How to Train the Brain

In order to successfully adhere to a fitness programme you need to exercise well and eat well, but all that takes discipline and will power. You need to 100% commit to succeed. I would never have made it as an elite personal trainer in Swansea if I didn’t have the right mindset. Today I will share some tips on how to train your brain.

Without the correct mindset you will easily be led astray and will easily cancel your exercise plans for a more appealing offer, once you have trained your mindset you will then be able to resist temptations and put your own health and fitness first.

Did I say train? Yep, just like your bicep muscles you can train the mind. This is a process that will take time but it can be done. Building mental muscle is just as important as building physical muscle! In order to succeed you need to focus on the positives and not be swayed by the negative thoughts that will pop into your head, whatever they may be.

I will give you a scenario, alarm goes off 6am for your early morning run, you get up and have a look out the window. It’s wet, windy and you know it’s cold. So here is the big decision, negative thoughts will inevitable pop into your head ‘It’s too early’, ‘It’s too cold, I don’t want to get wet’ then the positives ‘this will get my day off to a great start’, ‘It will help to improve my fitness’. Your mindset will determine which path you will take. The people with the stronger mindset will forget the negative thoughts get out there and go, the ones with the weaker mind will go straight back to bed and probably wake up a few hours later and regret it.

Even I have the ‘I don’t feel like it’ attitude sometimes but I know 100% that I will feel better after the exercise so I do it.

Motivation is very self-directed, but we can train our brain to make the right decision.

How Do We Get the Right Mindset?

Commit to your goals – think long and hard and find a achievable, challenging goal and make a mental commitment to achieve this goal no matter what it takes!

Motivational catch phrases – I have mentioned this a few times but find out what motivates you and use it. A lot of people will have little catch phrases that they will say to themselves when they need that extra bit of motivation. ‘No pain, no gain’ is a often used phrase. Whatever your catch phrase is, write it down somewhere visible so you can see it every day. I CAN, I WILL!

Become mentally tough – Identify what your main strengths are and what your weaknesses are. Use your strengths to improve your weaknesses, you will become more mentally strong with every success.

Answer back – Realise that most of your negative thoughts are flawed. Come up with ways to answer the ‘It’s too cold’ feelings.

Imagine – Sit at home and picture yourself doing the exercise before you do it, then follow it up by doing it.
The the more you believe the more you achieve. This really is true; I’m not saying we have to be cocky. Just by believing you can do it will give you that first step towards doing it.

There are 3 different mindsets that people have:

History Based

Present Based

Future Based

If you have a history based mindset you will focus too much on the past and this will prevent you moving on and concentrating on the here and now. Having a present based mindset is good, you are aware of what is going on and you aren’t obsessed with the past. The mindset we all want though is future based.

With a future based mindset you will be looking forward to the future and take on any challenges which will help you get to where you want to be. You constantly modify your thinking and plan to accommodate your objectives. Goal setting will become a lot more automatic and you find yourself productive without even thinking about it (how much would some people in today’s world pay for that?)

You can change your mindset but you have got to decide to. Make exercise a habit, a part of your life. Look forward and aim high.