Is Body Fitness More Mental than Physical?

Simple formula: Stronger mind = stronger body.

Allow me to ask you a question: Is body fitness 10% physical and 90% mental?

Have you ever heard of fitness being mental health?

Often body fitness refers to physical challenges via fitness boot camp training programs.

At first, I never understood what body fitness meant because it felt like 100% physical.

Body fitness does not mean 90% mental training in typical academic studies.

There is academic studying you must do, but body fitness refers to how well you mentally push yourself through pain.

If you training physcially the mental training is twice as hard.

This concise statement is what I have been saying for years when explaining rigorous fitness boot camp training programs.

Personal experience has shown the better condition you are physically, the more likely you are better able to handle stress.

The better you are at understanding your body and perform exercise or better able to master other demanding related regimes.

Too often people show up for a workout without ANY mental preparation.

They have minimum standards of fitness for boot camp and all too often fail.

Or the out of shape person is becomes injured because he is not conditioned for even the most basic of activities.

From here on you will miss valuable training and most likely quit, or be discoraged from the training altogether.

That is what happens when you show up not prepared.

Are you striving for minimum results?

When preparing for a training program that you know is going to be physical (military fitness bootcamp) are you increase the results for yourself?

 Typically a very low percentage of people are excelling in any part of their fitness program.

Rule of Thumb for Preparedness:

For calisthenics type testing – pullups, pushups, situps – you want a program that increases your strength range from 50-100% and sometimes more!

For instance, the minimum pullups is 6, and it is recommended you’re able to do 20 before mastering this skill.

Typically pushups and situps minimum range from 20-40 repetitions.

I’d recommend going for 50-100% increasing the reps.

For cardiovascular training, running, swimming, etc:

This one is more difficult to gauge generally, but if you can get 1-2 minutes under your best times for a run or swim…

Then you’re setting yourself up for better performance and conditioning throughout your body fitness training.

For example: If your standard for a 1.5 mile run is 12:30, it is recommended you are able to run a 10-11:30 to create a cushion for yourself.

It is true, if you’re in shape the mental part of training is much easier.

Now there is a mental side to training that is being able to mentally will yourself not to quit.

There will be a time when you feel you cannot run another step, or when you feel like you cannot do another pushup.

In advanced fitness boot camp training programs, this is where mental toughness comes into play.

Simply, this is the only way you’ll be able to push through the pain and discomfort of feeling awkward.

look, I’m a firm believer that through tough physical fitness training you will sharpen your mind…

And allow yourself to build resistance or a high tolerance to pain when most people will quit from exhaustion.

You need to ask yourself, “Am I still working out without goal for training?

If the answer is yes, you want to re-think your training plan and give yourself  more time to reach far and above your past goals.

If you do this, training will be enjoyable, fun, educational, and you will look back with confidence.

This will affect everything else you do in the future and create a higher standard for you personallyphysically and yes  even mentally!