Year of Push 2.17 Mind Wandering

by | Apr 25, 2017 | Blog

Happy Tuesday, friends!

I was in bed at 9p last night and happily bounced out of bed at 5am today. I got in a couple hours of work before heading to the gym early.

I planned some time to work one-on-one with a coach on improving my toes-to-bar form. It’s not something I’ve worked on much and I know I’ll improve more quickly with focused coaching than by practicing on my own. It was fantastic!

After working through form drills and doing some back & core strength work, I did my workout. Holy smokes it was a killer today!

“Dip Stick”
AMRAP 15:
15 Box Jump Overs (24/20″)
12 Ring Dips
9 Power Cleans (155/105)

I’ll tell you what: I was getting tired during those first 15 box jump overs. It’s at that point when I had a choice: I could use my thoughts to make the workout easier and more effective or harder and less effective.

Here’s what I noticed: around box jump over 9-10, I caught myself thinking,

“Shit, this sucks. This is going to be a brutal workout. 15 minutes is going to feel like an eternity. Maybe I should scale the weight or the number of reps.”

Instantly (because I work on this mindset stuff all day every day with myself) I thought:

Elizabeth, you can use your thoughts to encourage, empower & inspire or you can use them to discourage and frustrate. Which is it going to be?

As I moved to the next movement in the workout I thought:

With every ounce of effort, with every moment of discomfort and with every drop of sweat, I am getting fitter and stronger.

As I glanced up the clock and noticed a thought of “Jesus this is going to last forever” I thought:

All day long I will either be proud of my effort or I’ll know I could have given more.

It’s 15 minutes of my day. Bring your best effort.

I had a choice. I could dial into each rep and meet it with maximum effort & enthusiasm or I could focus on the difficulty, sweat and pain and miss the opportunity to bring my best.

I chose the former.

The timing of a mentally challenging workout was pretty great, actually.

Last night I was watching the pilot episode of Billions and I re-wound it to record this clip.

See, this trader goes into the company psychiatrist’s office complaining about how his performance isn’t up to par. He feels like he’s lost his mojo. This is how she responds.

After my workout, I was scrolling through Instagram and saw this awesome quote:

When you let your mind wander, make sure it’s to a beautiful place!

Don’t let your mind wander to frustration, fear, difficulty, anxiety or negativity.

Whether we’re talking about relationships, finances, workouts, nutrition, body image or anything else, YOU are the one who controls where you allow your mind to wander.

Make sure it’s to a beautiful place!

On the food front:

It’s Paleo Power Meals delivery day!! I stocked up on a couple salads, chicken strips, stuffed peppers, ground turkey & all sorts of yummy stuff!

Between the one-on-one skill & strength workout this morning and the workout after that, I was hungry when I got home around 9am.

I enjoyed the chicken cobb salad from Paleo Power Meals and some cold brew coffee.

A few hours later I had the coconut crusted chicken strips and dinner was one of the stuffed peppers with cauliflower rice.

You’ll probably see a lot of Paleo Power Meals over the next several weeks but just remember: if it doesn’t work for you or they don’t deliver near you, you can still make this stuff yourself! There’s nothing magical about their food delivery, but even seeing what I purchase from them can give you some ideas on how you can cook for yourself or your family!

If you do give them a go, use the coupon code ebprimal20 to save 20% on your first order!

PS: If you’re new to these posts, listen to this podcast episode to get the scoop on what changes I’m making in my life and you can start back at my first daily post here.

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