It's all in my head...

I spend a lot of my time looking at motivational fitness quotes on Pinterest. I do this for 3 reasons. 1) Sometimes you stumble upon a quote that really resonates with how you feel and gives you a little buzz. 2) It gives me a lovely distraction from marking, planning, analysing data etc 3) Occasionally you find a belter of a quote that will work for GCSE exams that you can use in form period to motivate your little band of happy campers.

One thing that comes up time and time again is that fitness and pushing yourself beyond your limits isn't so much limited by your physically capabilities but more your mental attitude.

This is something I am encountering time and time again. Whenever Jason gives me something new to try my first reaction is "Is he for real? He's got to be joking! No f*cking way!" My natural reaction is "can't".

The first time I tried burpees I was convinced I couldn't do them! I managed 3. I can do them (in a fashion). I remember the first time I managed 10 in a row. That feeling was unbelievable, you'd have thought I'd hit the jackpot on the lottery, then the time I managed 45 burpees in 1 session I had a smile on my face for hours after. But if you'd have told me that first time I could do 45 in one session I'd have said "no way!". Sometimes when I am doing something like burpees I mentally have to tell myself I can. Outwardly I will vocalise "I can't do this" but in my head I am trying to tell myself I can. It is a real mental battle sometimes. But it is good for me to reflect back and remember what I thought I couldn't do and where I am now to see that pretty much anything is possible.

So today we've tried kettlebell burpees. This involves dead lifting everyones favourite kettlebells, the big fat purple ones but then as you put the kettlebells to the floor you go down in to a burpee, then back up again, deadlifting them back up. The biggest issue I have with this move is not the deadlift, it isn't the idea of the burpee particularly. No the biggest mental hurdle I have with this is the idea that the kettlebells are a tiny bit wobbly and therefore I might deck it and face plant it.

Now I remember this "concern". It is the same concern I had about doing regular burpees right at the start all those months ago. I got past that mental hurdle and I don't really think about it now. So I just need to convince my mind that I CAN do kettlebell burpees and that I WON'T deck it.

H x