Most often when people quit in the gym is NOT because their muscles are not strong enough… it’s because their MIND is not strong enough!

I see it all the time! Their form will be solid, they will be going strong and then all of a sudden… They’re DONE. They QUIT.

As a trainer I know that what just happened was, most often, NOT a muscle failure, but a mind failure. “It hurt too bad.” “It was making me sick.” “I was getting really tired.” Yada Yada Yada…

The other day I was working with a client and watched something beautiful. She was on her 4th repetition. She was supposed to do 5. She got stuck. I thought, “She’s going to quit, and it will be a legitimate fail… her muscles are done.” And then she didn’t! She got stuck physically and then her mind kicked in! She nailed not only her 4th but her 5th rep as well! In that moment we both knew… when the body was ready to quit… the mind said, “NO!”

Here’s what I know…

What is true in the gym is also true in life.

Most people quit well before they have to. They quit because it hurts too much, looks too big, sounds so difficult. They quit when the going gets hard… and miss the beauty and reward of what lies on the other side of hard.

You have the capacity to do some pretty incredible things… if you will not allow your mind to bail out on you!

How do you do that? Here’s one suggestion:

Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself.

We all have a little voice in our head that is constantly telling us things. And more often than not they are not encouraging messages. You can listen to that voice. Many do.

OR you can speak over that voice with a new voice. Your voice. Your voice telling yourself, “I can do this.” “I will do this.”

It will take practice. You’ve been conditioned to listen to yourself. We all have.

As you speak to yourself, in time, the messages you speak will become the new norm! “I can” will replace “I can’t.” “I’m too scared” will be replaced by “Here goes!”

This works. You can be your biggest cheerleader or your biggest skeptic. You get to choose. You get to choose what voice you listen to!

Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself and see what happens to your mental toughness! I think you’ll like the results!

Pssst… you will be glad you hopped over to Michael Hyatt’s blog and read this post by a guest blogger (LaRae Quy) 5 Characteristics of a Strong Mind.