Limit your starchy and processed carbs, these include potatoes and products made from potatoes like hot chips and crisps. Most cereals are heavily processed, try muesli or rolled oats. White bread is very processed, try multi grain and keep it to a couple of slices a day. Rice and pasta can be eaten, preferably after training sessions and keep the portions small.

5. Eat healthy fats, fish oil is a must, 6-7 capsules a day. Numerous studies have shown the benefits of fish oils. Other good choices include nuts, avocados and olive oil.

6. Try to drink about 3 litres of water a day. This will keep you hydrated and help flush any harmful toxins from the body. Sugary drinks including fruit juice have too many carbs while alcohol not only dehydrates you it also stops your body from burning fat while it processes the alcohol.

Remember following these guidelines 90% of the time is a great place to start and you have 3-4 times a week that you can indulge a little. Training can only ever be 50% of the equation so your diet must be in order to see the best results.

More motivation from other sources

Check out FitBuff, one of my posts is featured this week. They feature a number of different blogs under different categories.

I have also come across a few different motivation for health and fitness related blogs in the last few days.
The Educated Athlete covers categories such as mindset, leadership and emotions.

Simply Fitness has a post on Motivation for running when you don't want to! The tip about getting yourself to exercise everyday by simply getting out the door with your exercise gear on is brilliant and something I definitely think works. I have usually gone for just making myself do a warm up when I don't feel like training. This works for me because the warm up has the effect of getting me moving and clears my mind. This in turn makes me feel better about the training I have planned so I invariably end up training properly and successfully. By simplifying it further to just making yourself get outside with your gear on I think you are further increasing you chances for success.

MusclePost also has a post about motivating yourself to work out. The are some useful and improtant tips like tracking your progress, setting goals and changing your workouts to continue the callenge.

Successful Exercise

Successful exercise will only occur if you enjoy what you are doing. Trying to grind out a daily or weekly regime that doesn't interest you or help you feel better about yourself will only lead to dissatisfaction and stagnation. Studies have shown that people who exercise for 5 or more hours per weeks are more likely to be happy with their self image. Five hours seems like quite a bit of time to be doing something especially if you don't enjoy it.

Questions to ask yourself before starting are:
Do I prefer to train with a group or by myself?
Do I prefer fast or slow paced exercise?
Do I prefer a few long sessions or many quick sessions?
Do my exercise preferences match my exercise goals?

This last question is especially important. It's no good having the goal of being a good weightlifter if you much prefer to train like a marathon runner. Set up your goals based on what you enjoy and what you want to achieve rather than what you think you are expected to do. This is part of the process of individualisation. There are many different paths to health and fitness, pick the one that is most enjoyable for you.

Combating Rising Obesity Rates

This question “Doesn't it seem a total waste of time for us to be debating about the best fat loss methods (and I admit - I'm also guilty of this), when we're pretty much failing as a profession to actually make much of a difference?” from Alwyn Cosgrove is telling. Browsing through fitness related websites illustrates how many different approaches and options there are when it comes to training and nutrition. For the person just starting out on their pursuit of a healthy lifestyle the huge amount of different approaches can be daunting. Good training advice and readily available exercise equipment isn’t the problem, so what is?

The issue to me is the perceived time and commitment to benefit ratio. If exercise is seen as too hard or complicated then it’s unlikely that sedentary people will take it up. How then do we help them up off the couch and down the healthy lifestyle path? So much of out time and effort is spent preaching to the converted and nitpicking over the various details. Wouldn’t we be better off just trying to convince everyone to just do something, anything?

Getting sedentary people to realize that exercise doesn’t have to be complicated and that eating a healthy diet is just as easy as eating an unhealthy diet is a big challenge. Until we meet this challenge obesity rates will unfortunately continue to rise.

Adherence to the Plan

Any plan is better than none. In health and fitness even a relatively poor plan can create good results if you believe in the plan enough. Plans don’t need to be complicated to be effective in fact the most effective are simple and easy to follow.

There is simply no point in creating a complex plan that incorporates every possible training system and convoluted nutritional program. It is not enough however to say, “Just eat well and exercise.” The plan must have some specifics. The number of training sessions you’ll complete in a week or month even if you don’t necessarily designate the exact days you’ll train on. A list of food you can eat and a list you’ll avoid, without counting calories or macronutrient totals. These are the beginnings of a plan.

Next you need to plan the type of exercise you’ll do. From aerobic based jogging and swimming to heavy strength training you have a huge range of options and plenty of different approaches can be chosen. Find a few that suit you and your goals best. This shouldn’t be too hard using the internet, t-nation and men’s health have a huge range of articles and there is plenty of running and aerobics based sites out there. Once you’ve found the plans you like and established that you have the time and equipment to perform them, try following each of the separately for a month or two. At the end of each time period evaluate your results, what you liked or disliked, what worked or didn’t work and your adherence to the plan.

This process can be followed for nutritional plans as well. Make sure to give yourself enough time to evaluate each plan. If you change them around to quickly your body won’t be able to adjust and your results will be hard to judge. Once you’ve been through a few different plans you’ll know what works best for you. You can then take your knowledge and create your own plan specifically tailored to your needs.

Remember non-adherence to the plan is the same as no plan at all. Dr John Berardi, a noted nutritionist and exercise scientist works on the 90/10 rule which suggests you need 90% adherence to be able to evaluate a plan’s effectiveness.

Positive Thinking

Thinking positively is very powerful. You always have an opportunity to see something in a positive light. In the lead up to training or competition visualize yourself achieving your goal. Start with visualizing how you are going to perform. Feel the effort you will have to make, don't be daunted by it, accept it and be ready for it. Once you have accepted it visualize the result of your efforts. Be prepared for the excitement of achieving your goal. Visualization and acceptance of effort involved will have you thinking positively from the outset of your training or competition.

During training or competition there will be times you are doing poorly by your conventional indicators. At times like these you can change your indicators to positive ones that you feel in control of. Focus your energy on the things you are doing well. Keep working on the positive things and the poor training session or competition will soon turn around.

Post training or competition, review how it went. Take time to establish the things you can improve and spend time reaffirming what you did well. By focusing last on what you did well, you finish in a positive frame of mind that you can carry through to the next session.

Motivation

What is it that makes you train hard? Knowing how you get yourself motivated can be a big help. If you are internally motivated you push yourself because you like the feeling hard training gives you. If you are externally motivated it's the external rewards from training that drive you.

When you first start training you'll likely be externally motivated. Wanting to lose weight, gain muscle, get healthier or achieve athletically are all examples of external motivation. External motivation is great at the start and if you set achievable short term goals it can carry you a long way.

There will be times those external sources aren't motivating enough. Tough times indeed and you'll need to look inside and inspire yourself. Inspiring yourself can be easy if you've kept detailed records about your training. Simply look back and see how far you've come if your destination seems too far away. You might also go back to a particularly good session and visualize how you felt during and after that session. For those that train in a group or with a partner use the energy of others around you to pick you up. Anything you can use to get you excited about training is a motivating force.

Motivation, whatever yours is make sure you make the most of it to ensure great performance.

This article was featured in The Fourth Edition of the Carnival of Improving Life.

A Great Training Session

Having a great training session can be elusive. The key to consistent great training is focusing on the small, simple things that make up each session. Adequately prepare through proper recovery, nutrition and hydration. Make sure you have your training log and the proper equipment required for training, nothing ruins a session quicker than realizing you don't have a vital piece of equipment.

Once you have your pre training routine in place continued focus throughout the session is much easier. Through the warm up, technique should be worked on. The more you properly practice a skill the more automatic it becomes. During the main part of the session small things will determine if the session is a success. Things like ensuring your hand placement is correct on the bar if lifting weights, making sure your shoes are tied correctly and won't come undone and controlling your breathing pattern during every exercise.

Controlling the small things is what separates ok sessions from good and good sessions from great. Some days you'll feel so good that everything will fall into place without even thinking about it. Other days will be a struggle and unless you concentrate on the things you can control they will be wasted training sessions. Reduce the difference between your best and worst training sessions by improving your focus and you can continue to improve even when things aren't going your way.

Planning and Preparation

There are some simple steps to success that must be taken. The first is having a goal. Everyone needs a goal to strive for in their training. It doesn't matter if it's to lose 10 pounds, get your blood pressure under control or achieve something athletically. You need a goal to keep you going, to remind you why you are training hard. Give yourself a time frame and measure everything.

Secondly you need a plan to achieve your goal. Great progress cannot be made without a plan. While your plan should be set out from the start it can and should be fluid. An exercise can be changed if it isn't working, a diet can be tweaked if you are not progressing as you should. Just don't stray to far away from your original plan and evaluate everything at the end of your designated time frame.

Finally we have preparation. Preparation comes in many forms, making sure you can't fail your diet because you have everything cooked, packed and ready to go. Making sure you are physically prepared for each training session by getting enough sleep and following some sort of recovery system. Mentally preparing for each training session by reviewing what you have previously done and blocking out everything else to concentrate fully on the specific exercise you are currently performing.

Once you have a goal, a plan and prepare well success will be made much easier and come much quicker than otherwise.

Strength

Strength. It’s the very foundation of our lives. It influences everything we do and everything we attempt to do. From daily activities like getting out of bed in the morning or putting something away in a cupboard to running a marathon or lifting a heavy weight you need the appropriate amount of physical and mental strength to complete the task. Physical and mental strength go hand in hand. You may have the physical strength to perform a task however if you don’t have the mental strength your body will not be able to fully use its physical strength. Equally if you psych yourself up to the point that you’re more mentally strong than physically strong, injury is the likely result.

It’s amazing how co-ordination issues, balance, body composition (less fat, more muscle) and the ability to move faster and further all improve as your physical strength is improved. The first step to physical strength improvement is mental strength improvement. You can't just expect to grab something and heave it up any old which way and improve so you need to focus on the task and mentally have the strength to perform it properly.

Whether you are training for performance improvements, physique improvements or health improvements strength is the key to it all. You should prepare to improve some kind of strength every time you train.