Switching on & off

This year while getting ready for my contest I found the competition was the only thing on my mind most of the time and in fact it probably consumed 90% of my thoughts. It was very important to me and I wanted to go well so this was only natural. I also found the support network around me fantastic in my friends, family and girlfriend. I have always trained with a lot of intensity and always put 120% into every workout but while getting ready for competition I was on the fine line of mental exhaustion also. By the time I was getting to the gym in the afternoon to complete my session I had been thinking about competition and training for the entire day and I was mentally draining and fatiguing as my mental stimulation was almost depleted. 

I quickly put some measures into place to fix this problem and this made me think a lot more about balance. I have adopted a system now of “switching on” & “Switching off” when I enter and leave the gym. This enables me to reserve all of my mental energy for my session and this also allows me to switch off after my session. Taking my mind of training and competition for part of the day only allows me to focus on it with more intensity when the time comes to train. 

So how do I switch on? This generally occurs before I leave home, as I am getting ready I will be listening to music while getting ready and as I look over my goals. The songs are specific ones, that are meaningful to me and during prep phase it is the song I will be posing to. When I get to the gym I get organized, I do not rush into things. I come up with a game plan, what I am going to do, how many sets and what order I am going to complete these movements in, I will gather any equipment I require then do my warm ups. This helps get me focused, I am prepped and ready and for the last 30mins or so all I have been thinking about is my future goals and how important today’s session is to obtaining that goal.

When I finish my session I will place the weights away after my last set, I will then do about 15 – 30 minutes of stretching, during this time I relax, I think about my workout and evaluate my performance, if needed I check my physique and I take this time to switch off. Sometimes I even lay on the floor with my headphones still in and just lay there for a minute and let my body relax and wait for my heart rate to come down . I leave my session and my thoughts about training in the gym when I leave. Learning how to switch on and off is something the world’s best athletes always talk about, the best in the world can do it in the blink of an eye and overtime and after a lot of practice one can get very good at it, but it is something I am finding very worthwhile and very helpful also and I myself will continue to practice this, give it a go next time you train.