What if I told you that the music you listen tobefore you workout could make you stronger?It's true. I'll let my Mike Gillette explain in today's email.Anchoring AttitudesBy Mike GilletteChief Instructor of Strength PsychologyYou’ve experienced this before, whether yourealized it at the time or not. It starts when acertain song comes on the radio.Then, the next thing you
know, you’re in abetter mood than you were just a moment earlier.Or, it starts when a certain song comes on theradio. And then, the next thing you know, you’rein a much worse mood than you were just amoment earlier.How can this be?Well, it goes much further than the idea that
somesongs are either inherently good or inescapably bad.It has to do with a psychological term
known as an“anchor”.An anchor is any stimulus that can trigger a particularpsychological state. And a song on the radio is justone example of a psychological anchor. Anchorsoccur throughout all of our sensory channels (visual,auditory, kinesthetic, gustatory [taste] and olfactory[smell]) in an almost infinite number of ways. If you ever took a psychology class, you probablyremember reading about Ivan Pavlov’s famousexperiment with dogs. Using food and a metronome,Pavlov trained a group of dogs to salivate wheneverthe metronome was triggered.For those dogs, the anchor was the associationbetween hearing the sound and the food that they’dbeen conditioned to expect after hearing the metronome.Psychologists describe their salivation as being theresult of a conditioned response.So, an
anchor is a stimuli, which brings forth thoughts,emotions or a combination of both. We actually createanchors throughout our lives. And many of them arecreated without any conscious thought or intention onour part.Think about the feelings you get when you smell acertain type of food or perfume. Or the associationsyou have with a particular time of the year or locationsuch as a house.These are the kinds of anchors that develop and arereinforced over time. And this
is an important pointbecause anchors ultimately exert a significant influenceon our lives based
upon the decisions that they lead usto make. So, if the ‘Psychology of Strength’ is about the intentionalcontrol of the mind, how can we use the phenomenon ofanchoring to our advantage?Very simply, by intentionally creating new anchors. So here are some
simple, effective steps for anchoringpositive associations to your training regimen. Thesesteps
are so simple that most people will read throughthe list and that will be the end of it. But remember, mental exercises are just like physicalexercises. It doesn’t matter if you know them, it onlymatters if you do them. 1. Create a mission
statement for your training. It could be related to improving performance in a givensport, improving your appearance or, if you’re like me,you just want to be stronger.So I might write out something along the lines of,“Every day I train I’m getting stronger and stronger.”The key here is to make your mission statement specificto your goal(s)
and build it into a concise, positively-phrased statement that you can both write down andrepeat
to yourself.For example, before each set, repeat your missionstatement in your head or even out loud. 2. Make a list of songs you love that also put youinto a powerful
mood. Then create a master MP3“power playlist”. Whenever you train, play thatmusic and let the powerful, positive associationstake you to new levels of accomplishment.3. Spend five to ten minutes before you train byreliving a strong, positive memory. A memory of an experience when you were performingat your best. Recall every detail of that memory. Thetime of year, the time of day, who else was present,how you felt before, during and afterwards.Make it as real as you possibly can. Practice this withdifferent
positive memories, as many as you can recall.With practice, you will get better and better at puttingyourself into your own peak-performance state.The results will surprise
you.===End of Article===Personally I've used some of these techniques in thepast, but never all three together. I'm looking foward to implementing this to my own pre-workout routine!Let me remind you that this is just a sample of thetechniques and strategies that Mike Gillette teaches inthe Strength Psychology program.Once you start
the mindset exercises like these you'llbe surprised how little time they take. It will all seemquite easy, as though nothing is happening. But thenin the next few days, you’ll start to notice subtledifferences.You’ll find yourself a little more focused. The paperworkon your desk will reduce faster. You’ll find it easier toconcentrate.A week or so later, you’ll start noticing your surroundingsmore. You’ll
observe your environment in greater colorand detail when you walk in a room. You’ll wonder if it'sreally is possible that changes are taking effect THATquickly.After three or four weeks, others will start to comment.“Is there something different about you?”.. because you’llbe walking taller, more confidently. And the first time yourealize how far you've come will be when you startexperiencing breakthroughs.Perhaps pushing past your best in the gym.Perhaps giving a presentation without feeling nerves.Or finding yourself reacting calmly to a ‘situation’ that youwould have freaked out about before.You feel your shoulders loosen and your mind clear asyou quietly, coolly and collectedly assess the situation.Time stands still.The chaos that used to rage in your mind is long gone.The electric energy that tightened your muscles and yourchest doesn’t materialize.You breathe. You think. You act, decisively and
withpurpose.Others notice the change. They rely on you when there’sa situation. They look up to your control. They have new-found respect for you. You’ve wrestled control from fear. It will never controlyou, again. You’re a totally different person from the onewho is reading this today.Make the best choice for you future today. Banish anydoubts, act decisively and
within minutes you could soonbe treading the path to a tough
mind.Less Than 75 Copies of Strength Psychology Remaining <---Claim Yours HereKeep training hard (mentally & physically),Brian Cannone FitnessAtlantic.com P.S. Check out what others are saying...Eliminate Defeating Self-Talk“Be more mindful of the words that I'm choosing...self language, the voice in my head...a lot of timesI sabotage myself by the way that I talk and a lot oftimes I operate on auto-pilot whether I'm saying Ican't do something or this is really hard for me.Because I'm saying those things it's a really deepbelief I have within myself and it's
something I canget control over. The more I'm aware of the languagethat I use, the more I can actually choose differentwords which in turn is going to tweak the beliefsthat I have so that I can create the life that I reallydo want.” Taking CONTROL of Anger“The most powerful lesson or takeaway for me....I havea short fuse and as I've gotten older I've gotten betterat dealing with external pressures but I still have a longway to go and there's been a number of things that Mikebrought up...some triggers and things I can do to resetmyself when I'm reacting in a negative, self-limiting orself-defeating way.”
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