I want to share a note I received from a customer named Craig as it holds a couple of key learning lessons (one’s that even I need reminders of from time to time). “Unfortunately, I’ve also been dealing with an unexplained shoulder injury for the past month and a half. …
Breaking Mental Weakness
“what is one (or some) practice to break the habit of mental weakness? If I lean into the largest thing that scares me I usually get discouraged and fall back into old, weak habits.” A habit of mental weakness is what I would call a meta-habit. As in, it’s not …
The Dark Side of Mental Toughness
If some mental toughness is good, more must be better! Not true. In discussing mental toughness, it is key to understand that it has a shadow. And that shadow is that your mind can override things. It can override the signals that your body is sending you. It can override …
Mental Toughness is Overrated
Overrated. That’s not to say that it is not important, but some people place ALL importance on physical and mental toughness. In truth, this must be balanced with the other aspects. There is a time to be tough, and times not to be. In fact, there is a dark side …
Mental Toughness – Reflection and Perspective
Yesteday I shared the stories of crashing my car, my house burning down and more. (You can read them here if you missed it.) I want to dive more deeper into how my mental toughness has developed over time. And with that, let’s answer this question… “what is a realization …
What’s Your Mental Toughness Threshold?
Two similar questions to address on mental toughness today: “From what I have been able to observe there seems to be a threshold when toughness breaks down depending on how severe and/or prolonged the situation being dealt with is. Some individuals seem to be able to sustain MENTAL TOUGHNESS for …
Mental Toughness and Time
There’s a huge component of mental toughness that I don’t see often talked about. That is time. Mental toughness is a slippery topic. So is time. Combining the two, well, let’s see how this comes out! I refer back to the example of physical training to start with. There is …
Bypassing Mental Toughness
Yesterday, we explored the concept of how you can utilize willpower to get to where you want to go, but that’s not the only pathway. I shared this example: • If I “hate working out” => it will take willpower to do it• If I “love working out” => no …
Unlimited Willpower?
Yesterday I defined mental toughness/willpower as “using your mind or your will to do something that other parts of you do not want to do. It is being tough or overpowering that other side of you that wants to go a different direction.” I briefly covered the topic that mental …
Defining Mental Toughness
A little over a week back I asked for questions regarding mental toughness. I got flooded with them…and they were all over the place! Literally everything from motivation and focus, to handling bullies, to helping friends and family be tougher, to talking to women, to struggling with diet, to my …
Lessons from Home Burning – Part 1
Physical, Mental, Emotional and Character Strength On the night of August 19th my home burned completely to the ground. A few people made comments to the effect of it being telling that the only thing left standing was my power rack. That this was a symbol of strength. I agree! …
Muscle Control and Qi
Maxick talks about an interesting concept in relation to muscle control… “I discovered that by using the Will to control the muscles, not only did I gain development and strength, but that I was storing energy. By giving nothing out, I was slowly conserving energy…so the more energy conserved, the …
Growing Your Brain through Movement
“The moment we pay attention to our movement, the brain resumes growing at a very rapid rate.” – Dr. Anat Baniel I came across this quote in a book I read the other day and had to share it. Can I talk about being smart for a second without sounding …
Low CNS vs. High CNS Workout
“Could you give me an example (s) of a low cns workout and high cns workout?” There are three main points to look regarding impacts on the central nervous system in training: 1 – Severity, Intensity and Volume The main thing that will differentiate between a high CNS workout and …
Instant Exercise Enhancer Sneak Peek
Take a look inside of Instant Exercise Enhancers, from the live event, the Wizards of Strength Workshop. This first video dives into what “deliberate practice” is and how it can benefit your training. This is a very different approach to how most people workout. The next video shows a before …