"You VS You"

Hey all, I was indenting to make a post earlier in the week, however, I've been keeping myself occupied with yet more coursework. In addition, my 1st Maths exam is only around the corner now!

Fortunately, I now have some time for myself at the moment, which means that I can fit in a blog post today.😉 

You're probably thinking to yourself: "What does this expression mean?" it means that you keep on saying or doing negative things to yourself to make you feel bad if you were to make a mistake, when really, YOU try to battle it, by taking your mind off it all and working on making progress to make YOU feel better again. Does that make sense?

Example 1:

You are currently enjoying your session at the gym, when all of a sudden... you make a mistake where you thought you didn't push yourself hard enough to be able to achieve your working out goal. (Whatever that could be)

At around this point, that is when these negative thoughts enter your mind and keep on saying to your inner self: 

"Do you know what, I really don't think I can do this, it is too hard for me" 

"I keep messing up all of the time, because I keep on repeating these silly mistakes" 

"If I cannot achieve this goal, then I don't think I'll be able to succeed in life"

This is where your better YOU enters you mind, by continuously looking for every single way to overcome your thoughts, in order to redeem your working out progression, so that you're able to maintain your focus and keep moving forward.

To do this, you need to stop right where you went wrong and have some time to think. I know this is not an easy task to do at this exact moment, as you're currently in no mood to think about anything. A top tip would be to think about how you have achieved your previous working out goals, then by using this strategy to do the one you are working on step-by-step. This way, you'll be able to achieve every little step, as it they allow you to repeat them over and over again if you don't succeed first time.

(Doing revision would be the exact same example given related to this one, as I still struggle with doing it now)

Example 2:

You are someone who has done some terrible things in the past, all because you were suffering from mental health difficulties. By now, you are a completely changed person, however, you sometimes experience these breakdowns of constantly feeling guilty, as these past times re-enter your mind to haunt you.

How can you help your better YOU to feel right again? It may sound simple, but again, not easy! Remember, when you suddenly begin to feel at your lowest, you will be in no mood to think about anything good. 

Talk to a friend/family member, counsellor or alternatively an anonymous help hotline number (if that makes you feel more comfortable) about these constant guilt thoughts, as you're helping yourself to battle your bad self, as well as inhaling all of that encouraging and positive advice to allow you look for further opportunities to improve on yourself.

That's all for today. Thank you for reading through and please feel free to comment or let me know about a similar experience you may have had. Bye for now! 

  

  

The psychological benefits of working out regularly

First thing's first, it's been a long while... due to me keeping up to date with my coursework. But with that just said, I thought I'll share a personal insight with you with what I've been keeping myself occupied with these past 6 weeks. Which is planning and physically doing a fitness circuit. 

Why should I talk about my fitness circuit experience?

1. There is psychology involved.
2. You might seem curious about my progress.
3. It may inspire some of you to do the same.

How long have I been doing my circuit for?

I have started from the 18/1/21 and finished on the 5/3/21. Which lasted for 6 weeks. (As this was a 6 week training programme)

What did I have to do?

I had to plan out my own range of exercises from arm, leg, core and cardio on my exel diary. (Also including warm up and cool down) There was additional notes which had to be made to my diary, consisting of sets, reps, recovery and how did I do with the exercises?

In relations to physically doing the circuit, I had to film myself doing these exercises, by using a flat surface to set my phone up on, put a '10 second timer' on my camera so that I get a head-start when doing the workouts. (Yes, I had to take pictures for evidence)

Finally, I had to stopwatch myself doing the WHOLE circuit, which provided time evidence.

What were the psychological factors I encountered throughout my programme?

Even though it seemed like a walk in the park during my first session, I started to feel 'exhaustion' around half way through. This was because I haven't done a 9-exercise circuit in a long while, which explains why my body wasn't adjusting to this 'intensity' feeling just yet... I still had a long way to go... (I had to do 3 sessions a week)

During the 2nd & 3rd sessions, I realized that I had to mentally prepare my mind and body for the upcoming struggles of my 6 weeks worth of fitness, as this whole programme lasts for a long time.

Throughout the 2nd week, I just took every planned exercise in stride, as I knew I was still 'starting small'  to working my way higher and higher. Which all seemed fine. However, come the 3rd week, I was experiencing some 'mental doubts' which kept convincing me that I was never going to fully complete my current exercise, let alone the entire session. This is when my positivness kicked in and said: "You have to keep pushing yourself, just keep focused and work through the difficult process" This is the kind of inner message which really helps me to focus on achieving something.

By the 4th week, I was still learning to adapt to the going getting tough, as the process began to get harder. Plus, now that I was easily managing to do a certain number of reps - without breaking sweat, I wanted to increase them up by 5 more reps, to set a higher challenge for my current physical and mental strength.

The 5th & 6th week, was progressed with ensuring my mind to keep focused on the tougher workouts ahead, now that my newly improved muscular endurance had finally accomplished with the small steps. I kept on saying to myself: "Just keep going, pain is all part of the working out process" Fun fact for you guys: The more pain you feel when working yourself out, the stronger you will become. This is both physically and mentally.

At the end of every session, I always get this relived feeling that I've managed to complete the whole thing, as well as every single exercise. All thanks to my inner mentality for helping me to thrive in these workouts, by telling me to keep focused and the beneficial hard working abs I shall be eventually rewarded with, whilst working hard!

Were there any changes to my body throughout?

Not much, but I was apparently told by my mum that I lost weight. (I don't know exactly how much

though)                                                     

*These pictures were taken on my first day - 18/1/21 to my last day - 5/1/21. This is to show evidence of the difference 6 weeks has. Like I said, not much other than the slight weight loss, but I noticed my thighs got narrower*

 

Small conclusion: Working out is good for you, as it helps you to feel more powerful.

Thank you very much for taking your time to read through. It seems like my long disappearance wasn't a waste of time after all!😂 

Please do feel free to let me know about a similar working out process which you've experienced.

I'll try to post sooner, if I can.

"Feeding your motivation"

In this post, I want to give you all a lectured insight, as to how you can "Feed your motivation". It actually turns out to be really simple! Just simply keep on doing what makes you happy. 

For instance, running makes you happy, and you have a keen interest of becoming a long distance runner.

But... to be able to reach that long-term goal, you need to have the dedication to work hard, as well as push hard to be able to get to where you want to be.

However... you also need to be aware that there are physical and mental obstacles, in which, you HAVE to face, as well as finding a suitable navigation (both physical and mentally) to boost your confidence towards the next level in terms of reaching your goal.

One way of doing so, is looking for inspiration around you. Watch some videos about that certain interest which makes you happy, to see if you can copy their tricks and tactics, in which, helps THEM to succeed in relations to finding their motivation. Or you can ask your friends and family to help give you encouragement, by telling you that they will ALWAYS be proud of you, for who you are, what you are and how far you've come and still progressing to for fill your motivation.

From time to time, you may experience these random depressing feelings, where you suddenly feel like you're not trying hard enough, therefore, you don't feel like you're ever going to reach your goal, let alone chasing it down. This is EXACTLY the type of feeling which can throw your motivation right off guard. To keep refuelling it, you need to convince yourself that these are all lies, in which, this depressed feeling is telling you. The best way to overcome it, is to keep on reminding yourself of all the progress you've made over the years. Alongside that, think of all the encouraging words your friends and family say about you, in purpose to give you that motivation, which will really help you to think more about where you want to be.

To put all of this long advice in basic terms - It's all about the focus! Only think about success!

(The above picture shows me finding my motivation; by working out)

Thanks for taking your time to read. Comment down below if want any advice on motivation and I shall be back soon with another post. Bye for now!