Big Fit Girl. Louise Green

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СКАЧАТЬ or every run completed with ease, but many successful people will say that it’s their failures that reap the biggest lessons and give them the strength to carry on.

      Think about what obstacles lie in the way of you unleashing your inner athlete. What are you afraid of? What do you see as your barriers or excuses? I’ve been running my business for ten years and I think I’ve pretty much heard every excuse. There was traffic, I was working late, I’m sick, I’ve got kids, my husband needs me—it’s easy to come up with reasons not to exercise. But the people I work with who really want to create change in their lives don’t allow fear to smash their athletic dreams, and they create strong boundaries around their workouts to ensure their success.

      Think about the barriers that hold you back and brainstorm solutions that move you closer to setting your inner athlete free. One of my barriers is that I often think I am too busy to accomplish what I set out to do. I combat this with a system I call “time management and process of elimination.”

      For example, one summer I had committed to four triathlons and had completed the first two, but I could feel my enthusiasm waning when it came to finishing the final two. I wanted to focus on other things, and the training was getting tiresome. As I became less committed to my goal, I found myself saying, “I am too busy,” and I had to have a talk with myself. It was time for time management. I wasn’t too busy. If I planned things properly and managed my time better my goals were possible. So, process of elimination: I reviewed a list of things that I did throughout my day and eliminated anything that wasn’t getting me closer to my goal but that gave me the illusion of being “too busy.” These things included watching Netflix, scrolling through social media with no real purpose, and attending certain social events. I cut them all from my agenda and then created a new training schedule, filling in the resulting holes in my day with the workouts that needed to be done. Sometimes my swims had to be done after I taught my classes in the evenings or in the early mornings before I got my son ready for school. But that’s what had to happen to overcome my “busy” barrier.

      My process of elimination gave me clarity and a new realization that my goals were achievable. One of my favorite tools for helping me achieve my goals is visualization, which sports psychologists now call “imaging.” Our brains don’t necessarily know the difference between mental visualization and actually performing the specific exercise, race, or event. Visualization or imaging helps athletes prepare for major events by tricking their brains into thinking they’ve already performed them.

      In an article published online, the Australian Sports Commission further explains imaging:

      Mental rehearsal activates a network of neural coded programs that activate physiological responses. Therefore, imagining something means you are actually strengthening the neural pathways required for that skill and the more likely you are to reproduce it again in the future. Also by mentally practicing, you become more familiar with the actions required to perform a skill. These rehearsals make the actions more familiar or automatic.¹

      In a 2014 article titled “Olympians Use Imagery as Mental Training,” the New York Times reported that “the practice of mentally simulating competition has become increasingly sophisticated, essential and elaborate, spilling over into realms like imagining the content of news conferences or the view from the bus window on the way to the downhill . . . This is, more than ever, a multisensory endeavor, which is why the term ‘imaging’ is now often preferred to ‘visualization.’”

      Whenever I prepare for a race, I imagine a successful finish. I see myself running toward the finish line. I can feel the heat coming from my face. I hear the crowds cheering louder as I approach. I can smell sweat and taste the salt on my upper lip. Once I cross the finish line I feel relief and victory. I use imaging in other areas of my life too. Mentally rehearsing makes any event feel more familiar and lessens your fear, because you’ve done this before and you are ready!

      To be an athlete you need to start thinking like one. What will your life look like when you have unleashed your inner athlete? What does it feel like to be an athlete? Imagine the sounds, smells, and feelings associated with this vision. Try to be as specific as possible—it will make the process more effective. Perhaps you want to participate in a cycling event. Describe, to yourself, what it feels like to mount on your bike, to feel the wind on your face, and to smell the flowers in the fields as you ride past. What does it feel like to experience this freedom, and then the victory as you cross the finish line?

      To seal the deal with your inner athlete, you will also need to set concrete goals. Consider everything you have ever wanted to achieve in fitness. Don’t be afraid that your dream is too big; if you break that dream down into small steps, it becomes possible.

      Many of us have a bucket list, and most or all of the items on it may be things we have only dreamed of doing. But that’s okay. Dreaming of your bucket list is the first step to checking those items off. At first my list included running a 5K race. Later I expanded my list to include doing longer distance runs, a triathlon, and cycling in a long-distance cycling event. Now I have accomplished all of these goals and want to run a full marathon, complete a Half Ironman triathlon, and hike to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. My confidence and my capacity for what is possible keeps growing. I now know all these things are possible with the right planning and mindset, but there was a time when I would have laughed if someone had suggested I could achieve these goals. Even if your ideas seem foolish, I assure you they are not. Your dreams are something to be taken seriously, and they are absolutely doable. Whatever barriers you see in the way are surmountable. But to get past those barriers, you must first change your mindset and believe that it is possible to overcome them.

      HERE IS MY step-by-step story, including the past, the moment of transition, and the present, showing how I made the change from nonbeliever to believer and from dreamer to athlete. I had to knock down barriers, change my behaviors, and conquer my fear to get from where I was then to today.

      THEN: Fitness wasn’t a priority. Other things got in the way, including parties, socializing, and just sitting on the couch. Fitness wasn’t important to the people I spent time with either.

      TRANSITION: I slowly started making fitness a larger part of my life one commitment and event at a time. I signed up for my first running clinic and made some new friends there with a similar interest in running. After that I felt confident enough to sign up for my first 5K run. With each success, my confidence increased. It became easier to carve out time for fitness as I experienced the physical and emotional benefits of being active. With my newfound zest for life I started to believe in myself, something I didn’t have much experience with in the past. I was fortunate to find a community of runners who became my peer network. By surrounding myself with others who believed in the value of fitness and made it a priority in their lives, I was continually inspired.

      NOW: Fitness is a top priority in my life. I make a plan for each year that includes my fitness goals, and add all my workouts to my calendar. I look at each goal and to support them I find training plans either for free from the Internet or by purchasing a plan from an online coaching company. I incorporate these plans into my calendar and then work my social events around them as opposed to working my plans around my socializing; putting fitness second wasn’t very successful in the past. Each workout supports the next, and I know that my efforts will be rewarded because I’ve put a solid plan in place.

      THEN: I didn’t have the self-confidence to step outside of my comfort zone, so I played it safe and stuck to my usual routines. I hung out with the same friends, we went to the same places for drinks, and then I’d go home and sit on the couch dreaming of another life. I didn’t want to throw my life off-course. That did nothing to help me achieve my athletic dreams. True wins are rarely accomplished by always staying inside your comfort zone.

      TRANSITION: I got to a place where I knew that if I wanted to follow my dreams, fear (and conquering СКАЧАТЬ