Mental Muscle (eBook)

Advance Praise For

MENTAL MUSCLE “Mental Muscle has been a long time coming. For me and probably you too. Personally, I’ve been looking for a book like this since 1993, after I was first introduced to Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Like many of us, I had heard about cutting edge mental training techniques and I wanted to learn more. Both for myself as well as the numerous LEOs and military personnel I trained. And, like many of us, I read every book I could find on the topics of sports psychology, hypnosis and NLP. For the most part, it was an exercise in frustration. None of it seemed to connect. The techniques were often vague and ill-suited to the rapidly evolving, real-world nature of my work. With far more tenacity than insight, I managed to piece together workable methods to enhance performance. Methods which improved strength, focus and mental toughness. After reading Mental Muscle, I can’t help but think about how much time I would have saved and how much further I would be on my journey if only I had had this book twenty-plus years ago. Mental Muscle is THE mind manual for people who want to intentionally connect their brain to their body and experience amazing results now. As in RIGHT NOW. In this breakthrough book, Logan completely demystifies mental training, making it as easy to understand as hoisting a barbell. You’ll get the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ and immediately be able to plug in easy-to-understand techniques to improve yourself and crush obstacles like a sledgehammer. I can think of no other manual that gives you as many workable methods and can get you moving forward as quickly as Mental Muscle. Trust me, you’ve been waiting for this book. Thankfully, it’s finally here.” —Mike Gillette, Performance Coach, World Record Holder, Member of the Martial Arts Masters Hall of Fame, Bodyguard to Fortune 500 executives, Subject-Matter Expert for the Transportation Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security and author of Rings of Power

“In Mental Muscle, Logan Christopher provides an excellent blueprint to master your mind and unleash your true strength potential. In fact, the techniques in this book are so powerful, they can be applied to improving all aspects of life, not just physical performance.” —Al Kavadlo, author of Zen Mind, Strong Body

“Mental Muscle goes deep into what makes the human mind so extraordinary and why is it that some people seem to possess superhuman strength and ability that is beyond belief. All too often people attribute great physical talent and unbelievable feats of strength as just plain lucky or genetics. This assessment couldn’t be further from the truth for most seemingly superhuman beings. There is untapped capacity inside all of us and Logan goes into great detail about not only how to attain this incredible power but also how to harness it on demand.”—Mike Westerdal, CPT, RKC, Founder of CriticalBench

“Logan Christopher is an extraordinary fitness professional who has dedicated himself to the pursuit of self-mastery in wide-ranging, impressive avenues. If you’ve been following Logan’s work, you’ll know that he’s already published many books and DVDs on bodyweight and strongman training methods. But with Mental Muscle, Logan delivers an entire book dedicated to a realm of training that he’s been alluding to for years: the mental preparation that plays an equally important role in your strength training.” —Mike Fitch, Global Bodyweight Training

“All I can say is WOW. This book has been long overdue. When it comes down to it, one of the most important components of training, lifestyle, and overall health and fitness is that of the mind and being able to use your mind to it’s fullest potential. What you’ll discover within Logan’s book will certainly not disappoint. This is a must have resource for anyone wanting to improve their overall strength and overall fitness.” —Travis Stoetzel, founder, TrainAggressive and The Forged Athlete Gym

“Mental Muscle is phenomenal...truly the missing link when it comes to developing superhuman strength, willpower and focus. What most people don’t realize is that you can and should train your mind just as hard as you train your body. With the tips, tricks, and training techniques Logan shares with you in Mental Muscle, you will make massive leaps forward in your physical capabilities...often doubling reps or increasing loads beyond what you thought you were capable of...literally within a matter of seconds. This book belongs on the shelf of every serious trainer.”—Nick Nilsson, ‘The Mad Scientist of Muscle’

“If you are looking to increase your strength, improve your will power for fat loss or improve mental focus when recovering from an injury, I highly recommend Mental Muscle.” —Rick Kaselj, MS, founder, ExercisesForInjuries

MENTAL MUSCLE

How to Use The Full Power of Your Mind to Develop Superhuman Strength

LOGAN CHRISTOPHER Dragon Door Publications

MENTAL MUSCLE © Copyright 2015, Logan Christopher A Dragon Door Publications, Inc. production All rights under International and Pan-American Copyright conventions. Published in the United States by: Dragon Door Publications, Inc. 5 East County Rd B, #3 | Little Canada, MN 55117 Tel: (651) 487-2180 | Fax: (651) 487-3954 Credit card orders: 1-800-899-5111 | Email: [email protected] Website: www.dragondoor.com ISBN 10: 1942812027 ISBN 13: 978-1-942812-02-9 This edition first published in October, 2015 Printed in China No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.          Book design by Derek Brigham | www.dbrigham.com | [email protected]

DISCLAIMER: The authors and publisher of this material are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury that may occur through following the instructions contained in this material. The activities, physical and otherwise, described herein for informational purposes only, may be too strenuous or dangerous for some people and the reader(s) should consult a physician before engaging in them. The content of this book is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Readers should not disregard, or delay in obtaining, medical advice for any medical condition they may have, and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions because of information contained within this publication.

CONTENTS

Foreword By Paul “Coach” Wade Introduction

iii

1

Section 1

How Your Mind Controls Your Body

Section 2

11

Mental Training Tactics and Techniques

35

Achieve the Strength and Body You Desire with Well-Formed Outcomes

37

Easy to Use Methods You Can Put Into Practice Today for Hypnotizing Yourself and Others

49

Making Your Mental Movies So Powerful They Deliver Instant Real Life Results (Most People Visualize Incorrectly— If They Do It At All!)

75

Psyched Up, Focused or Relaxed at the Snap of the Fingers with Anchors

i

104

Section 3

Peak Performance Drills for Strength, Muscle, Fat Loss and Performance

121

Mental Training Drills for Strength

123

Mental Training Drills for Fat Loss Mental Training Drills for Muscle Building

133 148

Mental Training Drills for Gaining Skills

154

Entering the Flow State

162

Section 4

Word for Word Transcripts of Mental Training Drills with Clients including the Results They Experienced

169

Bibliography

188

About the Author

189



ii

Foreword By Paul “Coach” Wade

I

’m gonna make a prediction now. I bet that when you were a kid, I bet you read comic books and fantasized about having super-powers. Was I right? How did I know? Okay then. Let’s take that infinite imagination off the shelf, dust it down, and put

it to work. Let’s do some grown-up fantasizing. I want you to imagine what it would be like—right now, today—to have superpowers. But I’m not talking about physical superpowers, like x-ray vision or super-breath. I’m talking about mental superpowers, superpowers of the mind. Imagine if, with your mental superpowers: • You could control your body to a staggering degree: if you could increase your strength, your endurance, your pain tolerance to almost superhuman levels; • You could manipulate your own brain waves to amplify the power of your will, your senses, and even control your body’s own hormones and healing factors; • You had enhanced learning powers: the capacity to acquire skills and qualities (like strength, or muscle mass) at a rapidly accelerated rate, compared to “normal” humans; • You could enter the legendary state known as “flow”—resulting in peak performance, the absolute maximization of your potential—on demand, and at a moment’s notice.

iii

Think about those “powers” for a second. If a superhero could achieve those abilities, he’d be pretty badass, right? But this is not fiction—this is not the garish, multi-colored maelstrom of a comic book. This is the real world. These mental abilities exist, they have been proven, they have been utilized for centuries by the most powerful people on the planet, and they have been widely researched over many decades by science. So how come we don’t hear about these abilities more? Well, some of you have probably heard about them. But the flat truth is that most people seeking power look in the wrong place. Like a doctor who tries to fix illness by only looking at symptoms instead of the cause, most people (athletes especially!) get caught up in the results of these mental abilities. They look at the 600 pound bench press, the one-arm handstand, the lightning sprint, the giant drug-free arm. They don’t see that these things are just results—what made them happen was the mind. It was always the mind. These days—when materialism rules—we endlessly talk about “genetics” as being the key factor in success. This is wrong. Genetics only dictate the limit of your ultimate potential. But it’s the capacity of the mind that decides whether you actually reach that potential or not. Physical strength is a prime example of this. The average skinny nerd with “shitty genetics” still has the genetic potential to become so strong that—if this potential was actualized—his abilities would be terrifying to the average person on the street. During my time in prison, I’ve seen this happen several times. I’ve met “average” men who trained with such ferocity, such focus, such drive, who got so powerful they could snap redwood nightsticks in their bare hands; they could shatter steel handcuffs, when cuffed behind their back! If that’s not superhuman, what is? You don’t need to trust in my anecdotes. Just look carefully at the annals of strength. Logan, this book’s author, often talks about Joe Greenstein—the famous “Mighty Atom”. As a kid, this weakling nearly died from TB and lung disorders. He never grew to over five foot four, or weighed over a buck forty; you could put a goddam

iv

picture of this dude in the dictionary to illustrate “bad genetics”. But using the power of his mind—something he often lectured on—he became the most famous strongman in history, bending thick steel bars, breaking chains by expanding his chest, and lifting cars. He even got shot once, and the damn bullet bounced off him! Back in the day, many of the truly great athletes started off small and weak—the same “bad genetics” rap that so many folks use as an excuse now, was what spurred them on to greatness. Pierre Gasnier (1862-1923) was another example. At five foot three he was even smaller than the Atom, but could tear packs of cards like they were tissue paper, and bend steel as if it was plastic tape. In his act, he lifted a 260-pound dumbbell overhead, one-handed! (You think the huge, modern lifters are stronger than the old timers? You’re wrong. When was the last time you even saw a 260 pound dumbbell in a modern gym, let alone watched someone lift it?!) If you’re more into the fighting arts, just look at the example of Bruce Lee. He was constantly sick as a child. The kid was so thin and delicate, his father feared that he’d be killed if he got into a fight. And yet this little flower—short and skinny, with pisspoor genetics—honed his body into a tempered steel machine, and became the most powerful, formidable fighter of his era. He did it using the power of his mind. It’s something an older guy like me just can’t understand…why is everyone so busy talking about genetics—which we absolutely cannot change—when we should be talking about the powers of the mind—which we can access, alter and evolve, to an insane degree? Hopefully, Logan’s masterpiece Mental Muscle is the book that turns the tide. Despite his youth, it feels like Logan has been around in the strength world forever. He’s respected as one of the few true modern-day masters of mental training—and he walks the walk, too, having transformed himself from a below-average underweight kid into a famous strongman with jaw-dropping power and strength-skills that are admired the world over. (Even by steroid-fuelled bodybuilders three times his size, who couldn’t even hope to do what Logan does on a daily basis!)

v

M e n ta l M u s c l e Take my word for it: Mental Muscle is that ultimate mental training manual we have all been waiting for. Let’s quit wasting time jawing, and go get you some superpowers, kid. It’s all in here.

Paul “Coach” Wade

vi

“Far too many physical culturists, in their enthusiasm for physical development, never give a thought to mental training.” —Famous Strongman, Thomas Inch

Introduction

T

he crowd gasped in amazement and exclaimed, “WOW!” They had just seen

what many people would think is impossible—not just the feat itself, but the

nearly instantaneous doubling of strength. Matti Marzel, who had flown in all the way from the Netherlands to join my seminar in San Diego, California, was doing an exercise that very few people in the world could do. Propped up on just the thumb, middle and index fingers of each hand, he was repping out handstand pushups. In about three minutes he had gone from struggling to do two reps to easily busting out four. In fact, he probably could have done even more at that time, but he lost his balance at the top from moving so fast. I didn’t offer him any tips on technique. In fact, I couldn’t even do this move myself. Instead, all I did was coach Matti into accessing more of his internal power, changing how his mind perceived this exercise. This changed his neural circuitry which then changed how strong he was. In doing that, he doubled what he could do! What’s more, he actually did the four reps easier than the previous two, and set a personal record.

1

M e n ta l M u s c l e It didn’t take months of practice. It didn’t even take progress from one workout to another. All it took was changing his internal movies about the exercise. Even though his mental movies were already excellent, I was able to help him take it to another level. You’ll soon learn exactly how to do this yourself, in complete detail. Since then, Matti has continued to further accelerate his capabilities in that exercise by proper training and the use of those mental drills. Doing this for yourself, and much, much more, is the promise of Mental Muscle. You’re going to learn how to run your brain in ways that few people know. In doing so, you’ll be able to become much stronger, often instantly. Plus you can use the same methods to lose weight, gain muscle, and become more skilled. Some people will say this stuff is impossible, crazy and doesn’t work. Or that it’s all just “mental mumbo jumbo”. First off, to anyone that thinks that, it’s their loss. You and I can use these powerful drills and blow right past them with our progress while they stick to thinking all they’ve got to do is work hard. I was showing some of the methods you’ll discover in this manual to my friend Chuck Halbakken. He is somewhat of a skeptical guy. He’d also spent years training clients and learning from some of the top people in the physical training field. After showing him some of these methods, he told me that what I showed him in half an hour was more amazing and impactful then anything he had learned in the previous three years—included going to many thousand-dollar certification programs. In this book you’re getting far more than what I showed him on that day. My name is Logan Christopher. I have been called a physical culture renaissance man. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, physical culture is an old phrase having to do with health, fitness and strength. This means I am not a specialist in one thing, but have achieved a fair amount in many different fields of strength.

Introduction I lift heavy weights and do bodyweight training. Sometimes I’ll lift 500 lb. in a deadlift and do freestanding handstand pushups in the same workout. Other times I may tear through a phonebook with my bare hands and press the Beast, a 106 lb. kettlebell. As a performing strongman I have pulled an 8,800 lb. fire truck by my hair. I have lit a kettlebell on fire and juggled it around my body. I have supported over half a ton in the wrestler’s bridge position, even though people think just the basic un-weighted version is enough to break your neck. I don’t say all this to brag. I’m sharing it with you to show what you can do if you get your mind properly behind what you want to accomplish. I am not a natural, far from it. Growing up, I was a weak and scrawny kid. There was a time when I couldn’t even do a regular pushup. I remember in 8th grade hanging from a pullup bar and not even being able to move an inch, and thinking about how it was impossible. Strength does not come easily to me. I wasn’t ever willing to do steroids, but was willing to do just about anything else to excel and become one of the strongest people in the world. So I had to seek out the best methods, often going far outside the box of conventional training. This led me to dive deep into the realm that so few people fully use—the mind. You can go to a personal trainer and learn new exercises. You can buy books and DVDs to teach you proper lifting technique. You can even hire high-end coaches to guide you every step of the way. But sadly, no one has taught the mental side of training…until now. I have spent the past several years diving deep into this field. Although I had already played with a few mental training techniques like visualization, I consider my real entrance into this field to be the time I began training with Dr. John La Tourrette,

3

M e n ta l M u s c l e a 10th Degree Black Belt with a PhD in Sports Psychology. I took the same methods he used to amplify his martial arts and applied them to strength and fitness. This set me on a path to train with more of the best. I became an NLP Master Practitioner and Trainer, and trained under some of the founding members who I’ll introduce to you later. I became a Certified Hypnotist, putting clients under and finding that it could be useful for a variety of purposes, including adding strength instantly. I have helped thousands of people get stronger, lose weight, gain skills they previously thought impossible, and more through personal coaching as well as through my many websites, books and videos. For several years now, I’ve been quietly experimenting with all the mental training methods and drills you’ll find in this book. I’ve taught a few people how to do these and the results are always the same—amazing and instant! Sometimes, the results border on the unbelievable. During a break at another seminar in Phoenix, Arizona, I was with a friend back in her hotel room. She was asking about exercises she could do. After discussing the pushup I showed her how to do a pike press, which is halfway between a pushup and a handstand pushup. She couldn’t do it at all. Perhaps I could have told her some physical technical changes she could have made to help her do it, But I didn’t. Instead I told her to make a single easy change in how her mind perceived the exercise. I told her to make her mental movie BRIGHTER. After that, she accomplished the exercise with ease. Important: This is a very simple yet hugely effective technique you will learn later. With it you can often see instant gains of 15% up to 300% or more. Or as was the case here, the impossible became easy, all within a few seconds.

Introduction

What

is

Mental Muscle All About?

This book answers the questions for which many people have been unable to find real answers. And it gives you the step by step processes you need to change and accelerate your results. How do you deal with motivation? It’s easy when it’s high, but what do you do when it’s low? It’s not about having more mental toughness. That can certainly be useful in some instances, but its impact is so tiny in comparison to the power available with other mental training methods. I promise you that this book goes far beyond what anyone else is offering when it comes to the mental side of training. In fact, I’m disappointed at how “kindergarten level” most people are when operating in this area—if they even focus on it at all. Many people provide maxims like, “You have to believe in yourself,” but they never give you step-by-step processes to do exactly what they say. This book is different. In fact, you’ll be learning the exact steps necessary to change beliefs. They say, “You should visualize yourself being successful.” But they never offer HOW you need to do the visualization. This book dedicates a whole chapter to the intimate details of visualization. Is there a way to truly supercharge your results? Part of physical training is building a stronger mind-body connection. Why not do it in reverse? Is it possible to “aim” your food where you want it to go, to aid in your muscle gain or weight loss goals? Using your mind, can you double the strengthening effects you get from your workouts? Is it possible to double your strength instantly?

5

M e n ta l M u s c l e The answer to these questions is yes. I’ve seen it happen for myself time and time again when the techniques and drills from this book are applied. I’ve witnessed people going from unable to do something to accomplishing it easily. I’ve seen reps doubled and even tripled so many times I can’t even count them. So much progress has been made when it comes to exercise science—and nutrition as well. In fact, sometimes there is too much, and information overload soon follows. It can be downright confusing. Until now, the mind—and how powerful it is in helping us get stronger and more fit—has been rarely considered. Yet when you look behind the scenes, what really works is when a person does something with the right mindset. It’s not just about willpower. That can be helpful but the easiest and most long lasting changes are made when willpower isn’t even an issue. Unfortunately, when you don’t have the mind properly in alignment with your aims, the best training program or nutrition plan will not help you. In fact, I would argue that you can make a great plan or idea turn against you, all with the power of your mind. It can be your greatest ally… Or it can be your greatest enemy… When you learn how to properly use your mind toward your aims, then and only then will you be able to achieve whatever you desire. Many of the top athletes and achievers in any field stumble across some of these concepts on their own. Their beliefs and values are in alignment with their goals. But they don’t have a clue about how to teach you the “mental frames” that contribute to their success. And even then, they could still achieve greater and faster results by employing the mental training technologies outlined here.

Introduction More than anything, this book seeks to prove that if you’re not using your mind power properly, then you’re short-changing your results. If you’ve ever sought to achieve big goals, but felt unable to reach them, it’s likely that your mind was the key component holding you back. If you’re reading this book, you are in one of two camps. If you are in the first camp, you are already getting great results from your training. Congratulations for being a high achiever. In this book, you’ll learn additional skills and tools to help you meet your goals and do it faster. And you will learn to put these skills to good use. The slightest improvement may be all you’re looking for and you will find it here, better than anywhere else. Why? Because so few people are doing this kind of training. In the other camp, you are not getting the results you want. Something has stopped you. Maybe you have gotten some results in the past but you just can’t get there now. Here you’ll also find the tools you need to overcome these hurdles and move far beyond them. If you are stuck, blocked or nothing works for you, this book can be exactly what you need. Why? Because we will work at deeper levels that can get you to change more than just your behavior. When it comes to achieving peak performance levels there are three areas. I call this the Peak Performance Trinity. One section is physical training towards your aim. The second is health and nutrition. As already mentioned, many people work very hard in these two areas. The final area is mind power. In fact, I recently re-made my pyramid model to put it at the top—because mind power is over-arching and guides both your training and health. If you wish to become a peak performer, this book will provide the missing ingredient.

7

M e n ta l M u s c l e

How This Book is Different From All Other Mental Training Books It’s a shame. As important as the field of mental training is, there is comparatively very little written about it. There are a few great books written about sports psychology and mental training for athletes. Many of those will be mentioned throughout this book. The problem is that most of these books are twenty to thirty years old or older. While the material is as impactful now as it was back then, it’s hard to believe that no more advances have happened since then. The truth is, there have actually been many advances in mental training. In addition, all sports psychology books are just written about sports—in most cases, team sports. While there is nothing wrong with this, the area of strength training is somewhat different. There is a significant difference between sports skills, and exerting strength. While some books mention weight lifting (and of course when I talk about weight lifting, this applies to any strength endeavor from gymnastics to kettlebells and more) it is rare to find. Mental Muscle seeks to fill both these gaps. Here we will take all that past information and build on it. Also, we will specifically look at how mental training can be used to get stronger, build muscle and lose fat. If you want to improve your skills for any physical art, that will be one of the easiest things we can accomplish. Most of the studies and stories you’ll find in this book come from the field of health. This is because a lot of research has been done in this area, far more than in the realms of sports, weight lifting, and muscle building. In the last areas listed, there is almost no information at all, so many of the ideas and principles will be pulled from sports. Throughout the book I will provide you with tons of research, and more resources for you to examine which back up every one of my claims. I’ll share personal stories of

8

Introduction people I’ve trained, and scientific research conducted by sports psychologists and top people in many fields. Most importantly, when you do the drills yourself and gain the personal experience of how well this mental training works for you, then you’ll know beyond a doubt it’s truly effective—because it worked for you. That’s the only way you can be sure something is this powerful, when YOU do it and YOU get the results. This book is divided into four main sections. The first section, How Your Mind Controls Your Body, gives background information showing just how powerful the mind truly is. A large portion of this section is dedicated to the placebo effect as the research in that area is amazing and showcases how powerful the mind-body is when it believes it can do something. The second section, Mental Training Tactics and Techniques, shows you some of the most important focus areas in mental training. This includes how to properly set an outcome, use hypnosis, visualization—including the all-important submodalities— and anchoring. These skills form the foundation of your mental training, and with them you can move into the next section. The third section, Peak Performance Drills for Strength, Muscle, Fat Loss and Skills, covers specific drills based on the methods covered in the previous section. In this section, training goals are broken up into four main chapters: training for strength, adding muscle, losing weight and finally for sports and other skill-based movements. This section wraps up with a lengthy and in-depth drill for achieving flow on demand. The final section, Transcripts of Mental Training with Clients, shows you these methods and drills in action. You’ll read word for word transcripts of me coaching clients through the drills and into achieving success with various exercises. This includes the complete process of the story that started Mental Muscle, among several others.

9

M e n ta l M u s c l e I recommend that you first read through the book in its entirety one time. After you have the whole picture, go back and start putting the drills into practice. It is very important to read the first two sections and lay a foundation for the skills to come before getting to the drills. After you’ve read the first two sections, you can jump to the drills that are the most appropriate for your goals. Use the book as a reference as you practice them. Soon enough you’ll memorize the steps and be able to apply these methods any time you choose.

10

SECTION 1

HOW YOUR MIND CONTROLS YOUR BODY Twenty-two-year-old Lauren noticed that her father was working on his car, then watched in horror as the jack slipped and the 3450 lb. BMW came crashing down on top on him, leaving him unconscious and crushed underneath. As she screamed for her mother to call 911, she feared that she was about to lose her dad forever. Then this skinny girl did the impossible. She grabbed the car, picked it up and tossed it off her father…

T

his was just one story of many you’ve probably heard about people exhibiting

unbelievable strength in life or death situations. I simply did a search on Google

and this news story came up. We’ve all heard stories like this. Perhaps you even know some yourself or have been personally involved. How are these stories possible? A huge surge of adrenaline may temporarily give you super human strength, but is something else also happening?

M e n ta l M u s c l e In this book, we’ll explore the science behind how you can perform better in the gym, and how to unlock even a fraction of this power for yourself on demand—when you want it, not just when you need it. Throughout the book, there will be many references to studies as well as stories about individuals, all of which lead towards one main point—the mind controls the body. And you can make long strides in directing that control however you see fit, if you know how. We are more powerful than we think we are—unbelievably more powerful—in both the physical, and within our whole lives. The main problem is we are unable to tap into this latent ability. But no longer—this book will give you the techniques and tools you need to harness this power for yourself.

My First Taste

of the

Power

of the

Mind

I was an extremely weak and scrawny kid growing up. There was a time when I couldn’t even do a single rep of a regular pushup. In 8th grade I recall hanging from a bar wondering in utter disbelief how people could pull themselves up to get their chin past the bar. I couldn’t move an inch. That’s how weak I was. Years down the road, I learned about effective training and started to see some results. I was still quite skinny, but I was beginning to get stronger. Since I was heavily into bodyweight training, one of my early goals was to hold a freestanding handstand for thirty seconds. I had been practicing the skill on and off for a couple of years. During all that time I had built up the ability to occasionally hold a handstand, but it was very hit and miss.

Then one day I was finally fed up with my lack of progress. I can’t say for sure why, but this was when I first started using some of the simplest mental training tactics of

12

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy visualization and proper goal setting. I set myself a hard deadline—an exact date—for when I MUST achieve a thirty-second freestanding handstand without stumbling around. As I worked on my handstand, the deadline date quickly approached. I was in the twenty-second range but I couldn’t break my mark. My routine was to visualize myself holding that perfect handstand while sitting in my bed. Then I would go outside and practice it in real life. I did this each morning. It came down to the final day of my deadline. It was now or never. Even though there was no real punishment for failure, it truly felt that way. I spent a little more time than usual visualizing my success. After all, there was no more time. If I didn’t make it now, I would fail. I went out and got started. A few kick-ups into the process I stuck a stable handstand. And I held it…and held it…27...28...29...30...31 and down. I did it! We will be discussing goals and visualization in a lot of depth later on. For now I want to analyze this process a bit more. If I hadn’t used the three main components here—a hard deadline goal, visualization, and following through with actual practice— would I have succeeded? Absolutely not. What would have happened instead? Without the specific goal I would have continued to practice the handstand here and there and gotten marginally better over time. It probably would have taken me another year to reach 30 seconds at my previous pace. But, by having the goal I was hyper-focused. This led me to employ focused visualization for the first time in my life. With skill work like the handstand, this will teach your body to do the movement much better. And then daily, I backed it up with real practice. This is a simple formula for success. I will show you much more advanced, and faster-working techniques later as well.

13

M e n ta l M u s c l e Here’s the stupid part—despite my amazing success and how much I enjoyed hitting my goal, it took me many more years to use these techniques on a regular basis, and thus I had a lot more frustration and slow progress along the way.

“I’m addicted to placebos. I’d quit but it wouldn’t matter.” —Comedian Stephen Wright

Placebos The area of placebo research is all that’s necessary to prove how powerful the mind can be in causing chemical and physiological changes to the body. The word placebo comes from Latin and means “I shall please.” The placebo effect is commonly used when testing medical treatments. In fact, for a drug or other treatment to go mainstream it must be tested against placebos in order to figure out its real effectiveness. In most studies, where the hypothesis is that a drug, supplement or treatment is effective, it is tested against a baseline. This baseline is a control group that typically receives a placebo. Common sense would say that the control group should experience zero effects, but something tricky gets in the way. What is it? The mind. This happens because of the simple fact that when someone believes a treatment will have an effect on the problem, in many circumstances it will—even if there is no real reason for it to have that effect. Scientific research is commonly conducted with double-blind placebocontrolled studies. Let’s use the example of testing a new drug. Being placebocontrolled means that the substance is tested against an inert substance like a sugar pill. However the double blind part is also added, meaning that the people distributing the pills don’t even know which one they’re giving. This prevents bias.

14

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy If the administrator knows which pill is which, they’ll likely look for any change in the people who have the real drug and not spend any time with those who got the placebo. To prevent this bias, the pills are coded so that the people interacting with the study’s participants do not know which pill is which. Think about the meaning of this practice. If a person giving you a drug thinks it will work, you’re likely to pick that up, which can help your mind believe in it. What your mind believes will often cause the results to follow. The opposite can also happen. Your mind can eliminate the effects of something that should be effective as well as can create effects out of nothing. I’m reminded of the story of Ram Dass, who was previously known as Richard Albert, an LSD researcher. During his travels to India, he gave a yogi 1200 mg of acid—a very large dose—and was surprised when no effects occurred. How’s that for control of your mind and body? It’s capable of rendering powerful hallucinogenic drugs inert! Then, there is the nocebo effect, which occurs when an inert substance causes the side effects that people believe the actual drug would cause. For instance, in one study, a group of patients were given a placebo instead of an antihistamine. Antihistamine commonly causes drowsiness, and 77.4% of the patients in the placebo group experienced drowsiness. A very interesting study evaluated the effects of methadone, the drug used to help people get off of heroin. With the placebo, several people did not have the withdrawal symptoms normally associated with stopping heroin use. However, when they stopped taking the placebo, they experienced withdrawal symptoms. On average, the placebo effect tends to work slightly more than 30% of the time. So any substance or drug being tested needs to beat that number. In the case of drugs like Prozac, and many other drugs for depression, the placebo has been found to be more effective than the actual drugs.

15

M e n ta l M u s c l e An amazing study about knee surgeries shows the incredible power of the placebo effect. When I first heard about this study, I was amazed. Drugs are one thing, but surgery!?! Bruce Mosely M.D. of Baylor Medical University Center in Texas published the study in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2002. To compare the success of two different knee operations, they needed a control. Patients were split into three groups. Two procedures where tested, débridement and lavage. As already mentioned, the third group was the control. The patients in this group were given a fake surgery. They were prepped and put under anesthesia, only to have an incision made on the skin of the knee, but no actual knee surgery. Here is a quote from the conclusion of the study, “In this controlled trial involving patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, the outcomes after arthroscopic lavage or arthroscopic débridement were no better than those after a placebo procedure.” When you look at the individual cases it seems even more amazing—complete elimination of pain, and patients running around who could barely walk before the procedure. Many of the control group patients couldn’t believe only a fake surgery had been performed. That’s right, the placebo worked as well as a $5,000 surgery. Some of the patients swore that they had gotten real surgery because of the amazing effects they felt, when in fact nothing had been done. Well, something had been done—they received a powerful placebo. A couple of important questions need to be asked concerning this data. How can we harness the power of the placebo effect for ourselves and use it when and where we want? It’s not about tricking ourselves, but unlocking the power of the mind for desired results.

16

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy Another important question to ask is the mental makeup of the people who responded to the placebo. Is there something about them that produces these effects, while other people don’t respond? What causes some people to not respond to drugs or operations that have been found to be successful? I would argue that it has to do with their individual beliefs and meta-programs. The placebo effect extends far beyond just medicine and even surgery. I enjoyed this paragraph from Sports Psyching by Thomas Tutko and Umberto Tosi. “A commonly known phenomenon in psychology is the placebo effect. It means that if you are convinced something will happen, you will unconsciously make it happen. This effect occurs in about 30 percent of cases, whether or not the individual follows instructions properly to reach the program’s promised goal. In other words, if none of the readers of this book did anything but just read the techniques, three out of ten of them would still show improvement at their sport—just because they believed in it and tried something different. But—and this is most important—the improvement wouldn’t last. It is not my purpose in writing this book to produce just a temporary placebo effect. Do the exercises; and do them on a regular basis.” Just reading a book can produce results. Truthfully, this can work on several levels. The book may change your beliefs, which could give you different results. It may cause different changes in your behavior at a subconscious level that you’re not even aware of! I wouldn’t call these cases a placebo effect at all—and the changes could easily become permanent. While I think what you’ll find in this book won’t just give you a temporary placebo effect—because these things have proven to be successful over and over again—I’m quite alright if it does. I was experimenting with some new mental drills that I thought could help me with bending steel. One of the ways I strength train is to practice feats of strength such as bending nails and tearing phonebooks in half. This takes dedicated practice and I’m always looking to improve my performance of these specific feats. In this case I was

17

M e n ta l M u s c l e bending a 5 1/2” Grade 5 bolt. If you’re not into bending, that description is meaningless to you, but it’s also not really that important to this story. But, it is important to know that I was attempting an all-time record for myself. I had never bent a bolt of this difficulty at that time. So I did the mental drill where I visualized the steel becoming weaker and then bent it. I was happy with my success. When I told my friend about my drill and the results, he said, “You didn’t actually weaken the steel. It was probably just the placebo effect.” I replied, “So what? The point was that I was successful. If I hadn’t done the drill I don’t know if I would have been able to bend the bolt at all. It didn’t matter whether I actually affected anything with my mind, or just supercharged my belief that I could do it, as long as it worked I’m happy with the result.” The truth is I don’t much care if I get results from an actual change or the placebo effect. I care about results. How it works is less important to me than the fact that it works. The famous book, Anatomy of an Illness by Normal Cousins, which tells how he cured himself of cancer through laughing among other things, has a large section on placebos. Vitamin C is well recognized for its cold fighting properties, on top of much else. But it appears that the belief in vitamin C as a cold fighter is even more important. “The group on placebo who thought they were on ascorbic acid,” says Dr. Chalmers, “had fewer colds than the group on ascorbic acid who thought they were on placebo.” Morphine is a strong drug. Few would doubt that. And in this next case the mind was not quite as powerful, but quite strong in its own right. “In a study of postoperative wound pain by Beecher and Lasagna, a group of patients who had just undergone surgery were alternately given morphine and placebos. Those who took morphine immediately after surgery registered a 52-percent

18

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy relief factor; those who took the placebo first, experienced a 40-percent relief factor. The placebo was 77 percent as effective as morphine. Beecher and Lasagna also discovered that the more severe the pain, the more effective the placebo.” There are many cases of surgery with acupuncture or hypnosis as the only anesthetic. This is not just the placebo effect in action, these practices have mechanisms behind them that account for why and how they work. This begs the question, if pain can be so easily shut off, or at least diminished, what else can be done? In fact, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, the founders of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), once had a plan to market placebos. Included with the bottle of placebos would be a booklet that stated how placebos had been proven effective as treatment for a whole number of cases. Their placebos were never sold due to FDA regulations. As in the case of vitamin C and the beliefs about it, Robert Dilts, in his book Beliefs, reports another study showing similar results. “Another interesting study showed that the response expectancy (the belief about what the drug would do) was the major deciding factor influencing results. This was a study involving alcohol where the subjects were divided into four groups: 1. People who were told they would get alcohol and did get alcohol; 2. People who were told they would get alcohol and got a placebo; 3. People who were told they were not going to get alcohol but did; and 4. People who were told they were not going to get alcohol and didn‘t get alcohol. The two groups that were told they were getting alcohol had almost identical responses. Their responses were very different from those of the people who were told they weren’t getting alcohol but did. Both of the groups who were told they were getting alcohol started craving more of it. The group who was told they were getting alcohol but didn’t, had no such reaction. Males who were told they were getting alcohol (whether they received it or not) tended to have slower heart rates than normal when

19

M e n ta l M u s c l e they were put into what were termed ‘sexual anxiety producing’ situations. The groups who were told they were not getting alcohol (whether they really did or not) had increased heart rates in the same situations. The researchers concluded that there is both a pharmacological effect from the drug and an expectancy effect.” This shows just how much what you expect to happen will determine your results. This is a very important factor when it comes to results in the gym and will be discussed more in a moment. For now, let’s look at how the placebo effect can affect strength itself. “Placebos have been shown to induce powerful effects in a variety of medical conditions, such as pain and movement disorders, as well as to increase physical performance and endurance in healthy subjects. Here we investigated the effects of an ergogenic placebo on the performance of the quadriceps muscle, which is responsible for the extension of the leg relative to the thigh. In a first experiment, a placebo was administered along with the suggestion that it was caffeine at high dose. This resulted in a significant increase in mean muscle work across subjects, which, however, was not accompanied by a decrease of perceived muscle fatigue. In a second experiment, the placebo caffeine was administered twice in two different sessions. Each time, the weight to be lifted with the quadriceps was reduced surreptitiously so as to make the subjects believe that the ‘ergogenic agent’ was effective. After this conditioning procedure, the load was restored to the original weight, and both muscle work and perceived fatigue was assessed after placebo administration. Compared with the first experiment, the placebo effect was larger, with a significant increase in muscle work and decrease in perceived muscle fatigue. Within the context of the role of peripheral and/or central mechanisms in muscle performance, the present findings suggest a central mechanism of top-down modulation of muscle fatigue. In addition, the difference between the first and second experiment underscores the role of learning in increasing muscle performance with placebos.”

20

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy This study combined the placebo effect with classical conditioning. They found that it enhanced the placebo effect. And it is actually a proven technique you can use. You’ll learn more about it in the chapter on anchoring. To recap everything, here are a few important points: • The body-mind can effectively fix itself as well as bring about or diminish druglike effects. • The placebo effect works better for some people more than in others. • The expectancy effect is a huge part of the effectiveness of drugs, surgeries and much else. In fact it may overpower real results by making something effective or non-effective. • When we’re talking about using mental drills for our own performance enhancement, who cares if the effects are real or a placebo result, as long as the results come. (That being said, I firmly believe in the real effects of the techniques taught in this book.) As you’re reading this book you may already be a “believer” in mental training from your past experiences or studies. If that’s the case, when you do the drills you will likely get the results. Other people are “skeptics”. Despite all the studies and many other people’s results, they don’t want to believe. If they even try a drill from this book—which they probably wouldn’t—they’d likely enter with the mindset that “it won’t work”. In many cases they would be right as they could cancel out the real effects with their belief in the way. This is an example of the placebo effect in reverse. Instead, I ask you to take your skepticism and put it aside for now. Act as if the drills will work for you when you do them. Evaluate the results afterwards and compare them to your prior skepticism.

21

M e n ta l M u s c l e

The Expectation Effect In many cases, the expectation of what a drug or placebo would do was more responsible for any effects than the drug or placebo itself. How expectation plays into your gains in the gym is a subject worth exploring. This is a secret of strength, performance, and all success. It is rarely—if ever— spelled out in detail. Yet if you utilize this factor in your favor, you can easily and dramatically increase your strength. One way of easily getting all the benefits of the expectation effect is by training with a partner or a group that is strong, and where the expectation of strength is high. Doing this, and this alone, will almost assure that you will become strong. In The Strongest Man that Ever Lived, a book about the oldtime strongman Louis Cyr, the author George Jowett talks about how Cyr became so strong, and how several others from the same area of Quebec did too. Here is an except from the book: “The greatest fundamental that I have come to recognize is—environment. This condition more than any other makes men what they are. In itself it is the product of conditions or circumstances. The conditions and circumstance of Canada as found by its first settlers, were what determined the real hardiness of the future Canadian. Only the fittest survived, and necessity set for them a task of toil. It developed the true spirit of the pioneer, and from that such a man as Louis Cyr sprung. Among them, strength is a natural acquisition, they do not look for it, they expect it, and taking great pride in the amount they exhibit, the element of combat evolved. Louis Cyr is not the only great man Quebec had, there are many others, but the great Louis was the greatest of them all. Further investigation proved that Louis was advertising the fact that in the same province were other men of powerful bone and sinew, more capable of comparison with himself than some of the luminaries of Europe. Louis had already produced the prodigious Horace Barre…little Bourette…

22

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy remember his brother, Peter, as a lad of nineteen was invincible as a middle weight. All at one time we find four superman produced from a population that then numbered not much over a million people. It was environment that created them, but it was Louis that created the environment. He inspired others, and they accustomed themselves to consider certain poundage as being ordinary, that really shocked the best products of other nations. Well, we always follow a leader and usually find that the magnitude of his brilliance is a cause for our continued striving. The brilliancy of Leader Louis was that he daily reduced the extraordinary in feats of man power to the commonplace.” I know in my own life I’ve experienced this many times. When I first got into bending steel using the Ironmind bag of nails, the whites and greens where no problem. The yellow was a huge jump and I didn’t see it in my foreseeable future. Then my friend Tyler bent it. I was amazed, yet within a week I followed suit. If Tyler hadn’t bent it, I know it would have been at least a few months for me to do it on my own. As Tyler was someone I trained with on and off over the years, I can’t tell you how many times one of us would achieve something first, then the other would accomplish the same thing a short time later. Why? Because we believed we were at about the same strength levels. Thus if he could do it, I could and vice versa. How many personal records (PRs) came for all sorts of people right after someone did an amazing feat, related or not? In all the training workshops I attend or lead, it’s always the same. At the Wizards of Strength workshop I taught people how to unlock more power simply using their minds. PRs fell left and right—afterwards I was pumped up. I hadn’t even done my drills, but just from guiding other people through them, I held a back lever for 10 seconds, a new PR for me at the time. I can’t even add up the number of new PRs on that weekend alone. PRs were in the air, basically all you needed to do was be there and you’d set new records! Why do so many of the best powerlifters in the world train at Westside? Is it because they have the best training techniques? That certainly is a big part of it, but it’s

23

M e n ta l M u s c l e also because so many of the best powerlifters train there. The expectation effect and seeing incredibly difficult lifts performed on a daily basis is probably as much a cause as the specific training methods used. What’s behind this effect? I think the biggest part of it has to do with beliefs. As Henry Ford is credited with saying, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” There is no doubt this is true in your training. By seeing other people easily do feats of strength, lift weights, or practice skills you can’t do, you see that it’s possible. When they encourage you and tell you that you can easily do it, their confidence bleeds over into you. Training with really strong people has a way of opening up your beliefs far beyond what you’d even expect. Here is a story from wrestler and strongman, George Hackenschmidt: “I had almost said something mysterious about Dr. von Krajewski. Something in the man seemed to melt in his love for feats of strength and agility, and flowed forth in an inexplicable fire on all artistes of this genre. These people often used to say to me, ‘We don’t know how it is, but once the doctor appears on the scene one feels as though one had more strength.’ This was just the feeling I always had, but it surprised me to hear my impression confirmed by others.” Being around the people you want to emulate is one of the surest methods to becoming successful in any field of endeavor. But even if you aren’t able to be around those people, you can make sure your own expectations allow you to get the best results. More ways to establish and change beliefs—beyond being around those with the strength you desire—will be covered later.

24

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy

Epigenetics “As we begin to realize that we are not totally the victims of our genetics, conditioning, and accidents, changes begin to happen in our lives, nature begins to respond to us in a new way, and the things that we visualize, even though unlikely, begin to happen with increasing frequency. Our bodies tend to do what they are told to do, if we know how to tell them.” -Elmer Green The field of epigenetics is a fascinating one. Thirty or so years ago what most people believed (and many people still do) is that your genes determine just about everything. For example, if heart disease runs in your family you would believe that you would probably get it. The same is true with cancer and just about everything else. The actress Angelina Jolie was still under this impression when she decided to have a double mastectomy to avoid breast cancer. This is known as genetic determinism. The field of epigenetics has found that genes can basically be “turned on or off” due to a variety of other factors. While you may have a gene that makes cancer more likely, your lifestyle factors have an overall impact that will tell that gene to start expressing itself or not. Nutrition plays a huge role in this, and so does your mindset. A lot of what we get from out parents are not just genes, but beliefs and expectations. What is worse? That they gave you a cancer gene or drilled the idea into your head that people in your family always get cancer? Robert Dilts, a top NLP trainer with whom I’ve had the pleasure of training, looked into cancer when his mom was diagnosed with it. “A woman had interviewed 100 ‘cancer survivors’ in hopes of finding out what these survivors had in common. She described a cancer survivor as someone who had been given a terminal diagnosis of cancer with a poor prognosis for recovery, but who was still alive and healthy, enjoying life ten or twelve years later. Interestingly

25

M e n ta l M u s c l e enough, she could find no common patterns in the treatment received by these people. Different people received different treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, nutrition programs, surgery, spiritual healing, etc. However, there was one thing that these survivors all shared: they all believed that the method of treatment they were getting was going to work for them. The belief, not the treatment, made the difference.” This doesn’t mean some treatments may or may not be more effective than others. That’s not our focus here. The best aim would be the most effective treatment coupled with rock solid belief. It’s the same aim you will want to have with your training and nutrition. This is not to say that your genes don’t have some very specific effects beyond your control. But they are just that—beyond our control. Instead, choose to focus on the things within our control. If a knee can be completely healed with a fake surgery, and if cancer goes away regardless of the chosen treatment—but based on if we believe we’ll continue to live—then we are much more in control then we may realize.

How Are Your Beliefs Affecting You? There is a famous story about Abraham Maslow, the psychologist who came up with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. He told the story of a delusional mental patient that he had worked with early in his career. This man believed he was a corpse. In an attempt to break this belief, one day Maslow asked him, “Does a corpse bleed?” The man replied, “Of course not. Don’t be silly. How can a corpse bleed?” So Maslow asked the patient, “Would you mind if I were to prick your finger with a needle to prove a point?” The man agreed. Maslow went ahead, gently squeezing a drop of blood out of the man’s finger. The patient looked down at his finger and said, “Well I’ll be damned, corpses do bleed!”

26

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy This story shows that we only look for confirmation of our beliefs and not the opposite. Usually, any incoming information will be reframed or skewed to fit with your beliefs. New information contrary to your views will often be deleted, distorted, or simply labeled as wrong. This is easier to do than changing a belief, because we don’t like to be incongruent in our minds. The same is true for the information in this book. If you’re familiar with this information from other sources and already believe it, then you’ll have no problem seeing how it can help you, and you’ll likely try out the drills at the end of the book. But if not, then you’ll likely do a number of things. You might stop reading the book, throw it away, say it’s B.S. and go back to doing what you were doing before. That’s the easy route. Another possibility would be to finish reading it but never do anything with it. You won’t upset the status quo, or confirm or deny any of the things if you never do them. Finally, an insidious thing can happen—you don’t believe it will work, perhaps even on an unconscious level. If this is the case, you’ll actually sabotage the results to prove to yourself that it doesn’t work. Or you’ll pick and choose just where it didn’t work and hook your flag to that. Instead, I encourage you to expect positive results. This by itself will give you a greater chance of success. It’s the same with physical training as it is with mental training. Positive expectation breeds success. Sure, this may mean you only get results from a placebo effect in some instances, but in others it will mean you get real results and you’ll see and understand how you can use these concepts and drills for greater success in the future. Beliefs can be limiting or useful. In my opinion (and this is a belief) the best way to look at them is in that light, rather than if they are true or not. Later in the book we’ll actually cover a process to transform the beliefs holding you back.

27

M e n ta l M u s c l e Just how powerful and wide-ranging can beliefs become? Beliefs can direct our life, and many of them come from authority figures like our parents when we’re growing up. Leslie Lecron, was a hypnotist who worked with Marilyn Monroe early in her career. When Marilyn Monroe was first trying out for acting gigs, she would become paralyzed with fear when she had to speak. Through hypnosis she became more confident and was able to go on to become a famous actress. This story from Lecron illustrates this point: “A rather funny effect of suggestion was brought out by an attractive young woman. While working with her, she was regressed to a time when she was ten years old when her mother was punishing her. While beating her with a switch the mother cried, ‘Don’t you ever say no again! Don’t ever say that word no again!’ As she told what was happening the young woman sat up and remarked, ‘You know, I’ve been so ashamed sometimes. I’ve never been able to say no. And some of the things I’ve done because I just couldn’t say no!’”

Asking

the

Right Questions

The questions you ask will direct the results you get. The problem is, our beliefs keep us trapped in a box of what we think is possible and we never look outside that box. We started this section with a question related to the first story, “If an untrained person can lift a car off of another person, how can that power be tapped?” This question led me into this field and ultimately to writing this book. When I went through the Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner Course with Robert Dilts and Judith Delozier, two people involved in NLP from the very beginning, I had a huge “AHA!” during one of the classes.

28

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy If you ask certain questions, you’re led to different answers than other questions. I asked a question that I’m not sure had ever been asked before: “How is it possible that you can not only improve from workout to workout or from training session to training session, but even improve multiple times in the same session?” Think about the possibilities inherent in that question versus what everyone believes about workouts. At that point I was consistently improving in just about everything from workout to workout (and most people don’t even do that). Most people enter their workouts with “I hope I’m stronger than last time.” But could it be taken even further? Over the following months I developed then refined the answers. I listed all the different ways that someone could possibly improve—including the physical aspects of doing the exercise and changing the body—and essentially change their mental programming. I focused on mental programming to make progress in multiple steps, or even to make a big jump in almost no time. Wouldn’t you be happy if every exercise was massively improved in your workouts? And even if it’s not a massive improvement, would you be happy with just a little better than last time? That question led me to directly come up with the Instant Exercise Enhancer technique you’ll find in detail later on in this book. It’s also what led Matti to double his reps of fingertip handstand pushups and has helped many others achieve similar results. That one technique alone is one of the simplest yet most effective techniques I can teach you. I’m working on some even more “out there” questions right now that completely defy what’s currently known about physiology and how long the body needs to recover.

29

M e n ta l M u s c l e This question came to me recently and I’m beginning to experiment to find the answers: “How can I train three times in one day working on similar exercises and set new and bigger PRs in each one, by recovering completely from workout to workout?” The bounds of reality are beyond what we may think is possible. For example, in the case of people with split personalities, it’s been found that often one personality will require glasses while another doesn’t. It’s even more amazing when one personality is diabetic while another is not—and this is then verified by blood work. It’s the same body but with a different personality in control. If that’s true, then imagine what can be accomplished by consciously applying mental skills to physical training?

What Oldtime Strongmen Said About Mental Training If you look back at many of the oldtime strongmen and teachers of strength around the start of the 20th century, you’ll find many hints about how the mind was seen as being critical to attaining strength and muscle. This was in a time before steroids, widespread information via the internet, and modern gyms. But, in many cases their records still stand unsurpassed to this day. In his famous book, Muscle Control, Maxick stated, “Rational exercise must be accompanied by mental concentration on the muscles to be exercised…Mechanical exercise will not increase bulk or strength beyond a certain degree…To secure full benefit from the exercise, it is essential that the mind be concentrated on the muscles, and not on the work being performed.” When questioned about how he was able to beat men far heavier at lifting weights, he said, “I first control the muscles, and then lift with these controlled muscles.”

30

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy What is controlling the muscles? The mind, of course. Sandow essentially said the same thing in System of Physical Training: “HE PUT HIS MIND INTO HIS EXERCISES. The phrase, in Mr. Sandow’s mouth, is worth dwelling upon, for, as he earnestly and persistently avows, it is the key to success as a gymnast. The difference is great, as every learner knows or ought to know, between going through certain exercises in a perfunctory and mechanical manner, and putting the muscles to the strain by concentrating the mind and will-power upon the manipulation of the weights, or whatever muscular exercise is being attempted.” Concentration does not mean necessarily mean effort, instead it means focusing on the goal and desired outcome. This intention directs the functions of the body more than just the physical work. Another famous strongman said the same thing in regards to eating. In his book, The Way to Live, George Hackenschmidt said, “The ordinary mortal may be reading his daily paper or book while taking his meals; his mind is occupied with what he is reading, instead of being bent on acquiring nourishment.” By this simple change in focus, a person isn’t likely to follow through with the physical action—mastication—that gives the best nourishment beyond food selection. Properly chewing your food is critical for getting the most out of it. I also propose that the intention to acquire nourishment—for strength, muscle or fat loss—will also help your body to target the use of that food. Later in his book, Hackenschmidt states, “The main point is simply to be able to keep one’s body and mind under full control. You may compare the connection of body and mind or soul to that between the mesmerist and his medium. It is a well-known fact that the oftener the medium submits to the will of the mesmerist the more easily the state of hypnotism is reached.”

31

M e n ta l M u s c l e Practice makes perfect in both the physical and the mental. The more you practice these mental training techniques—like Hackenschmidt’s statement about mesmerism or hypnotism (they are actually different techniques)—the better they will work for you. In his book, On Strength, Thomas Inch says, “The brain rules all, there is no more fascinating study than that of the qualities of the mind, by which I mean practical psychology. If there are any readers who desire to take up a hobby, one which will help and advance them in the world, let them go in for the study of psychology. This will naturally include concentrative power, will power, suggestion and auto-suggestion, the sub-conscious mind, imagination and memory training.” Some of the best thinkers in the realm of mental training lived around the same time as Thomas Inch. Other than Inch spelling out some of the different techniques popular at that time, not much else was said by many other strongmen. But I wouldn’t doubt that many of them employed at least parts of this mental training (or perhaps a whole lot), to help them become as strong and famous as they were. All these different techniques will be covered in this book, although some under different names. Arthur Saxon in The Development of Physical Power said, “Think each lift out before you attempt it, and at all times endeavor to improve your position and become more scientific. Do not rush madly at a difficult lift which puzzles you, and make repeated futile efforts like a mad bull rushing at a gate. One rather delicate point in weight-lifting, difficult to explain on paper, is that you imagine in your mind the weight in the position you wish it to be, before you attempt to lift it; then you are more likely to succeed than if you allow yourself to doubt success attending your efforts. Those who have studied mental culture rather than physical culture will readily explain this by saying that you give yourself a suggestion which takes root and enables you to make a better effort, putting forth more strength on account of having placed yourself under more favorable conditions…I mention here that to think of failure is to fail, and I always tell myself all the time that I am certain to succeed.”

32

H ow Y o u r M i n d C o n t r o l s Y o u r B o dy There are a number of important statements about how to practice in the preceding paragraph. The first is the idea of using visualization or mental rehearsal in order to improve your technique, as well as using it as a dry run before actually lifting. This is followed up by a discussion of suggestion and belief. By running through the visualization you should believe you’ll be able to do the lift and thus you’ll have a greater chance of success. If you think of failure, or believe you’ll fail, then you will fail. The whole point of this chapter is to instill the BELIEF in how mental training can and will work. The mind has a proven ability to control the body’s capabilities. Story after story and study after study has backed this up—and there will be even more of them throughout the rest of this book. This should start to get you thinking of the possibilities of what mental training can do for you. The rest of the book will show you the specifics of how to do it.

33

M e n ta l M u s c l e

34

SECTION 2

MENTAL TRAINING TACTICS AND TECHNIQUES “Never inhibit or limit yourself by the seemingly impossible. Place no limits upon yourself and you will have none. Think that you’re strong...and you are.” —Joseph Greenstein, The Mighty Atom

N

ow that we’ve laid the foundation for why you need to use mental training with as much—if not more—fervor than physical training, it’s time to dive into

the specific methods and techniques. This section will give you enough details about why these methods work and how to do them. With this base we’ll be able to move on to the specific drills covered in the next section. Before we get started, be aware that there are two paths of mental training:

M e n ta l M u s c l e Number 1 - Removing the Blocks that Stand in Your Way Number 2 - Enhancing Your Current Ability Both of these paths lead to the same thing… Results! And you don’t always need to look at what is happening in order to get those results. Sometimes a drill will accomplish both functions at the same time. Why is this important? When you become more aware of yourself, you will realize exactly what you need to do. Here’s an example of how powerful a simple change in beliefs (the removal of a mental block) can result in the immediate effects. I had never hit more than a single rep of freestanding handstand pushups in my life. While doing a few singles I realized that I had a belief that this exercise was hard. And you know what? I had plenty of data to back up that belief as a fact—it had been a struggle to get this far with freestanding handstand pushups. It’s also something that the majority of people alive today cannot even come close to doing. Still, I realized that beliefs can be regarded as true, not true, or you can simply find the most useful ones for you. Right then and there I changed this belief—how I did this will be covered later. What happened? I hit a double and was stoked! Then I hit two more doubles in a short succession. I worked on my new belief that this was an easy exercise some more and I went and did a triple. This shows the difference between possibility thinking vs. impossibility thinking (or it’s-a-struggle thinking). Often breaking a certain mark like weighing 200 lb. or lifting a 500 lb. barbell will require overcoming a mental hurdle. With these mental blocks, nothing changes in the physical world, the changes are all psychological. There might as well be a physical block—when you’re stuck behind a mental block, you won’t see movement. But, the Mental Muscle methods can make dealing with mental blocks much easier. Bigger breakthroughs almost always occur when a block is removed. Now, when you realize you have a block, rejoice! You’ll soon know how to remove it, which will result in accelerating your progress. Other times there is no block, and it’s just a matter of amplifying what you can do.

36

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Achieve the Strength and Body You Desire with Well-Formed Outcomes “Success equals goals; all else is commentary.” —Brian Tracy

Personally, I like the term goals. I hear what Brian Tracy is saying and I agree with an emphatic “YES!” Long ago I realized if you master this skill, you can master anything and have as much success in life as you want. However, I’m not like most people. The word goal has a lot of baggage surrounding it for many people. It’s not quite as bad as New Year’s resolutions. Why would you want to take part in something that has a failure rate of over 97%? Here are some things you may be thinking about goals: “Goals don’t inspire me.” “I’m not a goal-oriented person” “Goal setting doesn’t work for me” For some, just the word “goal” can be disempowering. This could be because of a number of issues, one of which would be past failures, or lack of success with goal setting. That’s fine, but we don’t want negative past associations to get in the way of what we’re trying to do today. “I know how to set goals.”

37

M e n ta l M u s c l e Having this thought could be even worse. If you think you already know something, how often will you try to learn more about it? For all these reasons and more I am not going to talk about goals anymore in this section. And we certainly won’t be talking about SMART goals. They are important steps for sure, but covered in so many places that our eyes tend to glaze over when we read or hear that term. Instead we’ll use the NLP term of having a well-formed outcome. What is the outcome you want to achieve? Do you want to deadlift more? Do you want to weigh less? Do you want to complete the kettlebell snatch test? Do you want do a handstand? Do you want to have more muscle? What do you want? Almost certainly when you bought this book, you thought that you would learn methods to help you achieve something. What was the first thing that popped into your mind? For many people it will actually be a negative statement, or something you don’t want. Since the majority of the population is driven by what they don’t want, this will be your starting point. I don’t want to be fat. I don’t want to be out of shape. However, we can’t stop with a negative statement.

38

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

1. State

the

Outcome

and

in the

Techniques

Positive

So if you don’t want something, what do you want instead? If you don’t want to be fat, do you want to be skinny? We’ll get more specific in a bit. Right now just make sure to state something you DO want. Since the subconscious mind for the most part does not process negatives, if you are constantly saying to yourself, “Don’t be fat,” that’s exactly the outcome you’ll end up getting. I’ve worked with several people who had a hard time knowing what they wanted. I asked over and over again what they wanted and they kept going into what they didn’t want.

2. Identify Whether You Can Achieve this Outcome on Your Own, or Only Through Others It is important that you make the outcome for yourself. Changing other people is not easy. The following is not a good outcome to have, “I want my husband to start exercising.” By all means talk to your husband and tell him this, but don’t set an outcome for something he must do. It is ideal to choose something 100% under your control. At least it must be a goal you can do something about.

39

M e n ta l M u s c l e You can have an outcome that involves others. For instance, the goal that your team will win the championship, or for you to win a judged bodybuilding contest are both goals with outcomes that depend on others. Although these are great outcomes, it is better to choose something you can control. For the team championship, what can YOU do that will help ensure that outcome? For the bodybuilding contest what weight and body fat percentage would you need to achieve to give you the best chance at winning?

3. Use Sensory-Based Evidence What will you see, hear and feel when your outcome is achieved? How will you know it is done? You must be specific. How will you know you have achieved your outcome? It is not specific enough to say, “I don’t have it now, but by then I would.” “I will become stronger,” should become something like, “I will deadlift 405 lb.” You either get it or you don’t, based on that specific outcome. “I want to weigh less,” becomes “I will weigh 180 lb.” If you’re aiming for a goal like “I want to feel healthy and energized” you’ll need to figure out a way to quantify it so you know whether you have achieved your outcome or not. Getting caught up in generalities stops people from knowing how to attain their outcomes. Make it concrete and specific, then it becomes achievable.

40

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

4. Identify Who, When

and

and

Techniques

Where

In this step, we will capture some more of the specifics. Who is involved? Is it just you? Will other people be involved in the process? How so? When do you plan to achieve this outcome? Set a date—without a deadline, it may never happen since it can always be pushed off into the “future”. This is one of the most crucial steps. Where will this take place? Some outcomes may be dependent on location whereas others are not. If yours is, then make sure the specifics of the location are laid out.

5. Chunk

the

Steps Appropriately

Now we can begin to put a plan in place. You have your outcome and a future date set. Where are you right now in comparison to the future outcome? What milestones can you set along the way to act as motivators and feedback mechanisms? What can you do on a daily basis to get you to your desired outcome? Is what you have planned enough to get you there? If you weigh 240 lb. now and your outcome is to be 180 lb. in six months, that’s only 10 lb. per month. More often than not, everyone knows what they should be doing, or what will lead to their outcome. It’s the internal “stuff” that gets in the way of making this happen. Thus we move onto the next step.

41

M e n ta l M u s c l e

6. H  ave or Acquire All the Resources You’ll Need Do you currently have everything you need to achieve your outcome? If your goal involves the back squat and you don’t have a barbell and power rack, you need to get one, or get access to a facility with one. Do you have all the necessary information and knowledge? If not, get that information. A best bet would be to hire a competent coach to help get you there. Do you have the inner resources required to achieve your desired outcome? This is where most people fall apart in “goal setting”. If you don’t look at your internal capabilities you may miss the mark completely. If you have a mental block about losing weight because it provides you “security”, you will sabotage your plan somewhere along the way. This book should go a long way to help you with this, but you may need coaching in this area as well.

7. Identify Why We’ve covered who, what, where, when and how. Now it is time to cover what may be the most important step, your motivation behind it. A famous saying is: “If you have a big enough WHY, you will always figure out the HOW.” Why do you want to achieve this outcome? What will it do for you? How will it make you feel?

42

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

What will happen if you don’t achieve it? Are you excited to wake up every morning and take action towards your outcome? Could you add additional rewards for achieving it? What about a punishment for failing? Would involving others somehow in the process increase your desire to achieve it? (Many studies show that having your social network involved in one way or another dramatically increases follow through.)

8. Check

for

Ecology

This step is also essential, and I have noticed many people gloss over it too quickly. I’m sometimes guilty of doing this myself. Yet when checked correctly, you can catch those things that would otherwise cause you to fail to achieve your outcome. Is your outcome congruent with the other behaviors in your life? Is your outcome congruent with your own beliefs and values? How will what you aim to accomplish effect other people in your life? How might other areas of your life distract or hinder what you’re working towards with your chosen outcome? Based on your answers, you may need to alter your outcome and/or your plan to achieve it. The above eight-step process is sufficient to help you achieve any outcome. That being said, I’ve found a few other steps can enhance the process.

43

M e n ta l M u s c l e

A. Priority Is this outcome a priority compared to other outcomes you may want? Having many outcomes can be a good thing in every area of your life. However, if you have too many, maintaining focus on them becomes the hard part. Even if you only have a few, you must decide what takes precedence over the others. For example, I have lots of exercises and feats I want to achieve. But I can’t focus on all of them at once. Therefore, I list them in order of importance to me (considering how much drive I have for them, how they interact with one another, time required, etc.). Then when I’m in the gym I know what to focus on first, second, third, and so on. It takes a significant amount of time to figure out all the necessary details of a single outcome. So it is best to run this process to determine your highest priority. If an outcome is not a priority for you, then doing all this work may be overkill.

B. Feedback Since the outcome is specific, you can measure your progress towards it. You’ll know if you’re on track to achieve your outcome or falling behind. This is feedback. When you plan an outcome from the beginning, you have less information available than any other time along the way. New feedback must be taken into consideration as you move forward. Your outcome and plan will change based on this feedback. Things rarely go exactly as planned, so you must adapt your plans. That doesn’t mean planning isn’t worth doing. The plan gives you the best start and sets you in the right direction, but it can’t foresee everything that will occur along the way.

44

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

The best plans will have considerations for when things go wrong, and ideas for what should be done in those cases.

C. Accountability In general, it is not advisable to share your plans and desires with most people. Why? Because most people are negative and will only drag you down. That being said, finding someone to make you accountable for your outcome and progress along the way can be very powerful. A good friend, wife, husband, or parent may serve this purpose, but make sure they understand why you’re doing it and that they will support you. However, you also want to choose someone who will push you when you need to be pushed. What works best for you will depend on your motivational style. For some, a public commitment will be the ultimate driver—a big WHY—to ensure their success, since they don’t want to be seen as a failure. For others, publically putting it out there will take away all the energy before action is taken. As Napoleon Hill said, “Tell the world what you’re going to do, but show them first.” In the end, find what works best for you and then do it. Also be aware that what works best for you can change over time and be dependent on the context.

D. Daily Focus

and

Action

One of the best things you can do to ensure you achieve the outcome you desire is to do something about it every single day.

45

M e n ta l M u s c l e When it comes to gaining muscle or losing fat, this is obvious, since the food choices you make every day will effect the outcome. But what about a specific exercise you can only do once or twice a week? What do you do on the other days? You may not be able to take action by working on that specific exercise, but you could focus on recovery work. You always have the option of doing mental training like visualization. I have noticed several times in my life—and it’s something that also prevents many people from reaching their outcomes—that I’ve simply forgotten about the outcome when life gets in the way. This seldom happens if you have one big outcome you’re shooting for, but if you have many it becomes more prevalent. For this reason I’ll let you in on something that I’ve been doing for some time. Every morning I do self-hypnosis, which will be covered later, and focus on the training outcomes I have. For the most part, all of my gym goals relate to specific exercises and lifting certain weights. So my process may be slightly different than those who have physique related goals. This process involves a few different steps: 1) From the outside, visualize the main exercise you wish to achieve. 2) Visualize stepping into the picture and again achieving the exercise in your own body. 3) Based on recent results or ideas that pop up during this process, record any feedback you receive. With this feedback, alter your plan as needed. More details on how to do this are covered later.

46

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

E. Pressure

and

and

Enjoying

Techniques

the

Journey

You have to be careful when setting a deadline for a specific outcome. Having drive is a great thing. However, you can push too far—especially when it comes to physical training—and this can result in pain or injuries which will sideline your training temporarily or even permanently. I’m a big proponent of listening to your body when it comes to training. You can call this biofeedback, auto-regulation, or a form of intuitive training. There is simply no better feedback mechanism because your body will be sending you signals. Whether you listen to them or not is up to you. When your deadline approaches, you may be eager to push your limits. This is a choice you can make, but sometimes you might make the wrong choice. I’ve noticed a growing group of people preaching that you should not pursue what you want with everything you have. Instead they tell you to enjoy the journey. In one sense this is very helpful advice. If you’re always looking at what is out there in the future and you base your happiness on achieving it, you will not enjoy the training or the now. The best bet is to choose the outcomes you desire and go after them with everything you’ve got—but you must pay attention to feedback, including whether or not your body can handle what you plan on doing to it. And when you’re doing the actual training, it is best to be in the present moment. Sometimes we believe we can achieve an outcome in a certain time frame that just isn’t realistic. Years back, I thought I would get a one arm handstand in about 6 months time. From where I was, that just wasn’t going to happen. I grossly underestimated what I could accomplish and the difficulty of that skill.

47

M e n ta l M u s c l e Even today I set deadlines and sometimes simply don’t hit them because my body isn’t ready. Thus I need to re-adjust my plan. A deadline is set to motivate you to take action fast and achieve your outcome in that time frame. But if you don’t, just set a new deadline and create a new plan of action for achieving it. In conclusion, you’ll need to find the proper balance between focusing on the journey and the destination that works for you.

F. A Written Plan The best thing you can do when starting to plan any outcome is not to just think about it, but to write it down. A written plan of action and the desired outcome is about ten times as likely to happen as one that is only in your head. That is a fact! An idea I really like that I personally learned from Peter Ragnar is the idea of writing your outcome as a contract with yourself. It can include all of the above steps in more or less detail, though I strive to keep everything on one page. Then, you sign and date it as a contract with yourself. Then, re-read your contract daily. This will keep you focused on it every single day.

48

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Easy to Use Methods You Can Put Into Practice Today for Hypnotizing Yourself and Others There are many misconceptions surrounding hypnosis. Simply put, hypnosis is a powerful tool for getting in touch with the subconscious mind, and can be used for a multitude of purposes. Hypnosis is used to circumvent the conscious mind. Our conscious minds are engaged all day long as we’re working and during anything else that we do. Yet, the majority of our beliefs and what runs our lives is stored within the subconscious mind. Think of an iceberg. Although it may be large above the water, about 95% of the iceberg’s mass is under water. That is the same ratio as the conscious mind to the subconscious mind. It’s been said that the conscious mind processes about 44 bits of information per second while the subconscious processes 44 million bits every second. By working with the subconscious mind you can change your beliefs. You can set yourself on a certain path to achieve the outcomes you desire. If you have subconscious beliefs holding you back, and which may be contradictory to what you consciously want, the subconscious mind is going to win. It is simply more powerful. While many think that the conscious mind is in charge, the subconscious is the man behind the curtain pulling the strings. Its efforts may be subtle but they lead to pervasive results. This is why many people who consciously want to lose weight do not get results. The majority say they want it but aren’t really willing to do any of the work it takes. It’s a wish not a goal and it will not happen until it becomes a goal.

49

M e n ta l M u s c l e But there are a certain number of people who have earnestly tried to lose weight yet there’s something sabotaging them. Beliefs and values are behind their actions that hold them back. What we’re doing here works directly with the subconscious, can change those beliefs, and will make more powerful ones that will aid you in your goals.

The Mechanisms Behind Hypnosis and Meditation When people hear the word hypnosis, most usually think of stage hypnosis where the hypnotist causes one person to think other people are invisible, a chicken or something along those lines. It can be highly entertaining. What we’re doing here isn’t stage hypnosis. Here you’ll be conscious, awake and aware of your surroundings at all times. This doesn’t mean it isn’t working, but it does need your participation. Plus, there is no reason to induce amnesia. It is good to remember everything you experienced. There are many different theories about what is actually happening during hypnosis. Even among the top hypnotists today—and of years past—there is debate about how hypnosis works and what is occurring. Fortunately the exact details of why it works are really not all that important. When another person is hypnotizing you, it’s often easier to get into a deeper level of hypnosis and follow their commands or suggestions. However, the problem with this is that you’re reliant on someone else. Unless you are paying someone for regular sessions, this becomes a hurdle that you can’t really overcome. That’s why self-hypnosis is important and will be our focus here. If you learn how to hypnotize yourself, you have more control and you can also get nearly all the same benefits. It only takes a little more practice.

50

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

A main component of hypnosis is that your suggestibility increases, often greatly. Suggestibility shouldn’t be confused with gullibility—it’s not the same thing. When you’re being hypnotized, most times you want to follow along. That’s the whole purpose of hypnosis, so that you can get whatever result you want from it. If you fight yourself while being hypnotized to prove that it doesn’t work, you’ll need to clear up those incongruent thoughts before you begin. With meditation, most people think of someone sitting in the lotus position, chanting “om” or counting their breaths. While hypnosis and meditation are different methods, what’s happening in the brain is mostly the same. Your brainwaves are changing. The main difference between the two is in their purposes. The common purpose of meditation is to calm your mind and clear it of thought. The purpose of hypnosis is towards a desired outcome, including getting stronger, faster, losing weight or gaining more muscle.

Brainwaves There are four main brainwaves: beta, alpha, theta and delta. There’s also gamma but that’s not important for now. Understand that you may have a little bit of each brainwave going on at once, but what we’re focusing on will be your predominant brainwave at the time of hypnosis. You naturally cycle through these brain waves every single day when you sleep. Anytime you’re going to sleep you go from the beta brainwave to alpha, theta, and then delta. By that time you are in deep sleep. Beta is your normal waking brainwave. When you’re actively engaged, your conscious mind is running and you’re in beta brainwave mode. Beta is 15 to 40 cycles per second of activity.

51

M e n ta l M u s c l e Below beta is the alpha brainwave which is about 9 to 15 cycles per second. (It was named alpha, is because it was the first brain wave discovered.) When you are focused or in a light trance, your alpha brainwave predominates. Before you go to sleep, when you’re in that drifty period, or when you’re watching TV or absorbed in a book, you can get into this alpha brainwave state. Sometimes when you’re driving you get in this state. When you’re just going down the road, not really paying attention and forgot to make your turn, it’s because you’re in this trance. Then there’s the theta brainwave level. Theta brain wave is about 5 to 8 cycles per second. This is a deep trance. In the theta brainwave, you can hook up to the subconscious mind and even beyond it. During hypnosis and in meditation, you’re trying to get down to alpha or to theta. Most people can easily get to alpha with a little bit of practice. Theta takes a bit more practice but can be attained in time. The vast majority of people can’t get into a waking delta state, although it has been done before. Delta is pretty much reserved for sleep and is about two to four cycles per second of brainwave activity.

Why Use

the

Different Brainwaves?

With hypnosis, we’re getting down into a slower brainwave cycle. This allows for more coherence across the brain and for you to work directly with the subconscious mind, installing new beliefs, visualizing, and more. (As a side note, it is also great for stress reduction and your health in general.) It makes most of the other aspects of mental training more effective when you’re able to get into these deeper brain wave levels as compared to doing the same training while in a beta brainwave level. We’re using hypnosis to get you there because

52

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

it’s faster than anything else. That’s what makes this practice dramatically more effective than simple affirmations or visualization—which is what most people would recommend doing. There are many ways to get into these deeper brainwave levels. Many people use some sort of click track or sound to sync up the brain by offering different beats into each ear. Holosync is one such tool for this practice. There are also visual methods to achieve the same effect. While these can be useful aids for specific purposes, if you rely on their use they can become crutches. So, if you don’t have them available and the only way you can train is with them, then you won’t be able to get the same effect.

What

is

Hypnosis?

What you’re doing is using pre-conditioning to a desired effect. We all have associations with every word in our vocabulary. This is why you can read this book and form an understanding of what I’m conveying. When I say, “Relax,” you know what that word means, and you have been in a state of relaxation before. So if you’re following along (being suggestible) you’re able to bring about that relaxed state once again. All hypnosis is in essence self-hypnosis. Unless you want to follow along, you cannot be hypnotized in the classical sense. You will want to follow the suggestions. You shouldn’t fight it unless you’re trying to prove it doesn’t work, in which case you’ll be correct. But you want to get results and not waste your time and money. You can become suggestible by becoming open to doing what the hypnotist says. Only you can take the commands and apply them to your body and mind. When I’m telling you to relax each part of your body, you will be able to focus and relax into a deeper state. By doing this, we can relax the entire body. When the body is completely relaxed, with the eyes closed, you will definitely descend into an alpha brain wave state, or even theta.

53

M e n ta l M u s c l e From there we will work with the effects of words and images that are already preconditioned. When I say the word strength or stronger, you know what that means and what it feels like to be stronger. Thus you’re able to take that, use it, and get that sort of feeling. That is what hypnosis is all about. We’re using the hypnotic commands to bring about a relaxed state that slows your brainwaves down. Next, more hypnotic commands are given to install beliefs and conditioning to bring about greater results in the gym. These are based on the associations you already have for certain words, but there is even more you can do with conditioning. There is such a thing as conversational or covert hypnosis. Milton Erickson, a masterful therapist, was famous for being able to bring about enormous changes in clients just by talking to them or telling a story. Of course this procedure was organized ahead of time and he spent tons of time with it. This is a much more advanced level of hypnotic training beyond the scope of this book. But having a good base in classic hypnosis is the best start for further pursuing that subject.

Classical Conditioning Experiments In our bodies we have autonomic functions and functions that are not within our control. Moving an arm is easily within our control. But our heartbeat, and pupils dilating and contracting are not within our control. For a long time, it was believed those were 100% automatic and couldn’t be influenced. But some people, like many Yogis, have gained control of autonomic functions. By getting into a relaxed state and using different mental training techniques such as visualization, you can elicit a different state in order to get these effects. In addition to that, there are other ways to get them into control. We can also build on conditioned reflexes. C.V. Hudgins did a very interesting experiment where he was able to make a pupil contract merely by saying the word “contract”.

54

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

How did he do this? It was similar to the idea of Pavlov’s dog. Many people are familiar with this famous research idea, but it’s worth recapping. Pavlov was a behavioral scientist who had a number of dogs, and every time he would feed the dogs, he rang a bell. He did this many times—the dogs would see the food, hear the bell, then begin to salivate, because that’s what happens when they were ready for food. After doing this for a while, he started to only ring the bell. The dogs became conditioned to having the normal response for food. So just by hearing the bell, the dogs would then begin to generate saliva. This is called classical conditioning. In essence it is hooking into an automatic response with a stimulus that is otherwise unrelated. Saliva generation is an autonomic function, but you can control it easily by thinking of eating something. Think of biting into a lemon right now and you’ll notice certain functions occurring within your mouth. Normally, if light is shined into the eyes, the pupils will contract. So, C. V. Hudgins did an experiment where he’d shine a light into the eyes of subjects and said the word “contract”. The pupils would become smaller because of the light. But after building this reaction in through repetition, he made it a conditioned response because the word “contract” was associated with the light. Eventually he did away with the light and all he had to do was say “contract” to gain control over a normally involuntary response. This is also called anchoring which will be explored in depth in a future chapter.

Utilizing Conditioning

for

Your Benefit

If we can get the pupil to contract and relax on command what else can be done? Could certain health-promoting and muscle-building hormones be triggered to release on command? Can the body be taught to relax when under a high stress endurance test? I believe the answer is yes to all these questions and more.

55

M e n ta l M u s c l e In the discussion of the phenomena that can be induced by hypnosis an interesting quote comes to mind: “Muscle behavior is in large a result of the interplay of outside sensory impressions with internal thinking.” Some of the classic hypnotic phenomena that may be of interest to us and our goals include relaxation, limb catalepsy, anesthesia, sensory withdrawal and post-hypnotic suggestions. J.B.S. Haldane expressed it well, “Anyone who has seen even a single example of the power of hypnotism and suggestion must realize that the face of the world and the possibilities of existence will be totally altered when we can control their effects and standardize their application, as has been possible, for example, with drugs which were once regarded as equally magical.” This was written in 1924. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your viewpoint, almost a hundred years later I would say we are not any closer to that goal. There have been certain people who have used hypnosis and suggestion to the utmost of its effects, but it has not become mainstream. Still, you can choose to go deep and use self-hypnosis in a way that will give you powerful results. Here is an example from Dr. Daniel Amen in Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: “When I was an intern at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, I spent a month on the cardiac intensive care unit. One night when I was on call, I was caring for an army chaplain who had a severe heart arrhythmia. We were having trouble getting his heart rhythm under control, and he was unable to sleep. The chaplain had been feeling a fair amount of anxiety because his heart problem was causing him to be medically discharged from the army. As was my habit for sleeping problems, I asked my patient if I could hypnotize him to see if it would help him with sleep. With his permission, one of the nurses who wanted to watch sat in with us. He readily went into a hypnotic trance and we noticed a

56

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

considerable calming of his anxiety. As I went on, the nurse touched my arm and with an astonished look in her eyes motioned for me to look at the heart rate monitor. His heart rhythm had normalized. He then fell into a peaceful sleep. My nurse friend caused quite a stir on the unit by telling everyone what had happened. The next morning on rounds our attending, a friendly but skeptical cardiologist by the name of Bill Oetgen, asked me what happened. He was intrigued and we studied the chaplain’s heart both in and out of a hypnotic trance. His heart rhythm was definitely healthier under hypnosis. We presented the case at the hospital grand rounds and published the case in the Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.” Hypnosis can be used for wide ranging physical effects, but it can also be directed toward mental purposes. In The Complete Guide to Hypnosis, Leslie Lecron describes the following studies: “William Fowler at Albany State College worked with twenty-five students, both graduates and undergraduates using hypnosis. The goals of his study were to increase retention and recall; to produce better concentration, and also better comprehension; to develop a love for reading and good scholarship; to increase the student’s reading rate; and to develop confidence in the student’s academic ability. You should note that most of these goals are those almost anyone would have in using hypnosis for study. Fowler’s results were excellent. There was 80 percent better memory, 94 percent better concentration, 66 percent better composition, 57 percent faster reading, 66 percent more confidence, 91 percent better scholarly approach to college work. Fowler’s work was with students having difficulty in their studies, not the average student. Hypnotic suggestion caused the improvement.” And another case with one subject showing very dramatic increases in ability: “Another interesting experiment with a single subject was by McCord and Sherrill in Denver. The subject was a mathematician. Under hypnosis he was given suggestions of being able to do calculus problems post-hypnotically with great accuracy and much

57

M e n ta l M u s c l e faster than ever before. After being awakened, he did two hours of work on calculus problems in only twenty minutes.”

Can Everyone Be Hypnotized? Throughout the years, many people have tried to class people as easily hypnotizable or not. And while some people are certainly more easily hypnotized than others, and may reach deeper states, everyone can be hypnotized. More recent experimenters have found that everyone is hypnotizable, it’s just that standard methods don’t work the same for everyone. The only people who may be completely un-hypnotizable are those with impaired cognitive development. Every single person is unique physically and mentally. If you tell two people to relax, one may do it, and the other might get tense and angry. To properly hypnotize people you must learn how to “speak their language”. And, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it. A more visual person would respond well to imagery. A kinesthetic person will need to feel going deeper and deeper. When someone believes they can’t be hypnotized, it’s necessary to circumvent that belief without addressing it directly (which would trigger them to put his or her shields up) before hypnosis could be induced.

Classical Hypnotic Functions and Controls Commonly, hypnotists classify trance in three levels, light, medium, and deep.

58

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

In light hypnosis: You may notice relaxation, a tendency not to move, looseness in the muscles, and a feeling of heaviness after following suggestions of inability to move or open the eyes, and partial age regression. In a medium trance: You may experience a more complete body catalepsy, anesthesia, control of some autonomic functions, and partial amnesia if suggested. In a deep trance you can evoke the following: Complete age regression, complete anesthesia, complete amnesia, vivid memory recall, control of body functions, hallucinations in any of the senses, and time distortion. Having read these lists, your mind may be starting to think of all the possibilities of hypnosis—greater results in the gym (if not in every part of your life).

The Basic Steps

of

Hypnosis

Although there are many different kinds of hypnosis, we’re going to follow a basic and common framework that covers many bases. Here are five steps of hypnosis: 1. Preconditioning 2. Induction 3. Deepening 4. Hypnotic Commands and Processes 5. The Bring Back

59

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Preconditioning As you may have noticed from the name, this step occurs before the real act of hypnosis. Preconditioning is the process of installing procedures and beliefs before any hypnosis occurs. By reading through this book you now believe certain things regarding hypnosis and mental training that you did not before. By quoting other authorities and sharing the studies and stories of hypnotic effects, you have been preconditioned for hypnosis. Thus when you do it, you’re more likely to achieve success. You really don’t need hypnosis to install or even change beliefs. Just reading a book can do it! It may not work for everyone or every time, but it certainly can be done. Preconditioning also includes instructions and steps for following the process. One of the instructions is how to breathe—the correct breathing for hypnosis is abdominal breathing. Because you’re into fitness, you most likely already know how to breathe properly, but the vast majority of the population doesn’t. They breathe up into the chest, and by breathing that way they’re only really getting half the amount of air they could get if they were to breathe down into the belly. If you watch a baby breathing, they raise and lower their stomach with each breath. This is how you should breathe, it allows for slower, deeper and more relaxed breathing. A simple test for correct breathing is to put your hand on your belly. As you breathe in, the belly expands, and as you breathe out, the belly contracts. Your chest should not be moving. If you’re breathing in fully—filling your lungs to capacity—your belly will expand and then your chest will expand. But you don’t need to breathe that deeply for hypnosis. When relaxing, your breath should be deep, not shallow—but not so deep that you take in as much air as possible. Your chest should not expand. By breathing this way you will get into a relaxed state. You can also try another test to make sure you’re breathing correctly: Lay down on the floor, and place something like a shoe on your stomach. Breathe in, you should see the shoe rise and then fall as you breathe out.

60

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

The second breathing instruction is to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth, and to maintain this technique for the entire time of the process. By breathing in through the nose, you focus the mind. By breathing out through the mouth, you focus the body. It’s very relaxing.

Induction If you read many of the classic books on athletic mental training for athletes like Sports Psyching by Thomas Tutko, there’s a lot of information about mental rehearsal and getting into relaxed states. But often, these books don’t go into much detail about how to actually do it. If anything, it’s simply basic autogenic type training where you just learn to physically relax your body. Don’t get me wrong, that’s very important, and if you don’t include that step, then you really can’t do it. But that step is really only one part of the induction process. Induction is the step where you get into an alpha brainwave state or trance. You reach the point of being hypnotized and are more suggestible. The first step of induction is physical relaxation. The easiest way to achieve physical relaxation is to focus on one body part at a time. For example, don’t just focus on your head, since that’s a big part, but instead focus on your scalp alone before focusing on the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. You will focus on each part in sequence and tell it to relax. “Feel your eyes and allow them to relax.” We’re able to do this because we’ve had times when we are tensed up and times when we’re relaxed. So, we should know what relaxation feels like. When you focus with the intent to relax, it should be easy enough to relax a given body part. If you need to, you can tense up the body part before you relax it. When you’re starting out, that can be a good thing to do, because after tensing it up, it is easier to relax. After you’ve done this a few times in this process, it will be unnecessary. 61

M e n ta l M u s c l e Along with the process of relaxing the physical body, you want to work with the words that work specifically for you. We have associations to the word “relaxation” that allow us to understand what we should do. When I say, “Relax”, you know you’re supposed to relax and you can understand and act on that command. But there are other things that may work even better and this can depend on each individual person. Feeling a wave of relaxation, a tingling sensation, or feeling the heaviness in your limbs, are all different words you can use to relax your body. Normally, I like to start at the top of the head and work my way down the body. Some people start at the toes and work their way up. While that method does work, I find it doesn’t work as well for me. Considering the connotations of word “down” and how it is used as a phrase to “go down, down, deeper and deeper”, you’ll see why I go “down” the body. We want to take it to the next level after physical relaxation, and that level is generally known as mental or emotional relaxation. If you’re physically relaxed, you will also be somewhat mentally relaxed. If you’re mentally relaxing, you’re going to physically relax even more. Although we separate this into different steps, it’s really just a different way toward the same end goal of relaxation, which leads to being hypnotized. What works well for mental relaxation is to visualize yourself in any place you’ve in felt very relaxed in the past. What I personally like to do is imagine myself sitting in a sauna. It’s a place where you just sit and relax. It’s anchored to relaxation for myself, both physically and mentally because I usually sit in my sauna at the end of the day when I’ve done all my work and can just kick back and enjoy it. For some people, sitting at the beach, like they may do on a vacation will work well. You’ve got to find what works for you. Now imagine that relaxed scene in vivid detail. We’ll cover visualization in great detail in a following chapter. The basics involve incorporating all the senses, not just sight, but feeling it, hearing it and even smelling it. Everything surrounding that image should be incorporated.

62

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Not only does this allow you to relax more, but it will take you away you from your current location. That’s often a part of hypnosis—relaxing outside your body and completely into the mental zone. But at the same time, unless you’re in the deepest states and fully associated into the other place, you will experience a bit of a duality where you recognize that you’re in one place, but mentally in another. A faster way to induce yourself or another person into a hypnotic state is to use anchors for each of these steps. Anchors will also be covered in greater detail in a later chapter.

The Deepening Next we move on to the deepening step. Induction brings us down to a deeper level of mind and gets us really relaxed. The deepening step just furthers the process. Just as the name implies, this step gets you even deeper into hypnosis. During this process you’ll notice that every step along the way gets you a little more relaxed as you continue to do it more and more. Understand that relaxation isn’t a state you either have or you don’t, but that it has many different levels. Usually this process involves a descending count, like a countdown from ten to one. Many times I use the visual of being in an elevator going down to lower and lower levels. Other people like to mentally ride an escalator down. Along with these visuals will be suggestions for further relaxation. Here is a very quick example, “With each descending step, you’re going to go deeper and deeper...10, 9, 8, down, down, deeper and deeper...7, 6, 5, down, down, deeper and deeper. 3, 2, 1.” When you’re starting out, repeat the deepening process—like riding an escalator down (unless you’re frightened by escalators)—three times. Each time will serve to bring you deeper and deeper.

63

M e n ta l M u s c l e If you’re hypnotizing someone or yourself, you are trying to get them to relax. What is more relaxing? When someone talks really fast or when they ease back and slow down their speech? The speed changes, but so does the tonal quality of their voice when they relax. While there are shortcuts like anchors, you don’t really want to rush through the process because you won’t achieve the desired effect. When you’re working with self-hypnosis, although you won’t be speaking out loud, you want to keep the pace slow in your sub-vocalization. This may sound simple, but it can mean the difference between success and failure. If you like another hypnotist’s voice, or have listened to recorded hypnosis many times, you can also re-create that voice in your head, instead of your own to lead you through the process. The audio qualities themselves can be anchors for becoming hypnotized.

Hypnotic Commands

and

Processes

Before you enter hypnosis, you should have a goal for the session. Have a plan ahead of time for what you will specifically work on, and how you plan to do it. Don’t get down in a hypnotized state and think, “What am I going to do now?” Instead, know what you will be doing beforehand, including if you will be running through several goals or different processes. Even if your outcome is just to physically and mentally relax (which is great for reducing stress) that is fine, just recognize it as the goal of the session beforehand. You can do many things while under hypnosis. In this section, we’ll cover hypnotic commands but in later chapters we will cover visualization and anchoring which are two large areas that can be used with hypnosis in full detail.

64

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

One of the most basic skills in mental training is the use of affirmations. Affirmations can be said out loud or just repeated in your mind. We attach certain meanings to these statements and as we say them, it will instill the belief and those ideas into your body and mind. While affirmations are good, they’re probably the least powerful of all the techniques covered in this book. According to well-known hypnotist Dick Sutphen, they’re worthwhile when used in the alpha and theta brainwave states where they’re going to be 100 to 1000 times as powerful as affirmations made in the beta brainwave or normal waking state. They’re going to be that much more powerful because we’re bypassing the conscious mind. The conscious mind’s filters can be slipped past with hypnosis. More often then not, beliefs are not really our own, but are built from conditioning as we grow up. Especially as children, we don’t have filters set up and just about everything goes into our minds permanently. Children live in delta, theta and alpha brainwave states until almost their teenage years. Thus they are constantly in a suggestible state. It’s why they learn things like languages naturally, and also why beliefs instilled at that age can rule their lives forever. If some of these beliefs aren’t helpful, they can rule our lives in ways contrary to our conscious goals. Through repetition especially in a hypnotized state, we can change those beliefs. And even if they’re not contrary to what we believe, by using affirmations you can make your already helpful beliefs more powerful and move you forward in your goals. Repetition is used in all commands. It is used in the process for relaxing and also to achieve the goals you desire while hypnotized. Don’t expect miraculous changes by making a command one time, but if you do it 10,000 times you’d be hard pressed not to see concrete changes. The repetitions can be made many times just in one session, but also when repeating the sessions over and over with the same goal. Use more repetition so you’re stacking up the power of those commands over time.

65

M e n ta l M u s c l e Also, when you are giving yourself suggestions, it’s important that you always stay positive. The subconscious mind takes things very literally. Not only do you want to be clear and focused on what you want, but be careful of using any negatives. Everyone uses this example because it works: don’t think of a pink elephant right now. I said the word “don’t,” but in order for you to register that whole sentence, your mind has to come up with a pink elephant in order to delete it. If I hadn’t said that phrase, you wouldn’t have been thinking of a pink elephant at all, and the end goal of not thinking of a pink elephant would have already occurred. Instead by bringing it up, even in its negative form, the exact opposite was achieved. This occurs in real life, and not just with silly pink elephants. Your mind doesn’t work well with negatives. If you are trying to stop yourself from eating certain foods, you don’t want to say, “I’m not going to eat this food”. This is because all you would be doing is putting images in your mind of those specific foods and bringing up the desire to eat them. When there is a battle of will and imagination, the imagination will always win. You may be able to hold off for some time, but it’s so much easier to change the pictures in your head and the phrases you say to yourself instead. So if you’re actually doing this when you’re hypnotizing yourself, you’re making things a lot worse for yourself rather than better. You’re reinforcing what you don’t want! Instead, you want to focus on the things you do want. You want to focus on seeing a picture of yourself weighing what you want to weight, and looking how you’d like to look. See that image of yourself stepping on the scale. Or you can see yourself being offered the foods you don’t want to eat, but feeling no desire to have them at all and calmly saying “no thanks” to them. (Negatives can be used with certain higher-level frames in specific ways, but it is much easier just to stay positive.)

66

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Similarly, you don’t want to use the word “try”, as in “I’m going to try to lift this weight.” This is because trying implies doubt and doesn’t show confidence. You want to do something, not just try to do something. When you try, there is a bit of an expectation for failure because you’re not 100% positive you can do it. As Yoda says, “Do or do not, there is no try.” You can also set things in motion while you’re in hypnosis that are supposed to take effect later. This is called a post-hypnotic command. But, there are times when you want to have the effects immediately. For example, with the statement, “I’m relaxed now.” That statement will take action right away in your body. With certain other things it’s not going to happen right away, so you shouldn’t command it as such. Instead you want to give it time to work. Instead, what you want to say is, “In a short time, in a few minutes, or in an hour.” Use the command with the amount of time so that it can take effect post-hypnotically. After you’re done with the session, it will come into effect. Another option is to anchor the command to a certain stimulus as in the classical conditioning experiments covered earlier. Once again, full details on anchors will be addressed later. As a simple example, think of a time when you forgot someone’s name— someone that you should know. Of course this person’s name is somewhere in your subconscious. With this process you don’t even need to hypnotize yourself, but you could and would likely get faster effects. But if you just set the intention, “Bring this person’s name into my mind within the next couple hours”, you’ll find that almost always this will occur. About an hour or so later, you’ll be thinking of something else completely, and it will just pop into your mind.

67

M e n ta l M u s c l e

The Bring Back Once you’ve run through your hypnotic processes, then you will do what’s known as the bring back or the trance termination. Basically it is the method of coming out of hypnosis. A lot of people overlook the importance of this step, but it can be utilized in an advanced way to increase the effectiveness of hypnosis. The basics of the bring back is to count from one to five in ascending numbers. In the deepening we counted with descending numbers because when you’re counting lower, that tends to accompany relaxation. You’ll notice the words “up” versus “down” and the associations you have with these words. So in the bring back, we count up. You’ll start with this command, “On the count of five you’re going to be wide awake, feeling fine, feeling better than before.” You’re using these hypnotic commands, a suggestion so that when you come out you’re feeling fine, you’re feeling better than before. If you say you’re going to wake up, feel groggy, and that you will feel like you need to take a nap, then chances are you’re going to come out in that state. As always, you want to use the exact commands for what you want to achieve. An advanced form of this can be performed by adding an additional phrase that reaffirms what you’ve accomplished or wish to accomplish by your hypnosis session. “Knowing that you have improved your skills” or “you’re going to get stronger” or “you’re going to be able to effortlessly eat healthy choices that allow you to shape your body how you want.” You can add in this command as one more suggestion and a post hypnotic command. And as you’re doing the count up, you are going to reaffirm this several times, so repetition is also involved. There are specific reasons for this, when you count the first number, you will still be in that deep level. If you’re in theta, that’s great but this process still works if you’re in a lighter trance. As an example, let’s say during hypnosis you were down to theta. You can say this post hypnotic command that you’ve improved your skills while in theta and it will carry over into the next time you practice.

68

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Then you begin the count up but stop at the middle and reaffirm the bring back (and your suggestion once again). This will start to bring you back up into a beta conscious mode, but not quite fully there. You may move from theta to alpha, and after you once again say your command: “1, 2, 3, starting to come awake now, feeling the blood rushing back in. You wiggle your fingers and toes knowing that you’ve improved your skills here through visualization, knowing you will see real results in your next practice session.” Then you will continue the bring back up to beta, your fully conscious state: “4, 5. Eyes open, wide awake. Feeling fine, feeling better than before, your skills have improved here through visualization, and you know you will see real results in your next practice session.” With this process you’re covering the different mental levels with the same post hypnotic command. This will seal in all the benefits from the session and carry them over into the future. This is an important advanced step that not many people know to use with the bring back. It will help you get even better results. Now that we’ve covered all the basic steps of self-hypnosis, I’ve included a sample hypnotic script. I used this script to record an audio that can be played back, and you can do the same. This script could also be used as a template to build your own hypnotic script towards your specific aims.

Sample Script for Relaxation Installation of Strength

and

Sit comfortably in your chair as you close your eyes. Take a deep breath in through your nose, hold it, and let it go out through your mouth letting your body relax as you do it. Again, breathe in…and out, all the tension in your body flowing out with your breath. Continue breathing like this as you relax further down. Relaxing, relaxing, relaxing.

69

M e n ta l M u s c l e Feel the top of your head, and as you breathe in and out relax the muscles and skin of your scalp. Relax the forehead, the eyes, nose and mouth. All tension melting away. Breathe in and out relaxing down, down, further and further. Breathe in and out relaxing the left side of your brain. Feel the soothing sensations. Completely relax. And now relax the right side of your brain. Completely relax. Take a mask of relaxation and place it over your head. It encompasses it all as you relax so completely. Relaxing, relaxing, relaxing. Breathe in through your nose, feeling the muscles of your neck and traps. And out, letting them relax more and more. Loose and limp, just completely relaxed. Continue down your shoulders, arms, wrists, hands and fingertips. Imagine as you breathe in and out that all tension runs off the arms and fingers like water, allowing you to relax deeper and deeper. Feel your chest as you breathe into it, relaxing the muscles on the outside and the heart and lungs inside. Breathing in and out, relaxing further. Moving down to your abdomen, your sides and all the organs inside. Loose and limp, just completely relaxed. Breathe in, feeling it rise, and out as all tension goes away. Relax, breathing into the thighs, the knees going down, down, down. Allow the tension to melt away running down the calves and off of every individual toe. Feel the soothing sensations. Completely relax. See and count the number 3 three times. 3...3...3...This is physical relaxation and you can return to it at any time by seeing and counting the number 3 three times. Now, imagine yourself in a hot tub. See the tub with the calm but hot waters all around you. It’s the perfect temperature allowing you to relax deeply and forget all the worries and stresses of your day. You can feel the water submerging your entire body up to your neck. Feel the heat all around. You can even feel it on your face as steam comes off the water. Just so completely relaxed. Let go. Sink further into relaxation as you sit oh so comfortably in the hot tub. Soaking in the warmth. Soaking in the relaxation and feeling fine.

70

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

See and count the number 2 three times. 2...2...2...This is mental relaxation and you can return to it at any time by seeing and counting the number 2 three times. Focus on the space between your eyes from behind your eyes. The space between your ears from behind your ears. Feel that space between your shoulders from behind your shoulders. Now your hips. And your knees. Feel the space outside your body and inside. Feel the space everywhere. See and count the number 1 three times. 1...1...1...This is open focused relaxation and you can return to it at any time by seeing and counting the number 1 three times. Now picture yourself getting into an elevator maintaining all the relaxation you currently feel. As you get in, the door closes and the elevator begins to go down. 10...going down, down. 9...deeper and deeper. See the lights above the door as it crosses over to… 8...with each floor the elevator passes, your relaxation doubles 7...go further down, descending even deeper 6...the elevator slowly goes down each floor at a time and with it you fall deeper and deeper into an even more relaxed state 5...deeper and deeper 4...nearing the bottom, feeling so relaxed. You may not think you can get anymore relaxed but with… 3...you’ve doubled your physical and mental relaxation once again. 2...going down, down even deeper and 1...you’ve reached the basement. The doors open up to your subconscious mind. You have entered an altered state of consciousness where you can do anything you desire and it is so. Place the three middle fingers of your left hand against the thumb and know that you can quickly and easily return here anytime you desire and it is so. Know that every time you come here it will be quicker and deeper than before. This is a safe place and it feels so good to be here.

71

M e n ta l M u s c l e And I’m going to begin by providing suggestions that will be conveyed to and accepted by every level of your mind and your body. You are driven to workout and achieve phenomenal strength. Every time you set foot in the gym you become stronger, faster and in better condition. You have the strength and skill to do things few people in the world can, and you are only getting stronger and better each and every day. As you gain in strength you also gain in confidence. You have the self-discipline to do anything you want to do. To achieve any goal you set. Nothing stands in your way. In fact you are accelerating in your progress. Your recovery is better then ever allowing you to accomplish more in the gym. You are finally making the progress you deserve. Super strength and concentration are your keywords for anchored response. These words have been conveyed to and accepted by every level of your mind and your body. And so it is. Now it’s time to visualize yourself having already achieved your goals of strength. Vividly imagine what you can accomplish in full detail incorporating all the senses. See it, hear it, feel it, taste and smell it. You execute the moves with flawless perfection. Feel the triumph. Hear and see the reactions of those around you. By doing so you’ll further communicate your desire and your goal to every cell in your body and all parts of your mind. Visualize now…. You have just seen your reality of having the strength you desire. Now even more so than before you, are open to suggestions which you’ll accept and take action on. You are driven to workout and achieve phenomenal strength. Every time you set foot in the gym you become stronger, faster and in better condition. You have the strength and skill to do things few people in the world can, and you are only getting stronger and better each and every day. As you gain in strength you also gain in confidence. You have the self-discipline to do anything you want to do. To achieve any goal you set. Nothing stands in your way. In fact you are accelerating in your progress. Your recovery is better then ever allowing you to accomplish more in the gym. You are finally making the progress you deserve. Super strength and concentration are your keywords for anchored response. These words have been conveyed to and accepted by every level of your mind and your body. And so it is.

72

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Now its time to discover the power of key trigger words to bring about a peak state of conditioned response. Anytime you need to focus in and summon your great strength just take a moment to close your eyes and say the words super strength and concentration to yourself. These words are your anchor to your subconscious mind to bring about super strength and concentration for the task at hand. The words, super strength and concentration, are your keywords and every time you use them you’ll find them becoming more and more powerful. Every time you hear super strength and concentration you’ll find it completely effective. And you will use your super strength and concentration conditioning to bring about even greater strength in your training. And now once again repeat these powerful affirmations along with me. I am getting stronger and stronger. An awesome feeling is sweeping over my body. I am now stronger than I have ever been. I am getting stronger and stronger. An awesome feeling is sweeping over my body. I am now stronger than I have ever been. I am getting stronger and stronger. An awesome feeling is sweeping over my body. I am now stronger than I have ever been. Yes, you are stronger than you have ever been. Know that this is true and it has been programmed to every level of your body and mind. And now once again create a visualization in which you perceive yourself having successfully attained what you desire. Fantasize the desired result of this programming. Create every detail in your mind, your feelings and reactions. The reactions of others. Everything. Make it real and do this now while I’m quiet for awhile. And it is so! Take a moment to show appreciation for your body and your mind, for what you have done here and what it will allow you to accomplish. Say thank you inside. And you know that each time you listen to this recording you will become even stronger both physically and mentally. Your strength will grow and it is so. The more you do it the more powerful it becomes. In just a few moments we are going to come back up to an awakened state at the count of five. You will come back wide awake but you’ll feel as though you just had a very restful nap. Ready to take action and accomplish your goals.

73

M e n ta l M u s c l e One. Two. Three. You’re starting to come up now, feeling good with vibrant energy knowing that you are stronger than ever before. Four. Five. Eyes open, wide awake, feeling fine, feeling better than before, knowing that you are stronger than ever before. The benefits of self-hypnosis are that you can control what you’re doing and make switches anytime. Being hypnotized by another person has some different benefits, one of the most important being that you can completely let go as they guide you. Without paying a professional, you can get many of these benefits by listening to hypnotic audio tracks. I’ve made a number of these available at the following webpage at a special discount just for people reading this book. http://www.mentalmusclebook.com/hypnotic/

74

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Making Your Mental Movies So Powerful They Deliver Instant Real Life Results (Most People Visualize Incorrectly— If They Do It At All!) When it comes to mental training, most people think that visualization is what it’s all about. That’s because visualization a major aspect of success in any athletic endeavor. Although it is popular, there is far more to visualization than most people would even imagine. And of course there is much more to mental training than just visualization. When it comes to sports performance, the more realistic you can make your visualizations, the better results you will get from it. Also, the more often you do it, the more you will get out of it—this applies to both frequency and duration. We’re going to go through many steps and drills that will improve our visualizations. But that’s just one area that we’ll dive into. Metaphorical visualization can be even more powerful then realistic images. If you think about it, a realistic movie will be one in which you do something you can already do, or you expect to be able to do at a higher level. Using your imagination you can do much more, and often unlock even greater power. In addition, we’ll be talking about HOW you visualize, because how you visualize is more important than what you visualize. Even small changes can result in dramatic differences in how you perform. Of course before we dive into this, I want to start by saying that visualization is a bit of a misnomer. It’s not just visual. If you’re only visualizing, you’re not incorporating the other senses—and that means you’re not doing it correctly. You may be able to get some results with just visual images, but it’s not even close to what you can do if you incorporate all the senses.

75

M e n ta l M u s c l e A better, more descriptive phrase is multi-sensory imagination. But that’s much longer, and most people are already familiar with the word visualization, so we’ll stick with using “visualization”. But understand that it incorporates all the senses you have, and the more you can incorporate them, the better off you’ll be.

The Benefits

of

Visualization

Why should you want to practice visualization? What are the benefits of it? For one, it will help you learn any skills faster than just doing a physical practice alone. There are no external factors to take into consideration, or that you need to worry about. You can do it correctly inside your mind and this will transfer over into your actual skills and strength as well. Visualization works because our brains can’t tell the difference between something that’s effectively, vividly imagined and something that’s real. When you have your visualization vivid enough that it seems real to the brain, it sends nerve signals to the muscles, and it’s firing them off. This doesn’t mean you’ll be making complete movements. If you visualize a press, your arms may never leave your sides, but the nerve pathways are still being used, if you do the visualization correctly. The muscles will not contract 100%, or even the same contraction necessary for the physical exercise itself, but you’ll definitely feel it during the visualization. This is why with visualization you can wire yourself for better skills and strength. Since it’s all done in your mind, it means that you’re not actually physically training. One of the most difficult parts of physical training is the risk of overtraining, especially if you’re competing at an elite level or are just have a lot of fun with it and want to do more. You must balance the work you do with your recovery time. Still, you want to be able to do as much work as possible, because the more practice you can do, the more your body will adapt and the better you’ll get. However, it is a balancing act. You have to figure out the most you can do without doing too much to get the best gains. But since visualization is all mental, it doesn’t requires recovery for the rest of the body. In fact, with visualization you can even speed up your recovery time. And the third great benefit of visualization is that you can do it anywhere and at any time. If you are practicing a sport that requires special equipment, you can’t

76

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

always practice with it, but you can visualize any time with absolutely nothing. If you’re waiting in line, lying in bed, or even sitting on the toilet, you can put that time into good effect. All you’ve got to do is close your eyes and visualize. It’s that simple. Visualization is also effective for helping to reshape your body. It’s easy to see the results of practicing mental skills and it has been studied many times. You can accelerate fat loss, add muscle, and even strength to your frame with visualization. Here’s how it works: you create a vivid image in your mind of your goal or desired outcome, such as how you want your body to look. When your brain receives this message, it will marshal the forces of the body to make the image become a reality. By providing the goal with strong emotion behind it, you can effect what are normal automatic and unconscious processes like how food is utilized and what your muscles and fat do in your body.

Visualization Studies

and the

Results

Feltz and Landers did a meta-analysis of 60 studies on mental practice as compared to control conditions. In 48 of these, visualization practice was shown to improve skills, but less so than actual practice. This is important, since visualization does not take the place of practice but is used as an adjunct to it. Although 20% of these studies didn’t find results, it would be interesting to look at their methodologies and find out how they could be improved. My guess is that the experimental subjects were told to visualize without any sort of coaching in HOW to do it properly. By the time you finish this chapter, you’ll know far for than most people (including most of these research scientists) in the world about how to effectively visualize. Roure did a study with volleyball players using autonomic nervous system responses. The test results revealed a strong correlation between the response in the actual physical tasks and during the mental imagery sessions. In his conclusion, Roure suggested that mental imagery may help in the construction of schema which can be reproduced, without thinking during actual practice. Basically you’ll wire the skills and processes into your subconscious mind.

77

M e n ta l M u s c l e In a 1995 study on golfers it was shown that the imagery group not only improved more, but tended to spend more time actually practicing their game. In addition, the subjects in the imagery group had more realistic self-expectations, set higher goals to achieve, and adhered more to their training programs outside the experimental setting. This study shows that visualization is a good skill to enhance the drive towards your goals along with the performance benefits. The last example is one of my favorites, because this study actually details the difference between people who have good visualization skills, and those with poor visualization skills. It may be the only study done to date showing this fact. Anne Isaac led a blind experiment with 78 subjects who were trampolinists, some experts and others were novices. The subjects were divided into experimental and control groups. She tested them for their visualization skills and classed them as high or low imagers. Both groups were trained in three skills over a six-week period. The practice was laid out as follows: For the experimental group, two and a half minutes of physical practice on the skills, and five minutes of mental imagery. For the control group, five minutes of abstract mental problems like math or puzzles, then two and a half minutes of physical practice once again. There was a significant difference between the results of both the high imager and low imager groups, with the former getting superior results. There was a significant difference between the mental imagery group and the control group, again the former group leading. Both the novice and expert groups saw improvement, showing that visualization works for beginners and experts. This was one of the few studies showing that not only was visualization successful, but that better visualization was more successful. The timing of how much practice to how much visualization used in this study is something you could use for yourself. Dr. Witt, the director of the Action-Modulated Perception Lab at Purdue, previously found that successful tennis players and field-goal kickers thought that the ball or goal “looked” larger than it actually was. This is a sub-modality distinction

78

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

we’ll cover later. She wondered if she could induce performance enhancement by replicating this ability. For an experiment with golfers she used a projector to put smaller or larger looking black spots around a normal hole. These spots increased or decreased how big the hole looked. As you might expect, golfers did not put as well with the smaller looking hole, and sunk more with a bigger looking hole. Although the size of the hole never changed, the golfer’s perceptions did. This quote from Athlete’s Guide to Mental Training by Robert M. Nideffer shows the perception of John Brodie, a former quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers. “He remembers dropping back for a pass and seeing the whole field. In an instant he had become aware of the future: He would throw the ball before the receiver had made his cut, and yet he would know that the defender would be beaten, and that the ball would be caught; he could anticipate the exact position of the receiver and the defenders as they raced to the ball; then, he could sit back and watch his own pass seem to sail out in slow motion as the drama he predicted would unfold. The experience of knowing what will happen, of slowing things down, and of having them appear bigger than they really are, occurs in many sports.” As you can see, visualization is usually considered to be a specific practice, but we are making mental pictures and movies all the time in our head. The information in this chapter applies to all of it—by gaining more awareness of these often subconscious visualizations, we can further enhance our abilities in any endeavor.

The Senses I mentioned before that visualization would be more accurately named multisensory imagination. Because “multi” means many, and sensory refers to the different senses. Lastly, the word imagination is chosen because it means that it is all in your mind.

79

M e n ta l M u s c l e Now let’s discuss the five senses in depth. • Visual - using your sense of sight to see pictures and motion. • Auditory - using your sense of hearing to listen to sounds. • Kinesthetic - u  sing your sense of touch to feel tactile sensations and proprioception of movement. This area also covers feelings and emotions. • Olfactory - using your sense of smell. • Gustatory - using your sense of taste. Many beginners run into problems if they’re trying to visualize something. They think about it and hear thoughts within their heads like a sub-vocalization. Thinking is not visualizing. If you’re stuck here, you won’t get any results. Your thoughts or internal dialog are important, but they won’t give you the experience of doing the exercise. Instead, your visualization should be just as rich in all the senses to the point where it’s like reality. Just like you are reading this page right now. If you can close your eyes and see the same picture you were just seeing with vivid detail then you have good visualization skills. But once again, that’s only visual. Can you feel the sensations of your body? You may have not thought of them until I mentioned it. And can you mentally create the sounds around you that you’re hearing externally? If you can do all that comfortably, and simultaneously, then you have good multisensory imagination skills. If so, you’re set to do the proper visualization for improving performance. Our main ways of interacting with the world are visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Olfactory and gustatory are not used as much, but if you can include them in your visualization, then you should. Focus on the first three, which we will use while practicing drills to specifically improve your skills.

80

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

The Keyboard

to

and

Techniques

Your Brain

The following is a big tip on how to more effectively use your senses. Our eyes are basically the keyboard for our brain. When we are thinking about something our eyes move around. The directions that they look towards are known as the eye accessing cues. They move around to specific locations that give clues about how we are thinking, and whether our thoughts are in pictures, sounds, feelings, or internal dialog. (Note: the specific locations can be flipped to the opposite for a certain segment of the population.) When we understand this process we can consciously use these different eye positions to help us in visualization. So if you are working on seeing something in your mind better, you’ll going to want to look up. If you look up at about 20 degrees from a horizontal level, then you will be able to see pictures in your mind even better. The auditory place is on a plane level with the eyes while looking from side to side. And for kinesthetic, you will look down and to the right. By using these cues to help us access our internal senses more effectively, we can become better visualizers. You don’t have to always follow these specific directions, and it doesn’t mean you can’t form a mental picture while looking down, but it is worth using these ideas to train your mental imagery skills.

Drill

to Improve

All Sensory Skills

Each person will be more dominant in one sense than the others. Whatever your primary sense is, you will be good better at that one as compared to the others. Whatever your weaker senses are, you won’t be as good at those. You may want to spend more time practicing the weaker skills to bring them up. But, you definitely will want to focus with your stronger sense when visualizing, while also bringing up your weakest one. With practice, you can be really strong in all your senses. Your primary

81

M e n ta l M u s c l e sense will probably always be stronger than the others, but if you improve them all, you will be far above most people’s level of sensory acuity. Begin practicing with the following basic drills. It is best to have someone else read the following passages to you as you close your eyes and visualize. But if you’re by yourself right now, you can read each sentence at a time then practice before returning to the next sentence.

Visualizing I want you to see yourself standing there with a barbell in front of you. Notice what sort of barbell it is. Is it an Olympic barbell? Is it one that holds standard weights? Maybe it’s an easy curl bar. What sort of barbell is it? Notice the length of it in your mind. Is it brand new? Is it shiny, metallic or does it happen to have rust on it? Is it old and beat up? Are you picturing a specific barbell like one you own or one that you just created out of thin air? How much weight is loaded on this barbell or is it empty? Are there collars on it? What kind? Notice everything you can about this barbell and where it’s sitting. Is it floating up in the air? Is it lying on the ground? Are you holding the barbell? You will want to look at these different aspects of the barbell. If you picture anything in your mind, you can rotate it, flip it around, focus on different areas, and more. What else do you notice with this barbell? Let’s assume that you’re in a commercial gym with this barbell. Now, you can continue to look around. Notice what else is around besides the barbell. Are there power racks, machines, other people, a lot of dumbbells? What is around you in the gym? Notice all the details that you can see. If you see a machine, there are so many things you could observe on that one machine, we could spend minutes just analyzing it, and you could tell me what you see. Go ahead and spend some time now to look at all the details. Is this a gym that you have visited in the past or is it one you have created out of thin air made from previous associations of other commercial gyms? Are you remembering, creating or some combination of the two?

82

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Auditory Besides what you see in the gym, I want you to hear the noises around you. Are there other people? Are they walking around? Are they talking? Are they exercising? Can you hear them holding their breath, grunting, or making any noises? Is there a clock that’s ticking on the wall? What do you hear around you in the gym? Is music playing? If so, what music is it? If you don’t like it you can change the song. Notice all the details of what you can hear. Although the most important components for sports and lifting are the visual and kinesthetic, if you can add in auditory observations, then your visualization will be even better. Many people neglect the auditory, and are missing an entire part of their neurological and sensory systems in their visualization.

Kinesthetic Now, I want you to go back to that barbell and see it in vivid detail. Keep the sounds of the gym going on around you. Now I want you to pick up that barbell. How does the weight feel in your hands? Notice if there’s knurling on the bar or if it’s smooth. Can you actually feel that weight in your hands? How did you pick it up? With a normal grip, a reverse grip, or a grip for doing curls? How heavy does it feel? Did you feel every part of the lift and what muscles were firing, or did you quickly get to a standing position without feeling much at all? What temperature is the weight in your hands? How is your sense of balance? Are any internal sensations happening inside your body? I want you to notice as we were doing this exercise, as I asked you more questions, you noticed more detail than you may have originally noticed. Are you hyper-focused on that single detail or are you still noticing everything else, including visuals and sounds? You can see why this takes practice. Even when you’re going through your daily life, you are not always paying attention to all the details I called your attention to in

83

M e n ta l M u s c l e the exercise. By paying more attention in real life, you can also pay more attention in your visualizations. You need to be able to hold a lot of information in your mind to make it real. The more you do this, the more you will be able to do it on command, and the better results you can gain from it.

Olfactory

and

Gustatory

Now we’re going to add in the last couple of senses. Smell the gym. Do you smell the stale sweat that has accumulated in the gym for a long time? Or maybe the gym just has a funky smell that you can’t quite identify. What do you smell around you? Since we don’t often use our sense of smell unless there’s a powerful scent, you may not notice anything until you consciously pay attention to it. Let’s move onto taste. You can imagine yourself standing still, holding the barbell with nothing in your mouth. You’re not normally focused on tasting at the gym, but how does your mouth feel? You can notice the kinesthetics of it. Is there maybe a leftover taste in your mouth from something you ate earlier? Maybe you haven’t had enough water to drink, so you have a bit of cotton-mouth. Let’s assume the workout is over and you’re having a protein shake. How does that shake taste? What sort of flavor does it have? Maybe it’s vanilla, chocolate, or berry flavored. How does that taste to you? Notice the texture of it along with the taste.

Your Strong

and

Weak Points

As you can see there are many, many details that you can use with visualization. Notice what you noticed. Which of your senses was the strongest? Was your visual sense really strong? Was your auditory sense really strong? Was your kinesthetic sense really strong or was it weak? How easy was it to use smell and taste? How easy was it to work with multiples modalities at once? Or when you focused on one thing,

84

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

did the others fall away? It would also be good to write your findings down so you know what your strong and weak points so you can improve them with further drills. This is good information to have so that after practicing, you can compare where you are now to where you were. For example, if your ability to visualize—actually seeing images—was the weakest of the senses, you would have heard and felt things very well, but your visual sense really wasn’t that good. It was hard for you to picture the details. First of all, to help you improve your visual sense, we would want to use eye accessing cues. Did you use those at all during this drill? Remember to look up 20 degrees when doing all visual drills. For example, close your eyes and imagine an apple up in front of you, 20 degrees above eye level, and about a foot or so away. It’s just floating there in mid-air, defying gravity. Picture that apple. What color is it? What kind of apple is it? Is it moving, maybe rotating around? You can take it in your hand and rotate it yourself. If you use your different senses together it’s often easier to use your weaker senses. If your kinesthetics are really strong but your visuals are not, as you’re imagining that apple, go ahead and hold it in your hand so you have the feel of it. Then look at it with your eyes, you can turn it and look at different parts of it. Look at the bottom of the apple. Look at the shine. Feel the texture of it while you’re looking at it. Is there a stem or a leaf on the apple? How solid is it? Could you crush that apple with your bare hands and make it into applesauce or is it a really hard apple? You can take the apple and move it around while combining the different senses. By bringing in your primary sense along with your weaker sense and then connecting the two together, you will get better and better results. Imagine tapping the apple with your hand to create a sound.

85

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Quick Drills

to Improve

Your Senses

To improve your visual senses, look at any image, then close your eyes and recreate that image in your mind’s eye. Open your eyes once again and notice what you got right and what you left out. Then close your eyes and do it again. This will improve your visual acuity. Start with simple pictures then move on to more complex images. For added fun, turn this into a partner drill. Stare at a picture of scenery for thirty seconds then close your eyes. Your partner will then ask you questions about the details. Find out how many you can get right, then pick a new picture and switch roles. To improve your auditory senses sit somewhere where there are lots of sounds. After listening for a short amount of time, try to recreate all the noises in your mind. A public place can be wonderful for this drill. Note that by removing one of your senses, like closing your eyes, you can often pay more attention to the sounds. You can also listen to a segment of one song or piece of music. How well can you recreate the singing and different instruments in your mind? These drills will improve your auditory acuity. To improve your kinesthetic senses, the gym is a great place to start. Do an exercise while getting in tune with what you feel. Then close your eyes and recreate those same sensations in your mind. You can practice this back and forth and with many different exercises. This will improve your kinesthetic acuity. You’ll also probably notice that the exercise becomes easier or smoother to do in reality. You can practice your visualization skills and the skills that you want to improve, like in the gym, at the same time. This is a great way to kill two birds with one stone. (Go ahead and make a picture in your mind of that common saying. What details do you notice? Also pay attention to whether you created a picture of it before I asked you to picture it, or if you just processed the statement. Since it’s a well known saying,

86

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

you may have glossed over it. But what if I told you to kill thirteen rhinoceros with a boulder?)

Submodalities We’ve covered the primary senses also known as modalities. You will need to practice drills like those we’ve previously described to get much better results. In this section, we’ll further discuss the details of the senses. Each sense can be broken down into submodalities—the qualities of each sense that contribute to the overall picture. Submodalities have a tremendous influence on the quality and results of your visualizations. They form the context while you’re visualizing the content. Remember, how you visualize is more important than what you visualize. Submodalities form the base of how. Below you’ll find descriptions of many submodalities used in visualization, and how they can impact what occurs.

Parts Let’s say you’re trying to learn a skill that is somewhat complex, such as an Olympic snatch. When coaching the Olympic snatch, the movement is broken up into different steps; the initial pull, the second pull, and getting under the weight. If you’re beginning to learn this skill, it is best to break up the entire picture into manageable chunks. If we’re visualizing, trying to pay attention to the visuals, sounds and feel of the skill, then it’s easy to lose our attention of all the details. With this lack of focus, you won’t get optimal results.

87

M e n ta l M u s c l e So, instead of trying to visualize it all at once, break the skill down into small chunks that you can do and start with the first one. With that small chunk, bring in all the senses. To break it down further, use one sense at a time until you’ve mastered it, then add them all together. When you’ve mastered that chunk, move onto the next one until you’ve mastered each chunk in order. Once you’re doing well with all of them individually, add two together and work with them until the combination is perfect. Then add the next part and so on, until you have the complete movement sequence. Although this may seem like a long process, it will give you better and faster results than just working on the whole picture—and thus leaving out important details. Even with simple exercises like the deadlift, breaking the exercise into manageable parts can still be warranted. With any complex skill, like a martial arts movement, you definitely need to study enough to visualize it properly. If you don’t know the correct steps, you will not be able to recreate them in your mind. The more intimate you are with the details, the better you know it, and the more effective your visualization will be. In his book, 2001: A Sports Odyssey, Dr. Judd Biasiotto talks about re-learning his squat technique. Due to an injury, he had to change how he was squatting. He actually videotaped his squat and had a friend take each frame of video and turn it into a flipbook. He even drew the different muscles that were activated at different portions of the lift. Even though a squat doesn’t take long, you can imagine that creating a picture for each frame was quite the undertaking. You could think of each frame as a different part of the movement. By going through this entire process and studying it, Dr. Biasiotto was able to better visualize every little part of it, and fully understand which muscles were activated at each point of the lift. Do you think this could aid in your kinesthetic visualization? The new found muscle control and awareness allowed him to achieve an amazingly high level of strength. He also completely changed his technique through this practice.

88

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Do you need to go this far with your efforts? No. If you did, it would be good for achieving optimal results on something that matters as much to you as the squat did to Dr. Biasiotto, a competitive powerlifter. But it’s not necessary to go quite as far as he did with the exercise. Certainly, videotaping yourself and reviewing your form will help your visualizations. Breaking the movement into its component parts will help as well. Then make your visualizations as vivid as possible and keep practicing.

Speed How fast is the movie running in your mind? The basic way to visualize is to “run” this mental movie in real time. Move as fast or as slow in the visualization as you do in real life with the same movement. However, if you’re starting out with anything, especially complex movements, slow it down. In your imagination, you can slow the time by half, or even to a quarter speed. Get each piece of that picture right as well as how you feel it in your body, and then as you improve, gradually speed it up to real time. You are the editor in your mind, thus you can easily rewind, fast forward, play in slow-motion, and skip frames as needed. Would you actually want to go faster at any point than in real time? I think this can be useful for working on speeding up the movement or exercise. If you can do it faster in your mind while maintaining all the senses properly, that will actually train your body to go faster. I used this approach specifically for my kettlebell snatch work. It wasn’t fun to spend ten minutes visualizing every rep of 300 snatches with a 24kg kettlebell, but that type of practice was partly responsible for me achieving the goal. Since speed was a big factor, it was used in my visualizations, and often took only nine minutes to do it in my mind. There are different uses for slow speeds, fast speeds and real-time speeds. Use them when and where needed.

89

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Color Another submodality is black and white versus color. We’re not likely to spend a lot of time with color, since it doesn’t suit our goals. There are some therapeutic uses for going into black and white since it can help dissociate you from the picture to make it less powerful than before. This is useful for removing the emotional charge around a failure or trauma in the past. But, I wanted to bring it up because some people naturally visualize in black and white while visualizing in color—as it occurs in real life—will be more powerful. So if you visualize in black and white, definitely switch it over into color. If this is difficult for you, just do the drills as before and separate it into parts. Add a single color at a time, or focus on small objects instead of complete and complex pictures at first. Another factor that comes into play is the brightness of the colors. That factor will be covered in the Intensity section.

Distance

or

Size

Distance will effect your visualizations. How close or far away is your mental image? Or, how big or small is the image? Essentially, both of these ideas these work the same way, because in our perception, something far away is small and something close is big. Normally, if you bring an image closer on your visual screen, then it will have more of an impact, and you will “feel” it more intensely. Once again, this idea has uses in therapeutic settings when it may be useful to move a picture further away or bring it closer. In general, if you want to increase intensity, bring the image closer to you. But for maximal realness, everything will need to be realistically sized. You should see the same image with your eyes closed as what you would see if you were standing in the exact location where your visualization takes place.

90

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Another important aspect of size is how big you are within the visualization. Normally you should be regular size within the visualization for maximum realness. But there are times when you’ll be smaller. If you have fear or a lack of confidence, you may naturally visualize yourself a lot smaller in comparison to the object you fear. But because it’s all within your own mind, you have control of it. You can shrink the object or make yourself bigger as you see fit. Once again, you have full editorial control. If you make yourself bigger when you’re handling weights in your visualization, the weight will feel a lot lighter. You’re going to feel more confident and more powerful. So it’s definitely worth playing with your size in visualizations. Try imagining yourself ten feet tall as you’re going through your workout and visualizing the different exercises. It will have quite a different feel than if you just go through the visualization at your normal size. Again, using this aspect this depends on the goal of your visualization. If you’re practicing skills, then most times you will want to replicate reality. But if you want to increase your feelings of power, then dial up the intensity and increase your own size as you do the workout—you’re likely to hit new PR’s.

Association When you’re visualizing yourself, are you in your own body? If so, then that would mean you are associated. Or do you see yourself from the outside (dissociated)? Please note that this has nothing to do with the psychiatric evaluation of a dissociated personality. Simply put, are you visualizing from a first person or a third person viewpoint? Are you in the movie or watching it? There are uses for both of these viewpoints. For the most part, we will want to be in first person. When you’re associated into your own body you get two benefits: First, you’re experiencing the visual images as if you’re able to look out from your own eyes. Secondly, when you’re associated it’s usually easier to mentally add kinesthetic to your visualization. You can still have the proper feelings when viewing yourself from outside, but it is easier when you are associated.

91

M e n ta l M u s c l e I naturally visualize myself from a third person viewpoint, it’s just how I am. Every person has natural propensities to different submodalities along with the major modalities. No one way is right or wrong, although some ways are better or worse for certain goals. By default, when I visualize, I see myself from the outside. I have to consciously practice to put myself back into a first person viewpoint. And if I don’t stay on top of it, I’ll snap back out into a third person perspective. When visualizing to learn a skill, make yourself stronger, or gain similar results, you will typically want to be associated into your mental movie. However, there are some times when we want to watch ourselves from the outside. If you are doing something that places a high importance on technique, like preparing for a gymnastics competition where you’re judged by other people, you can run through your routine from a third person view. See it as the judges will see it. Then, you can see yourself doing it while still having the kinesthetics hooked in while watching yourself, noticing how you look from the third person view. This may give you additional information on what you need to do to improve. I like to start by watching myself from the outside (my natural predisposition). I run through the exercise, then I’ll step into my body and run through the exercise once again from the first person perspective.

Intensity How intense are your images when visualizing? Intensity has a few different factors to it: When you’re seeing a picture, how bright are the colors? As already stated, distance can factor into an image’s intensity, and brightness can equally affect the image as well. When imagining sounds, the volume would be a form of intensity. Intensity also applies to the feelings of mental imagination. Feelings aren’t just about your muscles firing during an exercise, but are also internal sensations and emotions. You can make them more powerful if you need more emotional drive. All you really have to do as you’re visualizing is imagine that you have a dial. Imagine the dial is set on a low number like one, two or three, then reach over and crank it up

92

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

to seven, eight, nine, ten—or if you want to go Spinal Tap on it—you can crank it all the way up to eleven! When you’re imagining turning this dial, make sure you do it incrementally and can feel the changes. Just flipping a dial to the top won’t do anything if you don’t feel the difference. By making the picture more intense, you can add more emotional drive. By doing this, you will make it more powerful. We will talk more about this effect later with short versus long-term goals and the specific effects of different visualization drills.

Location Where do you see the picture? We talked about distance and size which are aspects of location, but the picture can be high or low, to the left, right or centered. In my experience, this is actually one of the most important submodalities for effecting how you feel about the visualization. Lower locations typically occur for mental pictures that are bad, or at least not as good. If a picture is moved up or held high it is usually good, or at least better. But don’t visualize it as too high, because it can become unattached to you. These concepts are known as criteria locations. They are a big factors in how your brain encodes something—including the difficulty of an exercise—as I have found out through much experimentation. You’ll see criteria locations as primary drivers in some of the client transcripts at the end of this book and how changing them can make big changes. Although some other senses were mentioned, you may have noticed we primarily focused on visual submodalities. While many other submodalities exist, this list is more than enough to get you started.

93

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Practice Makes Perfect You need practice in order to build up your ability to imagine the different senses with vividness and hold them all within your mind, without having all your focus move to one specific thing. It also takes practice to be able to edit your mental movies in the many ways listed, although that task tends to be easier than controlling your focus. Once you have completed the simple drills we’ve covered, and can do them fairly well, then you can then transfer those skills to actually working on the visualizations for your goals. The great thing is, not only will you build up your ability to visualize, you will also start to get the results you want from the visualizations as well. It’s a win-win situation. Practice, practice, practice. I think the very minimum effective practice time for visualization is five minutes a day. If you can practice several times a day, that’s better. If you can practice for more than five minutes at a time, that’s even better. To practice, go into a relaxed state, then visualize yourself going through your workout, or visualize yourself hitting your goals. This can be combined with hypnosis for amplified effects. Visualization can be done at anytime, anywhere, with or without hypnosis. Another great time to practice it is between sets and exercises during your workouts. Even ten seconds of visualization right before a lift can be tremendously useful. Next we’ll cover some different forms of visualization you can use for many purposes.

94

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Past Visualizing There are two main time frames for visualization when it comes to doing exercises. The first is the past. With the past, you’re basically playing a highlight reel in your own head. You’re looking back at past peak experiences and reliving them. The term I like to use is revivification, which means to give new life or vigor. The benefits of this practice assumes you’re replaying the positive movies from your past. There are many great benefits to past visualization. As a personal example, if I wanted to feel really strong and work more on my deadlift, I would go back to when I set my deadlift PR of 505 pounds. I would relive that entire experience in my mind. As a result, I’ll feel strong, I’ll feel confident, and I’ll feel better in tune with my body because some very cool things happened—I knew I would be able to do it when I entered the gym that day. You can get a lot of visualization practice by going back to past experiences. Because you have already experienced it once, you will be able to visualize the entire environment around you as it was at that time. You will know the sounds that were there, and how it felt to actually go through the exercise. But that doesn’t mean you have to keep the image as it was in reality. The truth is you will already be altering it from what really happened since it would be close to impossible to capture every detail. So, why not make some changes on purpose? With revivification, you can play around with the submodalities of size, distance and intensity to make the visualization even more powerful. Go ahead and try it out. Try past visualization right before you workout. If you felt really good and happy about your previous record, relive that experience. You will gain the emotional charge from that experience before working on the exercise once again. Setting a new PR is much more likely to happen if you relive how you felt and everything that went into the previous PR experience. This will also increase your motivation.

95

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Future Visualizing On the flip side, you can visualize the goals you want to achieve in the future. Obviously, you’ll need to set a goal or outcome to focus on. When you’re visualizing a future goal, it is best if you visualize it the same way each time. You don’t want to change different details unless you receive some feedback that necessitates a change in your plans. For example, if you’re visualizing a future goal and know the place where you’re going to achieve that goal—most likely the gym where you train, or the place where you compete—make the location of your visualization appear like it will look on that day. Hear the sounds and feel the sensations of performing the movement. This approach is best for working towards a big goal that is coming in the future. The more flawless mental reps you can do, the more likely the future reality will follow suit. Although I recommend keeping the mental movie the same, I would also recommend playing with the submodalities (at least early on) to increase the intensity and effectiveness of the movie. Find out how you can enhance the movie to make it even better. Play around with it until you find the most powerful form, then use it again and again. The great thing about this process—which works for any exercise and record— is after you actually physically get tired to some degree, you can keep practicing the exercise over and over and over again with visualization. Although you may not be able to physically work on your goal every single day, you can practice it every single hour of every day mentally. There’s also another mental and emotional component with this type of practice. If you’re working towards a big goal, with regular mental practice you’ll continue to build up that drive and desire you have toward it. You’re wiring your body and brain with the confidence that you will be able to do it. When you see that mental movie over and over again, your body will be able to physically do it, and you’re going to accomplish your goal.

96

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

Short Term

vs.

and

Techniques

Long Term

When we’re visualizing the future, there are two main categories to consider, the short term and the long term. There are some differences in how you may want to visualize each category. With short-term goals are mostly related to visualizing the actions themselves. This can even be as short a term as a few seconds right before you do a set. You’re visualizing yourself being able to do the exercise. This is especially good for wiring the body for new and improved skills. But working with the long term is somewhat different. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a very long time into the future, but what you will want to usually focus on is the emotional support of the goal. How can visualizing affect your drive and volition? What you want to consider along with the action is a more celebratory visualization. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going out and partying, but anytime you achieve a major goal in the gym, there is usually some sort of celebration. Do you scream “Yes!” or throw your hands up in the air? Do you call your friends or loved ones and tell them? Do you post it on Facebook and receive tons of likes and comments? Or maybe it’s just a feeling of congratulations inside you. Whatever you actually do, that is what you want to visualize as the celebration of achieving that goal. In related research, they found that visualizing the specific actions was most effective for short-term goals. But for longer-term goals, also visualizing the celebration was helpful. I thought it would be a good idea to just combine the two! Just as you don’t have to pick only one of the aforementioned areas for visualization but can do all of them, you can also do both here. Let’s say you have a weight loss or muscle gain goal, you can definitely visualize the exercises your doing and get better at them, but you will also want to focus on the emotions involved with the goal. For example, that might mean stepping on the scale and seeing how much you weigh (or however you are measuring your goal, since a scale

97

M e n ta l M u s c l e isn’t always the best method). But however you are measuring the goal, you will see and feel your final result and experience being happy about it. If you have some reward built into your goal or celebration, visualize yourself experiencing the reward as well. It will build your drive and communicate once again with your body and mind what you want to achieve.

Metaphorical Visualization In Not Just Pumping Iron, Edward W.L. Smith PhD states, “A powerlifter working on perfecting her or his form in the deadlift might ‘see’ or ‘feel’ herself or himself as a huge, powerful bull pulling a heavy boulder. An Olympic lifter might liken her or his jerk to a space shuttle rocket taking off, ‘seeing’ herself or himself as that rocket or ‘feeling’ like that rocket. A physique contestant wanting a smoother more fluid transition from one pose to another might pick a slowly flowing river as her or his metaphor ‘seeing’ or ‘feeling’ it.” In the past, I spent more time practicing “real” imagery, probably because I thought of myself as a realist. But the imagination is quite a bit more powerful. If you’re seeking to unlock greater ability than what is considered normal, then you’ll want to play in the arena of the imagination. I’m reminded of Garin Bader, a modern day renaissance man, world champion musician, magician and more. When we were teaching at the Wizards of Strength Workshop, he said to imagine an extra joint between the wrist and elbow in one martial arts application. This allowed him to hit at an angle that was unachievable before. There was no actual new joint, but the visualization unlocked an ability that was not there before. The body followed through on his imagination and moved in a way that allowed him to reach the target.

98

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Another example was when a friend led me through a hypnosis session focused on my deadlift. After doing realistic visualization and running through the exercise a few times, two bison appeared out of nowhere and sat on the ends of the barbell. Then I lifted the weight, plus the weight of these two bison. I could even smell them! This fantastical imagination led me to a stronger partial deadlift later that day than I had ever done before. A realistic visualization is more left-brained, while a metaphor or fantastical visualization will access your right brain. Even Einstein agreed that the imagination is more powerful, thus this is an area worth exploring. Still, all the details can be made more life-like and the submodalities can be also be played with and altered.

When

to

Use Visualization

Let’s talk about some more specific times and ways to use visualization.

Injuries Visualization is great to use with injuries. When my friend blew out his knee and made one of his legs immovable, it could have impaired his ability to use the other leg. But, if he spent time visualizing his ability to do squats, moving the leg, and being able to do everything he used to do, the injured leg will come back stronger. He may still be somewhat weaker after healing from the injury, but not nearly as weak as if he never spent any time with visualization. Some people have even come back stronger after an injury—literally stronger than they were before—just by practicing a lot of visualization, and seeing the movement over and over in the mind. There’s also some benefit of physically working the opposite leg. The body doesn’t like to be uneven, so the injured leg won’t lag too far behind—it will still be strong after healing from the injury.

99

M e n ta l M u s c l e You can also speed up your recovery by visualizing along with your entire process of physical therapy. If you are suffering from any injuries or chronic pain, this is a big area you will want to work on with visualization. Here’s another study on the power of visualization for healing the body: “This psychoneuroimmunological study examined the effects of visualization, or mental imagery, on immune system response, specifically, on the depressed white blood cell (WBC) count in 20 medical patients. Subjects were 10 females and 10 males and included medical patients diagnosed with cancer, AIDS, viral infections, and other medical problems associated with depressed WBC count. Results indicated significant increases in WBC count for all patients over a 90-day period, after a predicted initial decrease in WBC count. No significant age or sex differences were found.” If white blood cell counts can be increased by visualization alone, what other cells in your body can be altered or increased the same way?

Outside

a

Workout

What do you do when you get up in the morning? That is the perfect time to relax, hypnotize yourself, and then do some visualization practice. Spend ten minutes or so working on one or more of your goals. You don’t want to practice too many at once because you will spread yourself too thin (as mentioned in the outcome section). Even if you only spend five minutes, you’re still going to get a lot of benefits. Just three minutes is better than nothing, and you can run through your primary goal many times in three minutes. Any time outside your workouts is great for visualization. Also try it before you go to bed at night, then your subconscious mind will be working on it. You may find that you start having a lot more dreams about working out and accomplishing your goal if you do this practice before going to bed. Whatever we feed into our minds before we go to sleep will usually be present in our dreams.

100

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

My friend Travis Stoetzel told me that he hit a new PR in the Olympic snatch because of a similar reason. He wasn’t using visualization, but he had spent hours studying videos of elite athletes at night. He then dreamed of snatching. When he got to the gym the next day, it was easy. By watching the videos he may have picked up some cues on how to do it better on a subconscious level. During his dreams, his body and mind practiced these skills in order and they became ingrained in his body. His results don’t surprise me. By mixing watching videos and visualizing yourself, it would probably work even better. If you have an off day, visualization is a great thing to do during that time as well. You might as well take that extra time for good use.

Pre-Exercise The third method is pre-exercise. This can be done before the workout. Some people even go so far as to visualize the entire workout they’re about to do. Many times you might want to speed this visualization up, but some people even visualize the workout at a normal speed. If you do this properly, you will have a sense of déjà vu as you actually do the workout. But since I feel out the exercises and listen to my body during a workout, I don’t have any sort of set routine. So, I can’t visualize a specific routine right before the workout what I’m going to do. I will have some general idea, but unless I preplan a workout, this method won’t work for me. But, once I figure out which exercise I’m going to do, before every single set I can visualize myself doing that set. How many reps are you going to hit? Do it in your mind, and then do it physically. Many times, I like to set the bar higher in my mind than what I actually expect to hit. I’ll run through a few more mental reps than what I’ve done in the past, and while I may not get to that level, my likelihood of hitting more than I’ve done before is much higher.

101

M e n ta l M u s c l e You don’t need to go into a deep hypnotic state before each set. Instead, close your eyes, run through the movie in your head first, then go ahead and do it. Make sure to pay attention to the submodalities, tweaking them as needed for added impact.

Post-Workout After your workout is another prime time to do the visualization. At this time, it’s best to focus on your goals. Whatever you just did in your workout will help you further along towards those goals. Visualize how you’re going to get results from what you just did. This is how you can send a message to your body and mind to connect what you want to accomplish by what you just did in your workout. Post-workout visualization will also help your body recover. I think it will aid you in gaining even more strength. Of course this same process can be done at any time, but now you’re directing your recent physical efforts toward a future result.

Skills Practice This category isn’t about a specific time to visualize, but is mentioned here because of how I like to practice. If you’re working on something skill-based, then visualizing how it’s perfectly performed will help you learn it faster. Skills practice can be even better if you can model someone else. You can visualize it as if you’re watching them do what you want to do. Then, mentally step into their body and go through the skill you’re practicing within their body. Visualize yourself doing it as if you were that other person. Next, come out of the visualization and actually physically practice it. Go back and forth between mental and physical practice and repeat the process. This will help you pick up new skills much faster.

102

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Pre-Eating The last category has to do with eating. Let’s assume your goal is to lose weight, gain weight or just become healthier. This is a useful and simple process you can do with any food instead of mindlessly eating it. Take some time to think about how this food will fuel you, and what it will do for you. Is this fuel that you eat? If you’re drinking a shake with a lot of protein in it after a workout, will it allow you to pack more size onto your muscles? If you’re eating a salad or a steak, how will it help you to nourish your body while allowing you to lose fat as well? Remember the study about white blood cells? If you can affect the number of white blood cells you have, shouldn’t you also be able to increase your muscle mass, or mobilize fat to leave your body? Doesn’t it stand to reason that you may be able to influence, even if just partly, how your body absorbs and utilizes the food you eat? More on this subject will be covered later in the fat loss and muscle gain sections. Once again with visualization it’s great to set aside five, ten, or more minutes to specifically visualize. But even if you only take thirty seconds out of your day to close your eyes for a moment and visualize how the food you’re about to eat will serve you, you will see benefits.

103

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Psyched Up, Focused or Relaxed at the Snap of the Fingers with Anchors What are anchors? The most classic example of an anchor is the research done by Pavlov covered in the earlier section on hypnosis. Although it is usually called classic conditioning, it can also be called using an anchor. Some other terms that mean the same thing are associative response, conditioned reflexes, or triggers. Showing meat to the dogs caused a natural salivation reaction. Pavlov anchored this response to the ringing of a bell. Thus the bell was then able to trigger the response. Anchoring happens all the time even if you’ve never heard of it. You’re still anchoring and using this capability every day, because the human brain works by associating different things. This process is actually a necessity for survival. Think about opening a door. You have an association for how doors work. If you didn’t have this capability, every time you encountered a new door, you would have to figure out exactly how to use it again. Instead, when you see a door—even if it’s different from other doors, but not too different—you can easily operate it because it is associated with all the doors you’ve used in the past. This is largely an unconscious process. For the most part, no one consciously realizes how one thing becomes anchored to another in their mind unless they’re studying it like you are right now. However, we can consciously make anchors that we can utilize to our benefit, both inside the gym and in other areas in our lives. Here is a quote from Andrew Salter who wrote the book, What is Hypnosis? This is an old book, but well worth getting for further understanding of hypnosis and anchors. In it he states, “Once the condition reflex is trained into the subject, he becomes a pure automaton to the stimulus that has been woven into the reflex.” This means that once an anchor is firmly set, you can’t turn it off. Once the dogs heard the bell ring, it was like a switch was flipped to automatically trigger salivation, a process which is not normally under conscious control. By setting an anchor—associating that response—salivation came under the control of someone other than the dog. Now, it sounds pretty crazy that you could 104

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

actually control someone else, but there are ways of doing this. But what we’re focusing on here is how to do it for yourself so that you can get better results in the gym and the rest of your life. What do anchors do? They bring about an internal state and a physiological response because internal states and physical states are interrelated. By having an anchor that triggers one thing, you can cascade into something else.

The Uses

of

Anchors

in

Athletics

When it comes to athletics, there are three main areas where anchoring becomes very important. You can do a lot more with anchors including many therapeutic applications, but that is not our goal.

Focusing The first step is to focus. Everyone knows that if you’re trying for a heavy lift, you definitely need to focus on it. But you still should also focus even when you’re doing easy exercises. If you’re focused in on what you are doing, you will typically get better results. You don’t want your mind to wander around aimlessly as you’re doing any sort of exercise. Concentration and focus will allow you to get more out of it. Focus is an internal state for becoming hyper-targeted onto something internal or external. By having an anchor, you can easily increase your focus. At a powerlifting meet you’ll see some competitors who are bundles of nervous energy the entire time and even after the meet is over. Then there are other competitors who are able to relax, joke around, and even sleep before they lift. But when it’s their time to lift, they transform. By consciously using anchors, you too can do this.

Peaking Peaking is similar to focusing. First, you need focus in order to peak. But secondly, peaking is more of a physiological process to summon up your body’s energies than just focusing. You can liken it to setting the intention of your body, having that strength when you need it, and getting your body to rally toward one goal. Again, an anchor can do this. 105

M e n ta l M u s c l e Psyching-up would be considered to be a form of peaking. It is used by many strength athletes to generate a lot of emotional energy to direct at a lift. If you want to get psyched up for your big lifts, anchors will be a big help. In fact, this is what many heavy lifting athletes are doing, even if they haven’t heard of anchoring.

Relaxation And the last idea is relaxation, which is basically the flip side of peaking. If you’ve read any sports psychology books, they talk a lot about arousal levels. Depending on what sport you play, you will need to have more tension on certain muscles and less on others. You need to find the optimal zone for your sport and what works best for you. Relaxation is equally important, if not more important, than tension when doing any exercise or weightlifting. At times, relaxing the superfluous muscles can be very helpful for achieving huge strength. Relaxation is also important for endurance. You can’t last a long time doing anything if you’re overly tense. And then there are the recovery applications of relaxation—you can’t recover if you are tensed up and wasting energy with your muscles all day. Anchors can also be used to relax with hypnosis. So, if you set anchors for these three major purposes you’ll do well. Of course there are specific applications of each purpose that you’ll want to zero in on. I don’t want to say that anchors alone will make you stronger. That’s not really what they are about. You don’t get stronger just from setting an anchor, then firing it off. What anchors actually is allow you to go from a state where you’re may be at 80% and just like that, you can become 100%. With anchors, you can move towards optimal performance more easily than without them. Once again, many people may already be using them unconsciously without realizing what they’re doing. So, anchors don’t exactly make you stronger right in the moment, but that’s the end result you get from using them. They don’t increase your strength in some sort of magical way, but they allow you to perform at your maximum more easily. Plus, with repeated use over time, they will allow you to get stronger, overall. There are also many other uses for anchors. If your goal is fat loss, you could take a food that you couldn’t stop eating—that was sabotaging your goal—and anchor it

106

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

with something you hated to eat. Your desire for that food would at least diminish if not instantly go away. This specific idea will be covered later. Once your imagination starts turning, you’ll realize you can use anchoring for just about everything.

Is Psyching Up

the

Best Thing

to

Do?

Anchors are used to bring about particular states. Everything that you do will have an optimal state to help you to achieve it. Truthfully, there may be multiple ways to accomplish something, and different states that can work. Of course, this will also depend on each individual. In An Athlete’s Guide to Mental Training by Robert M. Nideffer, psyching is discussed. “Although this psyching up seems to work for certain individuals in certain situations, there are others for whom it has just the opposite effect. These athletes seem to have their best performance when they are relatively laid back or relaxed. Some athletes know that they need to psych down rather then psych up. What all this suggests is that each athlete has an optimal zone of arousal, and considerable research supports this observation.” Bud Jeffries talks about psyching up during a competition to the point that everything in the world goes blank except for himself, the bar, and the sound of the judge’s voice to indicate when he should lift. In studying what works best for most athletes, they found that the optimal arousal level tends to be higher for things that are not very technical—like the power lifts. A lower arousal level is necessary for feats which are much more technical like a gymnastics floor routine. If you got yourself psyched up to hold a freestanding handstand, it would probably not work very well. For the most part in my training, I like to take a laid back and relaxed approach. It is much more applicable for most of what I do. But psyching in the right moment, with the quick use of anchors, is very useful for doing things like a 1025 lb. rack pull.

107

M e n ta l M u s c l e That being said, you must find what works for you. But with anchoring you can instantly set and get to the right level you need for anything, once those anchors are well established.

How Anchoring Works Next, I will describe the basic way an established anchor works. When stimulated by something external, an established anchor will send a signal to your brain. Remember that the brain controls everything the body does. You can even control autonomic functions with anchors. They’re not under volitional control (your will), but you can begin to control automatic functions by using an anchor. With an anchor, signals to bring about a specific responds are sent out of your brain to the rest of your body. When you’re using anchors consciously, you will want to cause a specific response that you desire. What happens naturally in the world is that things can become anchored to specific responses without your control. It happens all the time, sometimes it’s good, but other times it’s bad. Without conscious realization, you can’t do anything about these accidental anchors. For example, assume that you get into a heated argument with someone that you really don’t like, and you happen to in a room painted red. Let’s say you’ve never been in a red room before, but now you are having this heated debate in that room. Your emotional state—an internal state that can cause physiological responses like added tension—at that time is one of anger. This emotional state may become anchored to being in a red room. The next time you go into a red room, even though that person is not present, and you may not even remember the experience, your associated response to being in a red room might bring a rising temper, tense muscles, and anger. You may not know why, but for some reason you won’t like being there. This can all happen because of an unconscious anchor.

108

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

Use

of the

Senses

for

and

Techniques

Anchoring

In order to effectively use anchors, it’s important to understand the modalities discussed in the chapter on visualization. It’s important to identify what your primary sense is. Different people have different primary senses and different levels of each one. Personally, I’m a very kinesthetic person. You can easily pick this up by noticing how much I gesture when I speak. In fact, it’s hard for me to talk if I have to stay still. A lot of people who enjoy exercise, and who enjoy doing physical training are kinesthetic. But it isn’t true for all of them, and it doesn’t necessarily mean they are primarily kinesthetic. Visual people see images really well when they look around, and when they’re remembering things. They tend to form mental pictures and talk about pictures. As a culture, the USA is very targeted toward visual people. About half of the population is primarily visual. Auditory people are those that hear well and listen carefully to sounds. People who love listening to music are very auditory, and many become musicians. My auditory capabilities are probably the worst of my primary senses. It’s funny to look back and realize that I really didn’t listen to music as I grew up. I wasn’t a big fan of any type of music up until about age fourteen. I started listening to music then, and now I like music that I can feel. Visual, auditory and kinesthetic modalities are the main three senses. With kinesthetics it’s important to note that includes tactile touch, proprioception, and your sense of balance, but it also includes emotions, feelings and everything along those lines as well. Different people may be more in tune with some of those sensations over the others. For the most part, you won’t be using taste and smell to set anchors. It’s interesting to know that a unique smell can instantly bring back memories because of an

109

M e n ta l M u s c l e association that you have. The smelling centers of the brain are closely related to the memory centers which is why this effect can be quite profound. Despite that we will primarily focus on the three main senses as they are easier to utilize. When you are setting and using anchors, it is best to identify and then use your primary sense. For me, kinesthetic anchors are going to work the best. Your primary sense will be the best starting point. And while you will want to use your primary sense for anchors, if you can, it is best to stack all of them. Do this by using an anchor that is simultaneously visual, kinesthetic and auditory.

The Attributes

of

Anchors

These attributes make anchors work best: 1. Specific 2. Under Your Control 3. Short and Simple 4. Overt or Covert 5. Practiced First, an anchor’s attributes need to be specific. When you’re setting and using an anchor, it has to be something unique. This is important because if you accidentally fire the anchor too much during your daily life, it will lose the association that you’re trying to set with it, and will soon stop working. For example, clapping your hands won’t work because if you’re at a show or similar event, you will be clapping in the same way. If you try to set clapping as an anchor for being super powerful in the gym, it won’t work because you will confuse the associations you already have with it. An anchor needs to be something specific that you only do at the exact time when you want to have that specific response.

110

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

If the anchor is non-specific, then you won’t get the result from it. If you still wanted to use clapping, you could choose a unique clap that you normally don’t do, like clapping the back of your hands together. If you choose something like scratching your nose, again it won’t work because you may scratch your nose throughout the day. Regular clapping and scratching your nose are examples of poorly chosen kinesthetic anchors. For auditory senses, you will want to use a specific phrase that you don’t normally say. If it is a phrase, it should also be related to what you’re doing. For example, “muscle growth” works as an anchor for what it means, because it’s not something you would say all the time. You’ll notice that if an anchor does come up in normal conversation after it’s set, you’ll get the same feelings from it. That’s the sign of a properly established anchor. If you form a visual anchor, it should be the exact same mental picture each time, with nothing changed. The anchor should be something short and simple that you can easily do in less than a second. You could do something that’s really drawn out, but why bother? We want to make it instant so that you can achieve it and easily use the anchor at any time. If you just look at all the examples given, you’ll notice every one is short and simple. The anchor must be something that is within your control. This is pretty selfexplanatory. If you’re relying on someone else, then you can’t elicit the desired state when you want it. Like Pavlov and his dogs, the dogs were dependent on someone ringing a bell for their anchor. Obviously, dogs wouldn’t consciously set up anchors for themselves because that’s only something humans can do, but understand that their anchor was set for them by someone else. While you can work on other people and set anchors for them, we’re really focusing on ourselves in this book. The next attribute is the option of an overt or covert anchor. You can go either way. Because I’m using them in my gym by myself, I don’t really care what my anchors look like. Many of my anchors are fairly overt kinesthetic anchors. On the flip side, if

111

M e n ta l M u s c l e you are participating in any sport where you don’t want your opponents to know what you’re doing, then it’s good to set covert anchors which don’t look like you’re doing anything out of the ordinary. Choose something that looks like a spontaneous motion or better yet, a visual or auditory phrase you can imagine inside your head. Covert anchors won’t show the outside world—or your competitors—what you’re doing. Lastly, the anchor must be practiced. With the idea of single trial learning, an anchor can be established between two different things after just going through the process once, but it is dependent on several factors. The intensity of it is definitely be a big factor, but in general I would recommend when you’re practicing and setting your anchors for the first time, then you will want to do it at least three to five times. I’d say the range of setting the anchor three to five times is a good bet for establishing an anchor that you can begin to use.

Three Methods

for

Setting

an

Anchor

The three methods of setting anchors: 1. Natural Means 2. Manufactured Means 3. Visualization

Natural Means Anchors are set naturally when you’re not consciously trying to use an anchor. This method will not be very important for what we’re trying to accomplish here. Just understand that this process happens all the time, whether you like it or not, so you might as well consciously use it to your benefit.

112

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

Let’s talk about a few natural anchors like playing music. If you listen to music that psyches you up, like rock, heavy metal or rap, this can act as a natural anchor. Notice that you can hear just the first couple notes of a song you love and it will instantly put you into an altered state compared to a few seconds before. If you use music, I advise people to actually listen to the same recording over and over again from workout to workout. The music will become strongly associated with your training time and can serve to put you in the necessary state. I’ve even gone so far as to loop a single song over and over. This idea works well to keep you in a peak state, but it will really annoy anyone else, so use it with care. Any high level lifter will advise you to set up for a lift in the same way every single time. Why? It’s not just for technical reasons, the process of setting up can also act as an anchor. It can help put you into the state necessary for completing the lift. In the next part we’ll talk about doing this purposefully.

Manufactured Means The manufactured means of setting an anchor mimics the natural process except you’re doing it with intention behind it. When you are experiencing the state that you want to have in the future, you trigger the anchor right then to bring about the response in the future. You’re experiencing the desired state through a natural means, but you are setting the anchor at that time on purpose. This is actually a normal process people practice in the gym. Watch any power lifter get under a heavy barbell before they do squats. They get under the bar in a specific way, have a specific way to position themselves before grabbing the bar, and stepping out of the rack before the lift. Every single point of this process is a habit that they have built and all these points are anchors that help to bring about their focus and peak state. The anchors don’t have to be very overt, but I think having those anchors, in addition to all those habits and normal patterns to go through can give even better

113

M e n ta l M u s c l e results. The intention behind these behaviors is powerful. In essence, you will stack some of the normal anchors you already have along with even more powerful ones. This was just one example of how to manufacture anchors.

Visualization The last method is in some ways the easiest, because you don’t have to wait to use the visualization processes. The important thing to note with visualization is that when anything is vividly imagined, your brain cannot determine the difference between the image and what actually happens in reality. So you can use visualization to easily set an anchor. The basic process is to access the state you want, and then set the anchor. But regardless of the way you set the anchor, you will want to practice it fairly frequently. If you do it five times a day for thirty days straight, understand that this anchor will be very well established. And not only will the anchor be well established but you will have better control of it, and the ability to use it at anytime. For example, let’s say you’ve established a kinesthetic anchor. To make this anchor even more instant, you can practice it by visualizing yourself firing that kinesthetic anchor. It’s going to bring about the same response and when you have better control of your mental states, you’ll be able to flip to one state versus another instantly. But, you will be able to control your states much better through the physical practice of actually setting the anchors and bringing about that response. I don’t want you to jump straight ahead and try to change your mental states. It takes some practice to be able to do it efficiently. Josh Waitzkin, world champion chess player and Tai Chi Push Hands competitor, discusses in The Art of Learning, the method of building up a long routine and then shortening it over time until you can get its effects in an instant. In some cases you may need something longer than a quick anchor, but by properly doing the steps as have been outlined, you can often get the effects quickly.

114

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

The basic way to begin setting an anchor, regardless of the method, is to first bring about the desired state. To do this properly, you’ll want to remember a time when you experienced that state before, then go deep into it, getting all the sensory details to put yourself fully back into it, then trigger your anchor. When you’re setting an anchor, you have to get into the state first and then trigger the anchor. After you have the anchor established, the process reverses. You fire the anchor which instantly brings about that state you wish to achieve.

Setting

an

Anchor

with

Visualization

These are the eight steps of the visualization process for setting an anchor: 1. Identify the desired state you want to achieve. 2. Identify the anchor you will use. 3. Visualize the specific times you will use the anchor from the third person. 4. Step into the image, making sure it feels right. If it doesn’t, step out and alter it until it does. 5. Trigger the anchor at the peak time. 6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 a few times. You can redo the same visualization or use multiple similar ones. Change or break your state between reps. 7. Future pace by visualizing yourself using your anchor. 8. Put the anchor into actual practice. The first step is to identify the state that you want to create. Do you want to be focused? Do you want to bring about relaxation? Do you want to peak and have all your energy summoned for the strength to complete one specific exercise? Identify what state you want to have this step is important since you can’t achieve something if you don’t know what it is.

115

M e n ta l M u s c l e Although I have mentioned three primary states, you can go much deeper into detail on them. In fact, a single state can be fairly complex, especially if meta-states are involved, but that takes advanced training. For your first attempts I recommend that you keep it simple. Next, identify the anchor that you’ll use. I prefer kinesthetic ones, since they’re tied to my strongest sense. One example of a kinesthetic anchor is tapping the third eye three times. This anchor is actually mentioned in the strength training classic by Brooks Kubik, Dinosaur Training. At the end of this book there’s an example of using this anchor for Olympic weightlifting. Remember to make your anchor specific, short and simple. The third step is to visualize specific instances of using the anchor from the third person. The use of hypnosis, along with your visualization to set anchors, is optional. You will see yourself going through the motions you want to do to bring about the state with the anchor. Another option is to watch someone else, and model their behavior and state. Then, after you can picture in vivid detail, as it looks from the outside, you will step into the image. At this point, everything should feel right if you have accessed the right state. If you don’t have it right yet, you will want to step back out. Make whatever changes to the image that you need to do in order to make it right, then step back in to the image. Repeat this process until you get the right state. After you step into the image—assuming it feels right at this point—you will have entered into the state. Now, as you reach the fullest expression of that state, fire off your anchor. If it’s physical, then do the motion. If the anchor is an image, see the picture inside your mind’s eye. If your anchor is a phrase, say it out loud. Or, if the anchor is a combination, do them all. Fire the anchor. You should be heavily into the desired mental state at this point. But now we want to step out of it. Change your state to something else by getting up and walking around—or just think about something completely different. The purpose of this step

116

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

is called a break state. Between each attempt you are not in the same state as before, which gives you a fresh start each time. You will repeat this visualization process three to five times to set the anchor. You have two options: You can visualize the exact same thing each time or if there are different instances when you will want to use this state, you may want to use a different visualization each time you go through the process. Of course, you will use the same primary state and anchor throughout, even if the context changes, to strongly establish the anchor. It may be effective if you do it once correctly, but it will be more effective if you do it multiple times. Once you’ve completed several anchor settings in your mind’s eye, the next step is to future pace. Now you will do a visualization process in reverse. This will be just like the way you will use the anchor in real life. You will fire your anchor and feel the change it brings. Let’s assume you are setting an anchor for a peak mental state before doing a specific lift. Imagine yourself in the gym. It should be a different visualization than the previous one you used, specifically you want to visualize yourself at some point in the near future. Also, make sure to “break state” before this step. Next, you will step into your image, then fire your anchor in your visualization. At this time, you should automatically achieve the desired state you’ve previously chosen. Did you notice the feeling of the mental state as it came on? How strong was it? At this point, it would be fine to follow through and perform the exercise in your visualization. But, if the anchor doesn’t instantly bring the proper state, determine what went wrong in the process, then go back and fix it. The true test is to put your anchor into actual practice. Did you notice any differences when you tried it just now? Several of my students have found that the first time they went through this process, their anchors helped them to set new PR’s on the target lifts right away. Of course, using anchors for specific lifts is just one of many possible uses.

117

M e n ta l M u s c l e

More Uses

of

Anchoring

It’s important to talk about success and failure when using your anchors. Did you successfully complete the lift or not after using an anchor? Let’s use a squat as an example. If you fire an anchor then fail at the squat, it could be a bad sign, but that will depend on how long you’ve used the anchor, and how many times you’ve successfully used it in the past. The anchor may still be good if it has had a long good run. But, if you have just established this anchor and didn’t make your lift on the first, second, or third time you’ve put it into practice then you’re building a new association with the anchor—failure. Once again, if you’ve used this anchor for a long time, one failure will not be powerful enough to become a new association. But if the anchor is new, then you may want to just scrap it and start over by setting a new anchor for the exercise. There are others ways you can destroy associations. But this is typically more useful in therapeutic settings where people are working with established anchors that they didn’t necessarily set for themselves. If you anchor something more powerful to something less powerful, you can blow out the weaker association, so that it is no longer anchored. For more information, I highly recommend Triggers by Stanley Mann. Triggers covers many applications of anchoring. You could set a global workout anchor to help you get started with your workout. It would be helpful to have an anchor for motivation and that focuses you on your goal if you’re not motivated to train. Depending on how motivated you are to start, it could be fairly easy to set this type of anchor. Moving from a demotivated state to one that is highly motivated may require some different steps as you chain anchors together. This process is covered in the fat loss drills section of Mental Muscle. You will also want to make sure your anchors are strong and getting stronger all the time, not weaker. And if you actually want to destroy associations, use something more powerful to blow out the old associations.

118

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g T a c t i c s

and

Techniques

A form of desensitization—basically weakening the associations of an anchor—is to use heavy weights for partials. Understand that when you’re trying to pick up a heavy weight, it feels heavy to you. Heaviness is a submodality quality, and it can also be an anchor for feelings of difficulty or impossibility. If you try to lift a specific weight and fail many times, you’re associating your failure with that exercise—this is not a good thing, it’s how mental blocks are set up. A natural way of breaking or weakening this unhelpful anchor is to do partials. What you will be doing is both physical and mental. You’re physically training your body by desensitizing it to the heavy weight. Now, what felt heavy when you were trying to do the full range movement doesn’t feel as heavy any more. If you’ve never lifted more than 400 pounds before and you’re trying to lift 400 pounds in a full range movement, it’s going to feel heavy. But, if you do a partial of the same movement and work up to 600, 700 pounds for the partial, even though it’s a shorter range of motion, the extra weight will feel heavy. Then, when you go back to lifting 400 pounds—even through a full range movement—it will not feel as physically heavy. You will have changed the physical by getting your body used to heavier weights. You will also change your mental processing of how a heavy weight feels. Now, 400 pounds will feel lighter. When something feels light, it is easier.

119

M e n ta l M u s c l e

120

SECTION 3

PEAK PERFORMANCE DRILLS FOR STRENGTH, MUSCLE, FAT LOSS AND PERFORMANCE

I

n Not Just Pumping Iron by Edward W.L. Smith PhD states, “Lifting weights is the Hatha Yoga of the West.” The purpose of this statement is to show that lifting weights (or any form of

physical training) can go far beyond something you only do for health. Yoga was first and foremost a spiritual practice. Although many people don’t look at lifting like that, there are some people who do. And even before you get to that level, lifting is a method of self-growth that goes far beyond just hitting your goals. When looking at what this book can do for you, you’ll notice you’re learning many skills that can be applied to nearly any area of life. The gym is a great place to start, because outcomes are often very specific, and it’s easy to see the results of what you do along the way. Plus, mental drills can often be verified with immediate increases in your current ability.

M e n ta l M u s c l e By learning these skills you’ll gain greater self-awareness, which is very important. And with these skills, you can transfer this self-awareness into any area of your life. This transfer is increased even more when you realize its possibility. There are some people who have great success in the gym, but nowhere else in their lives. But if you realize that similar steps and capabilities are needed in any context, you can become a success anywhere you desire. The gym is a great laboratory for learning about setting an outcome, making a plan to achieve it, finding the blocks that stand in your way, and figuring out your way around them. This regularly happens for anyone training in the gym who has experienced any level of success. With the skills, tools and drills from Mental Muscle, you can accelerate the process. All that being said, the focus of this book is the gym. This section has four main categories, one for each general goal that most people who work out are after. You may be interested in one or several of the categories. The categories are strength, fat loss, muscle gain, and the forth relates to skills and technique. Although these categories are separated out in this book, there is overlap between them. Drills will be covered for each category, and with a few slight tweaks, these drills can transfer into any other area. For that reason, I recommend that you read through all of drills and think about how you could use each for your own goals.

122

Peak Performance Drills

Mental Training Drills for Strength One of the classic books in the field of mental training for athletes is Peak Performance by Charles Garfield. Early in the book, the following study is referenced: “In my meetings with the Soviet researchers in Milan, they discussed government funded athletic programs that integrated sophisticated mental training and rigorous physical training. One study evaluating these intensive programs suggests their potential. Four matched groups of world-class Soviet athletes diligently trained for many hours each week. The training regimens were as follows: Group I -

100 percent physical training

Group II -

75 percent physical training, 25 percent mental training

Group III - 50 percent physical training, 50 percent mental training Group II -

25 percent physical training, 75 percent mental training

When the four groups were compared shortly before the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, Group IV had shown significantly greater improvement than Group III, with Groups II and I following, in that order.” Unfortunately, no more details were given concerning this research. But Charles Garfield also tells a more personal story about the effects of mental training. When he met up with the Soviet researchers, his training was put to the test—and it was very likely the same methods the different athletes had used. The researchers learned that Charles had previously competed in lifting and had an all-time best bench press of 365 lb. many years ago. They asked how long it would take him to train to reach this level once again. He replied, nine to twelve months. Then they asked what he thought he could lift as an absolute best right now. He said 300 lb., which he was able to lift, but with great difficulty.

123

M e n ta l M u s c l e Then the magic began. Using a variety of biofeedback instruments and tests they worked him over. Afterwards, they guided him into a state of hypnosis. After a long period, he was to visualize himself lifting 365 pounds in the bench press. This was a full multi-sensory visualization. Charles became apprehensive and was measured with the biofeedback sensors. They guided him through more imagery to get him to relax. At one point, it all seemed to finally click or flow together. He then proceeded to lift 365 pounds easier than the previous lift of 300 pounds. He accomplished lifting a previous life-time best just through the use of mental training. Can we do this ourselves? I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a collection of expensive biofeedback equipment. While such equipment has its uses, it’s not within the reach of the average person. But, the good news is that you do not need it. The biofeedback sensors merely measured something that Charles could already feel within his body. At first, when they told him he had to lift 365 lb. he was very apprehensive about it, and the sensors picked this up. But anyone observing him could have noticed this just as well. I’m sure Charles could have told them how he felt if they didn’t notice. While he was guided through hypnosis and visualization, he said he got to a point where it all seemed to click and flow together. Once again the sensors picked this up, but Charles or the people around him also could have easily observed this state change. Remember the importance of self-awareness as discussed in a previous chapter. At that point he was able to successfully complete the lift. So, we’re going to do the same thing, but without the biofeedback equipment. With sufficient self-awareness, you can do it by yourself. Even so, it is better to have another person guide you through the steps and ask the right questions—this will allow you to more easily access the right state.

124

Peak Performance Drills

Visualization

for

Strength

1. Select an exercise. 2. Test out your current level with the exercise. You don’t have to max out, but the test should be near your limits. It’s also useful to pick a number between 1 and 10 to rate how difficult the exercise was for you. This number will give you something subjective, but concrete for measuring your progress. 3. Select a heavier weight or harder version of the exercise. Pick something that you are not sure you can do, but is within the realm of possibility. 4. Evaluate how you feel internally when you think about doing this new exercise. What pictures or movies do you see? What do you say to yourself? 5. Get into a relaxed state and visualize yourself doing the exercise over and over again in vivid detail. Make sure you’re associated into the movie. 6. As you perform this process, evaluate how you feel, what you see, and what you say to yourself. Is it the same as before? Is it different? How? 7. When you feel like your visualization has all come together (clicks and flows) then come out of relaxation and do the exercise. What are your results? Done correctly, you will always get better results with this process. Why? Because strength depends on your current mental state. The key is being able to move from a state where you are unsure of your ability to one where you are certain. If you can do this, you will be stronger. That being said, sometimes you can be sure of your abilities, but your body just isn’t ready for it. If the weight had been 400 lb., Charles Garfield probably would have still failed to lift it even if he felt like he could do it. But being in the right state will allow you to actually put forth your full effort. This is why I suggest making smaller jumps in your ability at any one time. Many times you may end up doing more with less effort too! The mind can make big jumps, and sometimes the body will be ready. But, other times the mind may make the jump, but the body just can’t follow—yet. Strength training in any form takes time.

125

M e n ta l M u s c l e Don’t assume that this process could take you from a 185 lb. bench press to 405 lb. overnight. But it could probably get you to lift 205 lb.

An Amplified Anchored Altered State for Lifting This story is told in the beginning of Not Just Pumping Iron: “In my first Olympic weightlifting contest, a state meet in 1959, I was impressed by a lifter in the weight class above me. He was a good lifter, far stronger than one would have guessed by looking at him. In fact, he seemed thin. He was Oriental and a student at Iowa State University. Between his lifts he did something which was highly peculiar. Other lifters paced about or sat and talked with each other. But he went off by himself to an out of the way spot in the lifting hall and sat down with his legs crossed, and his eyes closed, and sat quietly. Remember this was Iowa in 1959. In this contest this was surely a peculiar behavior, and for an athlete in a macho sport at that. (We thought of weightlifting as macho, even though that word had not yet entered mid-Western vocabulary.) This was the first time I had witnessed Eastern meditation. Whether or not he entered an altered state of consciousness or lifted while in an altered state, I cannot say. What I do know is that I surmised that his remarkable lifting was somehow made possible by this exotic practice which he performed between lifts.” I think that lifting in a competition requires an altered mental state. No one lifts something heavy without changing their mental state from normal to something altered. If you do lift in a “normal” state you will not be performing at your best. One of the best ways to gain control of your mental state is through the use of anchors. 1. Get set up for an exercise as you normally would. Do everything you normally do, but do not do the lift. Notice what natural anchors you already have present with your breathing, positioning, approach, etc.

126

Peak Performance Drills 2. Notice the internal feelings in your body as you set up for the exercise. Are there also any mental images or sounds associated with it? 3. Play around with the submodalities of these mental representations. Specifically try to amplify them and notice how that increases the intensity of your state. If anything lessens your state, return to the baseline and try something else. 4. Anchor this increased state to a symbol, word or specific gesture you can use in the future. Now when preparing for this lift, be sure to include this anchor each time.

Hypnotic Commands

for

Strength

I found this drill in an unlikely old book and just had to share it. In The Psychology of Power, Capt. James Hadfield used hypnosis for strength and measured it with a grip dynometer. He tested a group of men under three different circumstances. The first test was under normal waking conditions. Their combined average grip was 101 pounds. When hypnotized and told that they were incredibly weak, their average grip strength dropped to almost a quarter of their previous test average, with only 29 pounds of pressure. One man, a prize fighter, commented that during this test his arm felt “tiny, just like a baby’s.” In the third test they were once again hypnotized, but this time it was suggested they were very, very strong. The result was an average grip strength of 142 pounds, a 40% increase in strength. Those of you interested in closing the Ironmind grippers are probably already getting excited. I especially like how the results also showed how hypnosis can be used to decrease strength, as well as the positive aspect. In The Complete Guide to Hypnosis, Leslie Lecron describes in detail how this can work for you.

127

M e n ta l M u s c l e “Sometimes an operator may be able, through hypnotic suggestion, to inhibit or prevent muscular movements. It is easier to cause this in smaller groups of muscles than in larger ones. It may be suggested that one arm is becoming heavy, so heavy that the subject will be unable to move it. After repetitions of this idea he is invited to try, but reminded that he cannot succeed in moving the arm. Visible efforts may then be seen, but the arm cannot be lifted. A somewhat similar demonstration is for the operator to ask the subject to extend his arm and make all its muscles tight. It is then suggested that he will be unable to bend the arm, that the elbow and wrist joints are locked, and the arm cannot be bent. The operator can then try to cause the arm to bend and can even exert great pressure, but the arm will remain as rigid as an iron bar.”

Another simple study was done by a physician at John Hopkins Medical School. A two-pound weight was tied to the forefinger of a subject who was instructed to lift it once per second to the beat of a metronome. The participants were able to continue lifting for an average of four to five minutes. However, the same experiment was done under the influence of hypnosis with suggestions of no fatigue. Under these circumstances, the subjects would continue to lift the weight for several hours!

Hypnotized Curls Having someone hypnotize you would be ideal, but that’s not always possible. Luckily, you can still achieve similar effects with self-hypnosis. Guide yourself into a relaxed, hypnotized state. You can use some of the methods from the sample scripts provided. Once there, try the following statements repeated over and over again until the effect is strong enough. Then bring yourself to a more awakened state and try lifting with the effects still in place. Notice how well it works.

128

Peak Performance Drills Recently, when I tried this exercise I did 15 reps with a 45 lb. dumbbell in my right hand in an all-out set of curls. After hypnosis, I did 19 reps with my left arm while going all-out once again. My right arm is normally stronger, but hypnosis allowed me to do about 27% more reps—a fairly decent improvement, though certainly not ground breaking.

I’ve shared this simple drill with my LegendaryStrength.com email subscribers and the following are just a few of the reports that have come back: “I tried this mental exercise no less than 19 minutes ago in my gym and actually was so surprised with the results I upped my weight with the same phrase in mind and achieved spectacular results. Not a huge fan of curls but for experimenting purposes I was very surprised and happy to see how important mental training is. First time ever doing anything like that. They definitely don’t teach that in the Marine Corps. I’ll have to pass this along to my buddies. As always I have zero interest in complaints but full interest in results.” —Nico

“Hey Logan, I just applied this ‘mind’ principle to a one arm pushup. I pulled one off for the first time in my life. Really interesting stuff!” —Mike “I have seen four more reps on both arms” —George “I have been trying the visualizing thing you suggested in your email about mental training, including setting a time-dependent goal. Yesterday, I got into a frog stand and held it for one minute, which was my goal. I had set a deadline of this week, which I was dreading, but I got into the position effortlessly and held it easily. I’ve been struggling with this pose for years; I finally got the mechanics thanks to one of your emails but the

129

M e n ta l M u s c l e long hold eluded me. Truth be told, I did nothing to change my physical routine; I just spent a lot of time visualizing my goal with as much specific sensory ideation as I could muster. Thanks again. Your newsletter has been a big help in advancing my training.” —Geoffrey “I tried the hypnosis today with a CoC gripper. However I did both hands on my second set, And got a few extra reps with both hands.” —Hector “Did it with handstands. Still learning them but had a great session with progress. This shit works!” —Kevin “Did that last Saturday, my variation: kettlebell press. Normally, I do 12 of those on left and 14 on right. I did the thing you advised (in my case I “filled up” my deltoid, not biceps) and with the left arm I did 25 and could probably go a few more but was not sure about overdoing something. ;-) Interesting: the effect is lasting in my body.” —Maryuu “Just want to say thank you for all the gold nuggets of free information you give out. I’d been stuck at 10 pull-ups for almost a year and I always dismissed the mental training as unnecessary. Well, tried it out and yes... it worked. I took 1 minute, visualized myself doing 11 pull-ups, uttered that strength mantra and busted it out straight away. Just want to say cheers bro! Much appreciated.” —Nat

Here’s the drill: 1. With dumbbells of any weight, test and see how many curls you can do. For this first part, just use your stronger arm. 2. Get yourself in a relaxed hypnotic state.

130

Peak Performance Drills 3. Repeat this statement over and over until you feel it is true. “My bicep is full of blood and strength. It is able to easily exert strength over and over and over again.” 4. Come to a more awakened state with the post-hypnotic suggestion that will keep your arm feeling that way, so that you know you’ll do many more reps. 5. Test it out and see how many reps you can do. This same process can be done with any exercise. For whatever reason, this drill seems to work better with smaller, isolated muscles, but do try it with big compound movements as well.

Instant Exercise Enhancer The name for this exercise came about when I was teaching at the Wizards of Strength Workshop. I found that not only could I visualize and instantly gain strength, but simply changing how I encode my visualization could change my body’s capabilities. You’ll find two examples of process in the transcript section at the end of the book. The example outlined here is a simpler version that only manipulates the visual component, which is usually enough to result in instant performance increases. 1. Do an exercise. Don’t go all out but just do a few reps. Rate the difficulty on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 being the hardest thing you’ve ever done and 0 being nothing). 2. Step back and visualize yourself doing the exercise. Forget the content of the image, but instead notice its location, size, brightness and whether you are in the image or watching yourself within it.

131

M e n ta l M u s c l e 3. Use a lighter weight, or an easier version of the exercise. 4. Step back and mentally watch yourself doing this exercise. Notice the location, size, brightness, and whether you are in the image or watching yourself within it. Notice the differences between the first and second exercises. 5. Imagine your first exercise again. Change the location, size, brightness and position to match up with the submodalities of the easier exercise’s image. 6. Do the first exercise once again. Rate the new difficulty on a scale of 0 to 10. Of course, also pay attention to how many reps of the exercise you can now do. This is an extremely easy to use drill you can use with any exercise you do. Visualize yourself doing the exercise before hand, and if you don’t naturally do it in “all of your best” submodalities, instantly shift them around and then do the exercise. Soon the effects will become generalized, meaning that you’ll always be performing at a higher level. And with self-awareness, you can notice if your mental pictures move too low, or are smaller than you want them to be.

132

Peak Performance Drills

Mental Training Drills for Fat Loss In The 4-Hour Body, Tim Ferris gives many effective methods for losing weight, ranging from the slow carb diet, to the use of cold water and more. But one sidebar tells an interesting story about Phil Libin and how awareness alone can be used for fat loss. Phil lost 28 pounds over 181 days by purposefully not changing his diet or exercise at all. All he did was to track his weight daily, with intention to bring it down. He plotted a target weight as well as a minimum and maximum weight goal over time. He even binged on doughnuts a few times when his weight had dropped below what he deemed to be his minimum appropriate weight at that time. Now, most people wouldn’t think that 28 pounds over half a year is all that amazing—and by itself it’s not. But when you look at how the weight loss was achieved, something becomes clear, the power of intention. Phil phrased it differently but said, “I wanted to see what effect being precisely aware of my weight would have on my weight.” The intention part comes in when he chose as his goal weight of 230 pounds, and watched his results as he moved towards it. Unfortunately, this process won’t work for many people. And it’s not because of the small discipline required to set the goal and then track results every single day. Instead, many people would mismatch themselves in these efforts. If you had beliefs that stood in the way of attaining a goal similar to this, or you set the bar too high, then the opposite effect could happen to you. You would weigh yourself and after a few days your weight would start to increase. Than, you would start to worry and think about how it’s not working and that you’re getting fatter. All your emotional energy would goes towards that and actually make it happen! Of course, you would then abandon this experiment because it’s not working.

133

M e n ta l M u s c l e But with the techniques we’ll be covering later, you may uncover any subconscious blocks that would stand in your way. Also remember that Phil’s weight loss was accomplished with intention alone, with no exercise or change in diet. How effective would it be if you combined all of these at once? In The Genie in Your Genes, Dawson Church quotes a 2007 Harvard study that examined beliefs in performing work and how it relates to fat loss. “The researchers recruited eighty-four maids who cleaned rooms in hotels. The sample was divided into two groups. One group heard a brief presentation explaining that their work qualifies as good exercise. The other group did not. Over the next thirty days, the changes in the bodies of the women who had heard the presentation were significant. The exercise-informed women perceived themselves to be getting markedly more exercise than they had indicated before the presentation. Members of the group lost an average of two pounds, lowered their blood pressure by almost ten percent, and displayed drops in body-fat percentage, body mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio. This marked physiological change occurred in just thirty days, and followed one brief session in which the researchers exposed the women to new beliefs about their level of physical activity.” Here you can see just how impactful a single belief can be for achieving weight loss goals. This belief likely resulted in some slight changes in behavior, perhaps like working at a faster pace to burn more calories. In some ways this is very similar to Phil Libin’s example. He believed (and this may have been conscious or not) that awareness alone would lead to losing weight.

Psycho-Eating A very in-depth book, Games Slim & Fit People Play by L. Michael Hall, discusses the difficulties people especially have around food:

134

Peak Performance Drills “We should eat primarily for fuel and energy and not for comfort, fulfillment, reward, love, nurturing, validation, status, emotional stress, etc. That’s eating for psychological reasons. It is psycho-eating. If we eat to deal with loneliness, boredom, anxiety, depression, anger, frustration, or any other of a hundred emotional states - then we are eating for the wrong reasons…we can link up all kinds of psychological states to the experience of eating. It’s so easy to attach massive pleasure to eating.” Think back to when you were a child. Did your parents ever reward you with junk food? Perhaps they took you out for ice cream because you got an A on a test, or they had a pizza party for the whole team when you won a game. On the flip side, maybe they rewarded you with candy after they missed something important to you. Although it was unintentional, what they did—and the people who weren’t treated like this are very rare—is condition you towards bad food. Often, this conditioning is very strong because it was reinforced over and over again in very emotional (positive and negative) circumstances. Repetition and intensity are great factors in establishing powerful anchors. But it’s not entirely our parents’ fault, they probably received the same treatment as children. And if you have children, there’s a good chance you’re doing the same thing. After we learned from our parents, we became fully capable of perpetuating these programs ourselves. Games Slim & Fit People Play is a fascinating book. But beware, it is not an easy read. If people understood and applied the ideas in the book, even those who could never get results on a weight loss plan before, would get results. This is because the book considers the mental frames—the games that we play in our minds—when it comes to food. If you can change these games, beliefs, and values, then eating and exercising to lose weight actually becomes easy. The following are two helpful drills.

135

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Sensory Enhancement

of

Foods

Although food should primarily be fuel, that doesn’t mean it can’t come with enjoyment. This enjoyment can also be blown all out of proportion. The truth is, many people don’t even really take the time to taste the food they’re eating. Processed foods are created to have extreme tastes while natural foods are often much more subtle. Problems arise when people become accustomed to processed foods and lose the ability to enjoy foods with natural, un-enhanced flavors. But flavor can also be effected by how much attention you pay to the food. This drill will work for any food you choose to eat (as well as any drink). Earlier, we covered drills to enhance your senses of sight, hearing and feeling. This drill can enhance your senses of smell and taste, while also having a side benefit of helping with weight loss. Before eating, smell the food and notice its aroma. Then take a small bite of it. Notice its flavor. Notice if it has several different flavors and how these may change on different parts of the tongue. Notice the texture of the food and how it changes as you chew it slowly. Continue this process. You’ll probably discover that you will become “satisfied” with a food more quickly than if you were to mindlessly shovel the food into your mouth, barely chew it, while only noticing a feeling of fullness. When eating a natural food that is good for you, pay particular attention to all the aspects of it that you like and enjoy. What are the flavors? What changes occur in the flavor on different parts of your tongue? What flavors are similar to other foods that you really enjoy? What is the texture like, and how does it change as you chew the food? This can also be done with foods that aren’t good for you. By doing this drill, you may find that some tastes are overly-aggressive and that you don’t really enjoy them much at all. Pay particular attention to what you don’t like about the food. What are the flavors that you don’t enjoy? It what ways are they over-powering? Can you identify

136

Peak Performance Drills the chemical or fake tastes? Is something in the food that shouldn’t be there, or that doesn’t quite taste right? Or if you still enjoy the food, you can now get away with just a couple bites to fully experience the taste. Now you might just eat a couple spoonfuls of ice cream instead of the full carton. Dr. Daniel Amen in Change Your Brain, Change Your Life describes how a psychologist used hypnosis in this manner. “When I was an intern at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C., one of my favorite teachers was the noted psychologist Harold Wain. He was the president of the American Council for Clinical Hypnosis and the chief of our Consultation-Liaison Service, the group of psychologists and psychiatrists who helped patients on medical wards who had psychiatric issues. Harold was a wonderful teacher. When he would use hypnosis for weight loss, he would help patients take their time to savor their food and drink. To patients in a trance he could describe drinking a cup of coffee in such a seductive way that it made them think drinking was as pleasurable as sex. He pointed out that people typically inhale their food and take little time to actually enjoy it. By using a simple, descriptive hypnotic technique, he could get people to slow down, feel full faster, and really start to enjoy the energy they put into their bodies.” Although certainly helpful, hypnosis isn’t required. If you just become conscious in this way while eating, you’ll find the experience will transform. What would happen if you did this for every single meal? Establish conscious eating as a habit, and how you eat will completely transform.

137

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Changing How Much You Enjoy

a

Food

This next method can completely change your desire for a food. You can take something you don’t like and turn it into something you do like. You can also take something you love and get rid of your desire for it. 1. Select a specific food you do not like. It can be even something that you hate or that disgusts you. 2. Notice all the details of how you think about this food. How do you see it? Notice the location, brightness, color, size, etc. of your mental image. Do you say something to yourself something when you think about the food? How do you feel inside your body? Perhaps you can smell or taste it too. 3. Select a very specific food you really enjoy eating. 4. Notice all details of how you think about that food. How do you see it? Notice the location, brightness, color, size, etc. of your mental image. Do you say anything to yourself when you think about the food? How do you feel inside your body? Perhaps you can smell or taste it too. 5. Pay particular attention to any differences between steps 2 and 4. You may even want to write down these differences. 6. Now you will map the submodalities from one food to the other. If you want to increase your desire for the hated food, transfer the image and feelings from step 2 to those found in step 4. If you want to lose your desire for a food, transfer the image and feelings from step 4 to 2. 7. After you have made the shift, notice how you think about the foods now and what sort of tastes and feelings they would give you if you were to eat one of them.

138

Peak Performance Drills It is very important to use specifics with this exercise. You can’t just choose “cookies”, but must think of a specific type of cookie. The effect can be generalized if you run it on several different cookies, but this will depend on the person. You will find that there is a certain submodality that drives the other ones. When you change the driving submodality, everything else changes. This is the difference that makes the difference. This drill works for many people, but not everyone. Just recently, I tried this drill with my brother. For whatever reason he didn’t enjoy cucumbers and was in fact disgusted by them. Doing a simple shift in submodalities wasn’t sufficient, so I had to dig deeper. There was something about the white color and moisture involved, so those qualities were shifted. A few days later he tried a cucumber by itself. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t hate it either. Then he ate some in a salad, and in that case he really enjoyed the flavor. Also note that if you still have mental frames like “ice cream = love” then this technique may not be sufficiently powerful enough without some other transformations. Some of these transformations are in the next drill.

Empowering

and

Limiting Beliefs

The two previous drills can be very useful, but there is a problem with them. They work mostly on a behavior level, but if a limiting belief stands in your way, you probably won’t get results. The amount of potentially negative or limiting beliefs in this area is huge. Realize that most beliefs aren’t even thought of as being beliefs, and are seldom apparent. The belief changing processes are very powerful, but it can take a skilled operator to notice the beliefs in the first place before alter them.

139

M e n ta l M u s c l e Here are some examples of limiting beliefs: “If I smell cakes and cookies my hips get bigger.” “I have to have something sweet after eating something salty.” “If I’m not fat my friends/family won’t love me.” “I work hard so I deserve to have my daily treats.” “It’s no use, my whole family is fat. It’s genetic.” “If I lose weight, I’m just going to gain it all back and then some.” “It’s the holidays, I should enjoy myself.” “Eating right means depriving myself.” “I hate vegetables.” “I just can’t resist having X.” “I eat to give myself a sense of comfort.” “Food makes me feel safe.” Some of these beliefs are things people will actually say, but many are not. Hidden beliefs that drive what people do can sometimes only be found with a little digging. Perhaps while reading through this list, one or more statements rang true for you. If so, that’s great because it will give us something to work with. Let’s switch to the flip side. Beliefs are not just negative but can be truly empowering. How would you like to have some of these beliefs instead? “I can eat anything I want and my weight stays the same.” “I love to eat healthy food.” “The food goes right through me. My body only takes as much as it needs and gets rid of the rest.” “I can comfortably be hungry.” “I value having lots of energy and health.” “I eat for fuel.”

140

Peak Performance Drills Do you know why some people “yo-yo”—losing weight only to gain it back—with their diets so often? It’s because they’re only changing behaviors, and many times the only thing that gets them through a diet is a period of willpower. Unfortunately, willpower is limited even for the best of us. Willpower takes tremendous effort and always runs out in the end. But if you change your beliefs and how your mind works, weight loss can become almost effortless. No willpower is required. The truth is, people who change their weight for good have changed their beliefs and behaviors on a permanent basis. It may not have just involved drills such as these. But using these drills can quicken the process, and dramatically increase your chances of getting real and lasting results.

Belief Chain Transformation This drill requires you to use four locations that are side by side. 1. Stand in the first location and state your limiting belief. When you think of this belief, notice feelings, your physiology, and any other words you hear and pictures you see. What mental state is caused by this belief? You may also have specific memories of how this belief became something you hold as true. [Example: “I have to have a big dessert every single night.”] 2. Step out of this location and break state. 3. Move over to the fourth location where you’ll state your empowering belief. If you already know what that belief is, go ahead and say it. Notice the state it creates in your body and mind. Once again focus on the feelings, visuals and sounds associated with it. Since you don’t believe it yet, you’ll be “trying it on” or acting as if it is true. If you’re not sure what empowering belief you’d like to have at the end of this process, that is alright, too. Instead just hold a space of being wise, confident and open. 141

M e n ta l M u s c l e 4. Step out once again and break state. 5. Step into the limiting belief once more and relive that experience. Then take a step towards the end desired state into your second location. What is the positive intention of this limiting belief you currently hold? Everything we do is for a positive purpose, so explore the positive benefit of this limiting belief. Notice how recognizing this positive aspect feels. [If the limiting belief is about dessert, the positive attention may be a thought such as, “I like to reward myself at the end of each day.”] 6. Step into the third location. Now restate your limiting belief, but in a way that redefines it in light of the positive intention. Keep trying different words until you find something that fits. Notice the state that it puts you in. [For example, “I reward myself with dessert every day because I feel like I’ve done a good job.”] 7. Once again, step into the final state of the empowering belief and experience it. Form an empowering belief statement that holds onto everything you’ve learned but will lead to a more positive result. [For example, “I reward myself at the end of each day for a job well done by cooking a very delicious and healthy meal.” Note that this statement must be appropriate for you. This example could work if you enjoy cooking and are open to exploring new possibilities instead of dessert.] 8. Walk through the chain a few times experiencing each location and each belief and state associated with it. Notice if any new information comes up that may lead to additional changes. Primarily, focus on what it feels like to move from one space to another. As was previously mentioned, working to change a belief can be trickier than some of the other drills. It is helpful to have someone coach you through this process rather than do it by yourself.

142

Peak Performance Drills You’ll notice that if you just talked to someone who had this starting belief and told them to reward themselves with good food instead of dessert, the chance of that occurring would be slim to none. Moving from one position to another, and coming up with the new belief, is what makes this process so powerful. Going through the fourstep process several times anchors in the new belief. This internal change becomes something held within the body and the belief will be true for the person.

Swish Pattern

for a

New Body

The swish pattern is a powerful way to anchor something—like being unable to resist a certain food—that has previously stopped you from reaching your desired goal. 1. Think of the food that stops you. Notice all the qualities of the image or movie. 2. Create a mental picture of how you’d like to be. It could be of you fitting into certain clothes or looking at yourself naked in the mirror. Make sure it is something that excites and motivates you. This is important. 3. Play with the submodalities of each image. Find out how you can reduce the intensity or charge that the food (or other item) has which stops you. Now, mentally enhance the intensity of the picture of yourself from step two. 4. Start with the limiting image as a large picture, but reduce it down and make the empowering picture fly up and take its place. You can also imagine the limiting image on glass or a mirror that falls to the floor and shatters. It is helpful to not just visualize, but to also add sound effects and a change in physiology as well. Repeat this process 10-20 times, practicing it faster and faster each time. What you’re doing is anchoring one image to the other. 5. Test how well it worked by thinking of the limiting image and trying to hold onto it. If done properly, anytime you try to imagine that limiting image, you should instantly think of your desired body and how much you want it instead.

143

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Motivation

to

Workout

This drill is similar to the belief change process, but is performed in a slightly different way. Many people battle with motivating themselves to workout. Their beliefs are at the root of this struggle. So, you can go back and work to change your beliefs. For example, this is my empowering belief that you can steal if you’d like: “I love to train and have so much fun doing it and being able to hit my goals.” With that belief, I don’t need motivation to workout. It is always there and will be unless I lose sight of my goals. But if you don’t value training the way I do, this belief might be quite a leap. So we’ll focus on a different method that can take you from a lack of motivation to motivation. The secret is in the intermediary states. Going straight from no motivation to motivation is often too big of a jump, but it is much easier if you move from one overlapping state to another. As an example, we will use four states—lack of motivation (which we could call laziness), apathy, curiosity and motivation. Each of these states will be located side by side. 1. Step into laziness, which is how you should currently feel. How is it that you feel lazy right now? What do you see, hear and feel? What is your body posture? 2. Step into apathy or indifference. Think of a time in the past when you didn’t care about something, when one outcome or another didn’t concern you. What was that feeling like? You will find some similarities with laziness, but there will also be differences. What do you see, hear and feel? What is your body posture? 3. Step into curiosity. Think of a time when you may not have cared much before, but then your curiosity was sparked and you became interested. This feeling doesn’t even have to do with health or fitness. You will find some similarities with apathy, but there will be more differences. What do you see, hear and feel? What is your body posture?

144

Peak Performance Drills 4. Step into motivation. Think of a time when you were highly motivated to do something, perhaps because you were very curious about what would happen. You will find some similarities with curiosity, but there will be differences that are important. What do you see, hear and feel? What is your body posture? 5. Step out and shake it off. Now go through the whole chain from the beginning and get into each state along the way. You can think of your reference experiences, but particularly bring up the physiological aspects, as they are key. 6. Step out and shake it off. Now you will go through it once again, but this time think about working out as you access laziness, apathy, curiosity, and motivation. Notice what happens. Run through it once again. 7. If you’ve followed the steps properly and have completed the process, you should be highly motivated to train. Go ahead and do it!

Using Hypnosis

for

Weight Loss

Hypnosis is a powerful tool that can be helpful—used along with diet and exercise—for fat loss. One scientific review looked at a series of weight loss studies involving the use of hypnosis. The average weight loss was 6 pounds without hypnosis and 11.83 pounds with hypnosis—almost twice the result. It was also found that the weight loss continued over time to 14.88 pounds in the hypnosis group while the control group stayed the same. This shows that the effects of hypnosis continued to affect the experimental group. Once again, this result has to do with changing beliefs and even identity on a subconscious level. Since beliefs and identity direct your life, it makes sense that this was the case in the experiment.

145

M e n ta l M u s c l e Hypnosis can be used for a wide variety of purposes. Use it to work on what you’d like to believe, just make sure that your current beliefs and their positive intentions into consideration. Also be sure to visualize the goal you wish to achieve, including all of the sensory feedback that occurs. What will your clothes feel like? What will you look like naked in the mirror? What will the scale say? If you get your body fat measured, what measurement will you get? What will your friends, family and coworkers say to you about it? How will you reply? (Hopefully you’ll recommend this book!) Just how far can you go with hypnosis? You might be surprised. Leslie Lecron said, “The subconscious can be told to regulate absorption so you take in less energy from the food that you eat. You are made to absorb only as much as is needed to maintain a weight of twenty-five pounds less than your actual weight. It is not scientifically certain if the subconscious can control the rate of food absorption in this way, but it is a possibility, since control of other body processes by the subconscious can be demonstrated.” And now I want to share with you a dramatic story from The Self-Hypnosis Diet. A woman named Margie had battled with her weight for many years. One day she was watching a talk show discussing the benefits of gastric bypass surgery. She paid particular attention to one comment, “The food went right through me and was unabsorbed.” Margie thought about that comment and every night while lying in bed, she told herself that she had had gastric bypass surgery and food passed right through her. She also visualized what she wanted to look like. What happened? She had to use the bathroom right after eating each meal. In fact she had diarrhea to the point that she went to the doctor. What did she tell them? “The food goes right through me. It’s as if I’ve had gastric bypass surgery.” In a month, she lost 18 pounds and her energy and health improved. Here’s the cool part, she actually began to eat smaller portions and snack less. When she reached her target weight she stopped having the “food going right through her” effects.

146

Peak Performance Drills Instead of getting surgery, what if you can just encourage your body to act as if you had the surgery? There were obviously some negative symptoms with her experience, but this could have been done in a more ecological way. Although this woman didn’t really use hypnosis, she did use a natural hypnotic programming method of thinking and visualizing as she was drifting off to sleep. This is another way to access the same brainwave patterns used in hypnosis to program your subconscious mind. You may not want an imaginary gastric bypass surgery (though I would say that is much better than a real one), but what could you believe that would help you hit your goals?

147

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Mental Training Drills for Muscle Building Gaining muscle is similar to fat loss in many ways. These goals commonly go together with the term “body transformation”. For this reason, the previous drills can easily be adapted to suit the goal of adding more muscle to your frame. For instance, many people believe they are hard gainers. While it can be physiologically true that some people can gain muscle mass easier than other people, holding this belief as true for you will only make reaching the goal more difficult. Just because something is true doesn’t mean you have to believe it! You don’t have to choose beliefs according to their “truthiness” (to borrow a term from Steven Colbert). Instead, choose beliefs based on their usefulness to you. In many cases, the truth is subjective anyway. The truth is, many people who complain they can’t put on muscle just aren’t eating enough and/or are not training correctly to achieve that goal. Run through the Belief Chain Transformation process on that belief or any other belief that may be holding you back. Although I haven’t focused much on gaining weight in the past, there have been a couple of times I wanted to achieve it. I am the proverbial hard-gainer. When I entered high school I weighed less than 100 lb. Just focusing on strength alone, I got up to regularly weighing 180-185 lb. After setting a well-formed outcome, I was able to put on about 15 lb. in about 6 weeks, breaking the 200 lb. mark for the first time in my life. I barely changed my strength training other than adding a little bit more volume, but I did eat a whole lot more. And I used some of the techniques you’ll find in this chapter.

148

Peak Performance Drills In addition, the strength training mental drills will allow you to push your body further in the gym, which will allow your muscles to grow more. Everything already shared about the mind’s ability to influence physiological processes applies in this area as well. Here is another story with some amazing results which were even tested by doctors: A woman had leukemia and colon cancer. With leukemia, the white blood cells never quite mature and they keep on multiplying which causes many problems. Unfortunately, the treatment for her colon cancer made the leukemia worse and vice versa. Robert Dilts worked with her on her beliefs and how to visualize the white blood cells—which as we’ve already seen, respond well to visualization. She went to a hospital to get blood work done. A normal white blood cell count is 6,000-10,000 per unit volume. Her first test showed 5300. She told them to do it again, as she thought she was under a lot of stress from a recent trip. She did her visualization before they tested her a second time, and this time it came back at 12,000. The doctors thought a mistake had been made and tested her a third time, after she stopped her visualization. Again the results came back at 5300. The doctors believed the second test had been in error, but she encouraged them to do it again. While visualizing, she was tested a fourth time and the results came back at 12,000 again. They repeated the test again. The doctors believed the placebo effect was in place, but she knew she was effecting the change in her body with her mind. Later, she delayed her surgery to give herself more time for these effects to make significant changes in her body. At her last checkup before the surgery was scheduled, the colon cancer was gone. Many years later she is not only healthy, but through a battery of tests they couldn’t find any traces of the colon cancer or leukemia. In fact, they couldn’t find any indications that she ever had them. If you can control your health and blood cells with beliefs and visualization, doesn’t it make sense that you could do the same to mentally pack on some muscle? In fact, you may even be able to do this without training at all! I wouldn’t recommend that approach, but it could be done.

149

M e n ta l M u s c l e Around the turn of the 20th century, Professor Elmer Gates of the Laboratory of Psychology and Psychurgy in Washington D.C. did some very interesting experiments in this regard. By directing his “thoughts” to his arms every day for a period of time, over the course of many days, he increased the size and strength of his arms. He taught this same method to others and they had favorable results as well. In fact, this is something many of the oldtime strongmen talk about. You can’t just exercise mechanically, but you must put your thoughts behind it. Sandow said this was essential. Considering the fact that Sandow taught muscle control and the use of light dumbbells, it surely wasn’t just the resistance that provided growth and strength. Professor Gates said, “The mind of the human organism can, by an effort of will, properly directed, produce measurable changes of the chemistry of the secretions and excretions. If mind activities create chemical and anatomical changes in the cells and tissues of the animal body, it follows that all physiological processes of health or disease, are psychological processes, and that the only way to inhibit, accelerate, or change these processes, is to resort to methods, properly altering the psychological or mental processes.”

Hypnotic Muscle Gain In Self Hypnotism, Leslie Lecron talks about teaching women to enlarge their breasts through hypnosis. “Breast development by hypnotic suggestion has been reported in many instances, and of seven cases among my own patients, six found an increase in measurement from one and a half to more than two inches. To say that these girls were pleased is putting it mildly. This was carried out by the use of straight verbal suggestion, plus the use of visual imagery. The girls were instructed to close their eyes after going to

150

Peak Performance Drills bed at night and to form an image of themselves as they wished their breasts to be. Another suggestion was also used. Before reaching puberty a girl has no breasts. At puberty they begin to develop, but sometimes the process stops before the breasts reach a satisfactory size. This was stated as an obvious fact and it was suggested that the subconscious mind would now stimulate the same process of growth again, just as it had at the time puberty was beginning. Growth would continue until the breasts had increased at least an inch and a half. It was mentioned that various endocrinal, hormonal, and other physiological processes were involved when the breasts first began to develop and the same processes would begin again. Whether or not this actually resulted, I cannot say. Judging from the growth that did occur, it may have happened.” If breasts can be made bigger with hypnosis, then muscles—which can easily and regularly grow all throughout life from working out—are easy! Here are a number of ideas you can focus on under hypnosis for this purpose: 1. Affirmations such as “My muscles are growing bigger and bigger every day.” This can also be used to target specific muscles. 2. Visualization. Imagine your body how you desire it to be. See it as you would from your own eyes. See it as if looking in a mirror. Also feel what it would be like to be more massive. Notice how your clothes fit you. You can even hear comments from other people, “Whoa, you got bigger!” 3. Remember back to a time when you gained a lot of muscle, either from training or just puberty itself. Re-enter that mental state and relive it. 4. Visualize blood, along with the nutrition it carries, going into your muscles, clearing out the waste, and repairing them as bigger and stronger than before. Visualize your hormones like testosterone and human growth hormone being secreted and adding muscle to your frame.

151

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Pre-Eating Visualization This drill is similar to the last step above, but I wanted to take additional time to focus on it. In some ways, it is also similar to the Sensory Enhancement of Foods drill, but instead of focusing on the foods themselves, you’ll be focusing on what the foods will do for you. If you are properly strength training, then adding muscle is a matter of eating food, then having your body absorb and use it for that purpose. Unfortunately, just because you can put food down your throat doesn’t mean your body will use all of it. Plus, digestion itself can be a very energy intensive process, meaning you will burn more calories just by eating more food. But by using our minds, we may be able to enhance this process. Even if it only helps just a little bit more (5-10%) wouldn’t that alone be worth it? And what if it helps even more than that? Before eating any food, run through a visualization of what that food will do for you. If you know a lot about digestive processes, and what specific nutrients do for your body you can use that knowledge. But, it’s not necessary, even metaphorical imagery would work with this drill. Simply focus on your body properly digesting the food, the blood bringing the amino acids and other nutrition to the muscles cells, and the cells rebuilding themselves bigger and stronger. Finally, focus on how you want your body to look. This drill could also be done after eating, but I find it best to set the intention with the food, before it enters your body. If you run through this process every single time before you eat, (it won’t take very long to do once you’re proficient with the drill) it will become a powerful anchor that will align your physiological processes with your goal of building muscle.

152

Peak Performance Drills

Massive Eating Anchors As I already stated, the key component to gaining weight is to eat a lot of food. When you have the proper training stimulus, the body will take that food and use it mostly for building muscle. You can overeat, and some fat will also be gained, but for people like competing strongmen and powerlifters, that fat can be useful as extra leverage. If you are content to add muscle mass slowly, then training right, eating a decent amount of food, and focusing on visualization will get you there. But if you’re looking to add over 10 pounds per month—or much more than that— you’re going to have to EAT! It can be difficult to force yourself to continue eating when you really don’t want to eat any more. But we can use an anchor to make it easier to do. 1. Think back to a time when you said, “I’m starving” or something along those lines. Think of when you were really hungry, your stomach was making noises and felt empty. Elicit all the details of this experience and get back into that state. An alternative is to simply wait until you feel this hungry once again. 2. Select a kinesthetic, auditory and/or visual anchor to use. (You might want to include the desire for your goal in a visual anchor by picturing yourself standing on the scale at your goal weight, or seeing your body the way you want it to be.) 3. Repeat the process at least two more times to stack the anchor. Use different reference experiences of being hungry. (Here’s one that will work well for most Americans: Thanksgiving dinner.) 4. Break your state by getting up and walking around. 5.  Test your anchor by firing it. Do you feel hungry? If so great! Mission accomplished! Go and eat right now. You can fire this anchor any time before you eat and you’re likely to eat more. You can even fire it after you’ve eaten to make your body want more food. I would recommend combining this with the pre-eating visualization drill. Add this to calorically dense foods and you might be surprised at just how fast you grow.

153

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Mental Training Drills for Gaining Skills In this section, we will turn towards sports applications, similar to most conventional athletic mental training guides. A sport is a combination of skills, both mental and physical. The best athletes in the world are simply far more skilled than the average person. And this concept equally applies to many exercise applications. Most of the training I do is more skill-based than strength-based. Although training requires some amount of each, activities like hand balancing, acrobatics, and kettlebell juggling have a very large skill component. But all exercises including basics like squats and the bench press, require some level of skill. When you’re wanting to build skills, it is useful to know about some of the recent research regarding myelin. A great book on this subject is The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. There’s a story about a girl playing the clarinet in the book’s introduction. The story is called, “The Girl Who Did a Month’s Worth of Practice in Six Minutes”. It compares the details of how she was practicing in that time, versus what she did normally—which by all accounts was below average. The story continues: “They have tapped into a neurological mechanism in which certain patterns of targeted practice build skill. Without realizing it, they have entered a zone of accelerated learning that, while it can’t quite be bottled, can be accessed by those who know how. In short, they’ve cracked the talent code. The talent code is built on revolutionary scientific discoveries involving a neural insulator called myelin, which some neurologists now consider to be the holy grail of acquiring skill.”

154

Peak Performance Drills Myelin is a material made up of protein and lipids that is deposited over nerve pathways as they are used. The more you use those pathways, the more myelin is added. Myelin causes the nerve pathways to become more conductive, which makes it easier and faster for those nerve impulses to fire. This means the skill becomes more automatic and easier to do. The most skilled people have heavily paved myelin sheaths like the Autobahn, while a beginner’s sheaths may be more like an unpaved rocky road. A big part of gaining skill for any purpose is to practice in the right zone. It is like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. If you go for something that is too hard, you won’t see much improvement. If you do something too easy, you won’t be building much skill. But, if you practice in the sweet spot—which will depend on an individual’s starting point—then you’ll progress much faster. This is why when I teach handstands, I don’t advise people to just kick up into the handstand. Instead, it is better to build a base of balancing with easier skills like the frog stand and headstand. These are far more likely to be in a beginner’s sweet spot. Once that foundation is built, you can move on to the handstand and actually achieve some success. The full details of my process for the handstand can be found in my book, Secrets of the Handstand.

155

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Accelerated Skill Gaining Visualization Just like other physiological processes in the body, skill acquisition may be improved through the use of the mind. We already know that the brain cannot tell the difference between reality and something vividly imagined. Also, when you visualize a movement, the muscles are firing. That means the same nerve pathways needed in any skill are in use, and that myelin comes into play. This is how visualization alone can improve your skills. But, this process can be further enhanced. In Sporting Excellence by Ted Garratt, the following details of visualization are expressed. You’ll recall much that was discussed in the chapter on visualization. “Interviews with top divers, ice hockey and field hockey players, swimmers, and gymnasts indicate that almost 98% use some type of imagery. There were tremendous differences between these athletes, however with respect to their imagery skills. A diver like Greg Louganis has very highly developed rehearsal skills. Louganis continually rehearses his dives. He is thinking about them away from the pool, between dives during competition, and when he is actually on the board or platform. He goes over them very systematically again and again, rehearsing from several different perspectives. He can visualize himself doing the dive, or take the perspective of someone in the audience watching the dive. He can imagine from inside his own body, generating the kinesthetic feelings as well as the visual images. Finally, he rehearses to music, using the tempo and rhythm of the music to assist him in his timing and execution. In contrast to Louganis, some other divers have not learned to rehearse at all. Often, these individuals have been exposed to the idea of thinking their way through their dives but have difficulty developing the images. They have assumed that other people see clear images and pictures, and when they do not, they decided that something must be wrong. ‘I just didn’t think I was capable of imaging like the other divers.’”

156

Peak Performance Drills This shows, as was stated before, that visualizing must be practiced. You’ll notice all the different senses and perspectives at use in Louganis’ visualization practice. While visualizing away from what you’re practicing works well, I like to use the following format together with practice. This process can dramatically help you to master physical skills and build more myelin, because myelin builds during the review and correction phases of your practice. 1. Visualize the skill you are about to perform in as much detail as you can. 2. Practice the skill. (Remember to focus on the sweet spot.) 3. Visualize what you just practiced, but this time notice what wasn’t perfect and how it could be changed. Then visualize what would have happened if you had made those changes. 4. Repeat the practice and alternate between visualizing and practicing. This drill is phenomenal for skills that take some physical capability, since the visualization portions can serve as your rest time. Instead of just trying to physically practice the skill, you will mentally correct your mistakes and advance even faster.

Negative Talk Blowout Carol Dwech, PhD, at Stanford University noticed that differences in expectations among students resulted in differences in performance. The main indicator was whether a student believed that intelligence was a fixed number that couldn’t be changed, or if they believed intelligence could be increased and grow.

157

M e n ta l M u s c l e When looking at the math scores of the two groups she found that those who believed intelligence could grow improved their scores. Those who did not share that belief, had lower scores over time. She then took the study a step further. She took 100 seventh graders who all had trouble in math, and split them into a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group was taught how the brain grows, makes new connections when challenged, and can become smarter. The control group was taught study skills. At the end of the semester, the experimental group that had been taught how the brain grows had significantly better scores then the control group. This experiment shows how expectations plot our results. If you believe that you can grow and get better, then you will. Believe that you can’t, and you won’t. In fact, you’ll probably get worse, because why even use what you have if it can’t be improved? Our expectations are key, and they apply to more than just learning, strength, and sports. One of the things that showcases how poor expectancy works is negative self-talk. “I’m going to win!” you may say out loud. “No you won’t.” says the little voice in the back of your mind. In Sports Psyching by Thomas Tutko and Umberto Tosi, the authors state, “Listen to yourself during the game. Frequently, the things you will hear yourself saying are immensely revealing. For example, if you find yourself saying ‘I’ll never get it right,’ I can assure you that you are not making an objective judgment related to the immediate challenge; you may simply be repeating long-forgotten criticism in childhood by a parental figure who would ask, ‘Can’t you do anything right?’ When you mumble your own name out on the playing field, much as an angry parent might, you are reliving a past which can destroy your present. For example, a tennis player I know would always say to herself, ‘You klutz, what’s the matter with you?’ when she missed shots. Then she would tell herself,

158

Peak Performance Drills ‘Straighten up!’ When she would prepare for a game, she would always think in the first person: ‘I’m going to try to keep the ball to the right against this opponent.’ But when she flubbed, she would scold herself in the second person, ‘You dummy!’ She thought about this and realized that the nagging ‘you’ voice really was an imitation of her mother balling her out when she was a child. She’d grown up in a large family and rarely got much attention unless she did something clumsy. She was acting this out unconsciously on the tennis courts and she realized in other areas of her life as well.” Hypnosis can also be used for this purpose. In his book Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Dr. William Kroger wrote that he had used hypnotism to improve the ability of many athletes in the areas of baseball, football, pugilism and golf. The results ranged from good to spectacular, all without any negative side effects. He found that while the athletes competed at a higher level, they did so without causing damage or injury to their bodies. The following drill can help you to identify and transform negative self-talk. 1. Identify what the voice says to you. What is the context when you hear it? What are the auditory qualities of the voice? Pay particular attention to whether it is your voice or someone else’s (like a parent). If it is someone else skip to the following drill. If it is your own voice, continue to step 2 below. 2. Ask if the part of you doing the talking is willing to communicate with you. In most cases you’ll receive a “yes” in one form or another. 3. Ask what the positive intention is behind the statement? For instance, if the statement is, “You won’t win, so why bother,” the positive intent may be to save yourself from disappointment. 4. Step into a place of creativity. Now, come up with at least three alternatives that would fulfill the positive intent in a more resourceful way.

159

M e n ta l M u s c l e 5. Ask the part of you that previously said the negative self-talk if it would be satisfied with any of the alternatives. If not, come up with more alternatives or figure out what needs to be added or changed so that every part will be happy with the new decisions. 6. Integrate the new choices by having that speaking part of you take over the new alternative and run that program instead of the negative self-talk. 7. Think about a future situation or context when that voice may come up again. Run through the movie in your mind. What is different now? If the voice is from someone else and not yourself, then use the steps below. Often, something or someone from our childhood gets in our way. 2a. Go back to the first time you can recall hearing the negative statement and who said it. Notice how it made you feel inside when you heard it. 3a. Step out into a position off to the side, where you can observe the interaction (meta position). 4a. Now, step into the shoes of the person saying the statement to the younger you. What was their intention when saying it? They may have had a positive intention for you. Or, it may have been negatively intended for you, but positive for them. For example they might have been putting you down to make themselves feel better. Notice the reasoning behind their statement. 5a. Return to the meta position off to the side. What resources need to be given to the younger you or the other person in the interaction to transform the situation? Access those resources now and bring them into the past. Notice what happens. Are these resources sufficient or is something more needed? If more resources are needed, add them.

160

Peak Performance Drills 6a. Return to the present and bring those resources forward with you through time. Now, go into the future to a similar context and see what comes up now instead of the voice. Both of these drills—especially the second one—can be tricky to do by yourself, so you may need a qualified coach to guide you to accurately move through the steps.

161

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Entering

the

Flow State

Talk to any athlete of any kind and ask them about a time when they entered the flow state. It’s a great place to be, everything seems to happen easily and without struggle. In my experience, this flow state also occurs in the gym. In some workouts, every single thing you do comes easily and you set new PRs left and right. In Peak Performance by Charles Garfield, a number of athletes were interviewed about their experiences of the flow state. They found the basic commonalities that these athletes have in the flow experience. • The athlete has an expectation of success. • The everyday world recedes, and the athlete begins to act completely “in the moment,” as though an automatic pilot has been switched on. • The athlete is totally focused on the present, and their concentration is so intense that actions are anticipated before they occur. • There is a sense of possessing extraordinary power, which sometimes appears to be coming from an outside source or from a new source within the athlete. • There is a sense of being completely immersed in the activity. The athlete feels perfectly in tune with the action in which they are engaged. • There is a feeling of joy and ecstasy, the “perfect emotion.” Since we know what flow is, we can reverse engineer it. If we know the qualities of the flow state, we can obtain them and access the flow state at will instead of it only happening at random. Most athletes get into the flow state without having a clue how they got there, why it happened, why it ended when it did, how it came about, or how to get back into it. We want to make getting into the flow state something we have more control over.

162

Peak Performance Drills The athlete has an expectation of success. Earlier in this book we talked about how much expectation plays into what we’re capable of doing. I just heard of a study showing that people who hold beliefs of an exaggerated sense of personal achievement and ability—even when greater than what reality would dictate—have better results then those that do not have these beliefs. Do you expect to be successful? Look at this idea in relation to your desired outcome. If not, then you’ll need to either change your outcome or change your belief. The everyday world recedes, and the athlete begins to act completely “in the moment,” as though an automatic pilot has been switched on. There are a number of different things reflected in this statement. The everyday world recedes… This sounds like a shift in submodalities to me. Recall how time can seem to slow down. Remember the study with the apparent size of the golf holes. If the everyday world recedes, the task at hand takes complete focus. Act completely “in the moment”… The above statement is all about being present. Although there is much more to how we can process and use time—for instance with time line processes—a simple explanation will be enough for now. We have the past, present and future. If you’re in the past, you’re thinking about things that have already happened. If you’re re-playing mental movies of failure and thinking about how you missed last time, this will lead to poor results. Even though there are many positive things you can re-access and learn from with past performances, in the moment of a lift or a sport, you can’t be thinking about the past. Being anywhere besides the present will take you away from fully focusing and functioning for the task at hand.

163

M e n ta l M u s c l e The future is the same in this regard. While in the moment, even focusing on your goal and how much you desire it can become a distraction. It’s better to do that before or after a lift and not in the moment itself. An automatic pilot has been switched on… If something is on autopilot, then there is no need to manually (or consciously) control it. In other words, it is effortless. The phrase above describes moving and acting without effort. This means there is far less conscious thought about what to do, and instead more action based on the subconscious mind and what it knows to do. The athlete is totally focused on the present, and concentration is so intense that actions are anticipated before they occur. We’ve already dealt with being in the present. Focus and concentration are fully on the tasks at hand in the present time. But this statement goes beyond that. It’s describing a heightened awareness that allows you to know what is going to happen before it does. Along with more awareness, your subconscious mind will automatically bring up data about what will happen, all without you having to think about it. This is more obvious when you’re up against a human opponent rather than working out by yourself. It may not be actual precognition, but your reactions may become so much faster and automatic that it seems to be the case. Many martial artists seem to know what their opponents intend to do before any movement is made. There is a sense of possessing extraordinary power, which sometimes appears to be coming from an outside source or from a new source within oneself. When you’re in the zone you feel good, really good. When things are going well and are automatically effortless, you may feel like you can do nothing wrong. This is power.

164

Peak Performance Drills This power is not your everyday state, it is different from normal experience. Instead of trying to control the flow, you must let it go through you. In my experience, I feel like I am opening up to power outside of myself, which flows through me, then back out into the external environment. Geniuses like Mozart and Einstein didn’t say that they were smart. Instead they opened up to something that came through them. Many athletes report the same experience. This sensation doesn’t have to be religious, but it could be if you want. There is a sense of being completely immersed in the activity, perfectly in tune with the action in which the athlete is engaged. Here is more information about how all the senses are in use during the flow state. A sense of being immersed is a kinesthetic representation. Being in tune is auditory. Not only are the senses all heightened and in use, but are working together as one. Recall the quarterback who knew the receiver would beat the defender. He probably felt this as much as saw it. When the senses are integrated together in this manner, they operate at a superior level. There is a feeling of joy and ecstasy, the “perfect emotion.” When you are completely in the present, and performing at your best it is impossible not to enjoy it. Struggle and lack of joy comes from focusing on the past or future—or from thinking about how things should be different in life. Furthermore, the flow is moving through you making it even more pleasant. Everything about the flow state is perfect. To summarize, these are the nine qualities of flow: • Positive Expectation • Physical and Mental Relaxation • Confidence • Present

165

M e n ta l M u s c l e • Energized • Heightened Awareness with Full Sensory Involvement • Control • Joy and Ecstasy • Open Channel Understand that these qualities will be represented slightly differently for each person. Since these are just words used in an attempt to represent sensory experience, they are also open to interpretation. Some of the qualities may be more important to you than others. But, this list is a very useful starting point as we work to develop these qualities into accessible states.

Accessing Flow On Demand If you can really experience all these qualities, you will achieve the flow state. So, how do you do it? While there are several ways, the below drill can be very powerful to individually anchor each piece of the puzzle before bringing them all together. Running through this drill in full will take a significant amount of time. Plan to spend at least an hour to go through it completely. As an alternative, single positions can be worked to gain just one quality of flow. Over time, you could practice this regularly and then combine them all for great command over achieving the flow state. Just stepping into a single position and asking the right questions, while becoming more conscious of the qualities of that experience can be helpful by itself. Before we begin, I want to mention that flow is not an all or nothing experience. There can be times when you may have some flow, and other times when you’re fully into it. Even in the latter case, the flow state could still become even better at that time, or in the future.

166

Peak Performance Drills The different locations will be spatially anchored, so you can move from one state to the next. Once they are all established, you’ll chain them together and enter flow. This process should be anchored at the end so you can carry it with you and use it when you desire to be in flow. For each location, you can access past times when you’ve felt the flow state, act “as if” you could feel it, or step into someone else’s shoes to describe and feel it as they would. Between each step, be sure to break state. 1. Make sure you have an expectation to succeed before you begin. If any limiting beliefs are standing in the way, clear them up before beginning this process. Step into a marked location and access a state of expecting to succeed. How do you know you will be successful? What makes you absolutely sure? Fully explore it and create an anchor. 2. Step into a marked location and access a state of physical and mental relaxation. What is the proper amount of relaxation that will allow you to flow completely in your sport? Fully explore and create an anchor. 3. Step into a marked location and access a state of confidence. How do you feel confidence? Fully explore and create an anchor. 4. Step into a marked location and access a state of being present. What is your perception like when you are fully present? Fully explore and create an anchor.

5. Step into a marked location and access a state of being energized. How do you feel when you are energized? Where in your body do you feel it? How does it move or expand? Fully explore and create an anchor.

167

M e n ta l M u s c l e 6. Step into a marked location and access a state of heightened awareness with all your senses engaged simultaneously. What is the most important sense in your sport? In what ways does it operate on a higher level than normal? How are the other senses involved? Fully explore and create an anchor. 7. Step into a marked location and access a state of control. How do you experience a sense of control with a feeling that you can do no wrong? Fully explore and create an anchor. 8. Step into a marked location and access a state of joy and ecstasy. How do you sense joy within your body? How intense is this feeling? Fully explore and create an anchor. 9. Step into a marked location and access a state of being an open channel that allows the flow to move through you. How do you know you are open? How do you feel this within your body? Fully explore and create an anchor. 10. Start in the first location and move through all the states, making sure to bring each state into the next one. Notice what changes and stays the same. Repeat this process a couple of times. 11. Choose an anchor in all three major modalities to anchor your flow state. This drill will prove to be an interesting exploration at the very least. Doing this drill may bring various beliefs to light that could be useful to strengthen or transform your performance. You do not need to spend the same amount of time in each location. You’ll also determine what “parts” of the flow state are easier or harder for you to access. Do you have great or poor reference experiences at this time? By accessing and practicing them, you’ll be able to enter the flow state that much easier in the future.

168

SECTION 4

WORD FOR WORD TRANSCRIPTS OF MENTAL TRAINING DRILLS WITH CLIENTS INCLUDING THE RESULTS THEY EXPERIENCED

I

In order to demonstrate the power of mental training, this section contains a number of transcripts from working with clients in workshop settings. As a

kinesthetic learner, I feel it is best to go through the drills myself. But, seeing full examples of the drills at work can be another very useful tool for understanding the processes. You’ll see a few of the drills from earlier in the book with a lot of detail. You’ll also get an idea of how to coach another person—and the same steps apply to yourself.

169

M e n ta l M u s c l e What’s more, I’m giving you the big bonus of being able to watch videos, so you can also see the details from the transcripts. This way you can see the anchoring, gestures, eye accessing and other details the transcripts do not always show. These videos come from various workshop DVDs which people have paid up to $500 for each set, or even more to be at the live workshops. Go to the following link and grab your $200 bonus of all these videos. http://www.mentalmusclebook.com/bonus/

Making Kettlebell Swings Easier This transcript comes from the Wizards of Strength Workshop where I led Ben through a simple change of a movie he was playing in his mind, using visual components only. This change led him to double his reps while cutting down the difficulty of the movement. This is the Instant Exercise Enhancer technique as described earlier. Logan: Come on, Ben. Alright, what’s an exercise that you can do here that is easy for you to do? Ben: Swing. Logan: Swing? Okay. So I want you to pick something relatively heavy because you could do swings all day. We’ve got 48 kilograms, if you want, and bring that up here. Yeah, I think that’s the biggest one. Pay attention because you guys will be doing this drill after we’re done with it, but don’t write down the steps or anything like that. You wouldn’t want to remember it. Okay, so I want you to swing this a few times. You don’t need to go all out but have you ever trained to tension? Ben: Yeah.

170

T r a n s c r ip t s

of

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g D r i l l s

Logan: Okay. So go ahead and do that, stop at that point and notice how difficult it is. (Ben swings the kettlebell seven times) Logan: Okay, seven reps. On a scale of 0 to 10, how difficult would you say that was? Ben: Difficult. I flunked out at seven. Logan: Yeah? Give me a number. Ben: I’ll give that about an eight, because I started losing my grip really fast and had to think about constantly fighting for that. Logan: Okay, good. So I want you to go and stand back a little a bit now. Okay, I want you to picture yourself doing the swing like you were just doing. Go ahead and picture it. Where do you see it? Ben: Where I see it? Relative to the Cancun type thing or...? Logan: Yeah, I’m saying like do you see it out here? Where do you see it? Point. Ben: Oh okay. Right here. [Ben gestures about arm’s length away in front of himself.] Logan: Okay, how big is the image? Ben: Not very big. It’s probably about [gestures about two feet tall]. Logan: Okay, its right here, this big. Brightness? Ben: Just normal brightness right now. Logan: Okay, normal brightness. When you see it, are you in the image or are you seeing yourself as if you‘re out here?

171

M e n ta l M u s c l e Ben: I’m actually seeing myself. Logan: So it’s dissociated from the image? Okay. Now what we’re going to do is let’s take a lighter bell and bring that up here. Okay, go ahead and just do like ten swings like that. Ben: Same exercise? Logan: Yeah. [Ben does ten swings with the lighter kettlebell] Logan: Now what I want you to do is picture yourself doing swings with this weight. Or you can even picture the lighter weight, imagine like a 16-kilogram bell, how easy is that? Ben: Very easy. Logan: Okay. Picture it. Where do you see it? Ben: Here. [Ben gestures arms length out front but at about head height] Logan: Notice it’s higher and that’s important. What else? Size-wise? Ben: Size-wise, here. Logan: Bigger? Ben: Brighter Logan: Brighter. Okay. Are you associated with this one or still seeing it? Ben: No, I’m actually in and out. I’m in it halfway.

172

T r a n s c r ip t s

of

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g D r i l l s

Logan: So he’s associated in this as well. So these are some key distinctions in how his mind actually stores the exercises and now we’re going to have some fun. So you see the image here. It’s pretty bright, pretty big. Ben: Yes. Logan: And you’re in it. Let’s take it even bigger. Make it life-size. How does that feel? Ben: Pretty good. Logan: Okay. Let’s turn up the brightness even more. Okay, good. So now what we’re going to do now that we have elicited and even turned up what are known as submodalities. Modality would be something like vision or auditory, what you can hear, kinesthetic, what you can feel. Here we’re focusing mostly just on the visual ones. We could also even play with the feelings associated with the movement but we’ve really just focused on visual submodalities and increased them, also noticing the difference between this one. So go ahead and imagine yourself swinging this one again. Remember it was about here and we’re going to move it up here, make it bigger. Life-size. Swinging that 48-kilogram bell. Notice that. See the brightness? See yourself doing it easily. Ben: Yes. Logan: Okay. Go ahead and do that. I want you to, once again, stop at the point of tension and notice how easy it is. [Ben swings the 48 kg kettlebell 14 times] Logan: Did you notice actually his form changed a little? Man: Now his tension was like all the way down here. Logan: Yeah. So he just doubled his reps and he wasn’t going all out. I mean there was a little struggle at the end, but how would you rate the difficulty of actually doing that even though you did twice as many?

173

M e n ta l M u s c l e Ben: Well, along the lines of what a 44kg normally feels like. Logan: Yeah, so on a scale of 0 to 10? Ben: Difficulty? Five. Logan: Five? It was an eight before doubling the reps, so it was easier than before.

Doubling Fingertip Handstand Pushups with Shaolin Monks, Gladiators in the Arena and Stepping Into the Future This example also comes from the Wizards of Strength Workshop, later in the evening. It is the word for word transcript of the story that introduced this book. Here you’ll see the beginning of the prior exercise, except all three major senses are used, instead of just visuals. In addition, the element of time is used. This is a more in-depth version of the Instant Exercise Enhancer technique. As you can see when more modalities are used, and different tactics are stacked on one another, the effects become even more powerful. After doing this drill, Matti set a huge PR in the exercise. Logan: Which exercise do you have trouble with? Matti: Holding myself in a handstand on two fingers and doing more than five reps. Logan: Handstand push-ups on two fingers? Matti: Yes, two fingers of each hand so four fingers.

174

T r a n s c r ip t s

of

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g D r i l l s

Logan: Okay. You don’t need to do five reps. Do one or two reps right here. [Matti does two reps] Logan: Well, he does it too slow. That’s one thing. Chuck: Probably trying not to break his fingers. Matti: If I go too fast, I pop my tendons. Logan: Okay, you’ve done more of those than I have, so that you would know. How about rating that on a scale of difficulty from 0 to 10? Matti: 9. Logan: 9? Just those two reps right there? Okay. Matti: Because I’m trying to think not to break my fingers. I imagine being like steel… Logan: Yes, imagine your fingers snapping right before you do the exercise. Okay. So I want you to picture yourself doing that exercise. Okay, tell me what you see. Matti: I’m not finished yet. I’m just like the Shaolin monk. Logan: Okay. So you’re picturing someone else. Matti: Someone else and I’m actually putting myself in a person’s body and doing a scene from here. Logan: Okay, so this is an entirely different way of doing it, not just seeing yourself. And this is just as valid and maybe in some ways even more so. You’re basically stepping into someone who—Shaolin monks—does this sort of finger training. Okay, tell me about where do you see that image?

175

M e n ta l M u s c l e Matti: There. Logan: That high? Matti: Even higher. Logan: You weren’t looking up there. Matti: Yeah but… Logan: You were looking, about here. Matti: About here, okay. Logan: Good. How big is the image? Matti: Very big, like this room. Logan: Okay, so it was completely all-encompassing. And are you associated into that image? Matti: Yeah. Logan: Yeah? Matti: Of course. I watch movies a lot about that. Logan: Okay. So he already processes this at a really high level. That’s why he’s able to do something that, I mean can anyone else here to do that? No. It’s already at a really high level. Okay, any sound associated with that image? Matti: Yeah. Logan: Yeah?

176

T r a n s c r ip t s

of

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g D r i l l s

Matti: May sound stupid to everyone but I feel like I’m a gladiator and in the arena. Logan: The roar of the crowd? Okay. Matti: Or we’re fighting a war back in the old Asian time. Logan: Okay. All right, can you make the sound even louder? Matti: If you want me to be deaf. Yeah, I can make it louder. Logan: Make it very loud, not to the point of deafness, but very loud. Okay, and can you make that image any brighter? I mean, it’s already life-size. Matti: Yes. It can be bright. It’s already bright but it can always go brighter. Logan: Okay. What feelings do you have as you look at this image here, the roar of the crowd? Matti: Like I’m the king. [Matti rubs his hands together and smiles.] Logan: Okay, how do you feel then? If I wanted to feel like a king, how would I do it? Matti: It starts in the spine. It’s some of these tingling sensations. Logan: Okay, make those tingling sensations increase. How does that feel? Matti: Damn good. Logan: Yeah? Where’s does that feeling go? Is it just tingling… Matti: It’s spreading all over the body. Logan: Okay. So you’ve got more of a tingling here and it spreads even more throughout your body.

177

M e n ta l M u s c l e Matti: Yeah, it does. Logan: Okay, feel that even more. Hear the roar of the crowd seeing the image. He’s getting pretty intense. Chuck: Well, his skin color is changing. Logan: Yeah. Okay, that’s good. So I want you to imagine yourself out in the future. You’ve been practicing getting in this state even more like this. I know you’ve been doing plenty. You’ve been training your fingers another three months into the future. Go ahead and step forward into that. Looking at the image of the Shaolin monk training, hearing the roar of the crowd, feeling that tingling, does anything else new come up, taking that step forward? Matti: Yeah, I can feel that actually now I own the exercise more. Logan: You own the exercise? Matti: Not own it but I mean on my way to own it. Logan: Okay, what does that feel like? How do you know that you own the exercise more? Matti: It’s a state of mind because I feel more comfortable, more comfortable. I feel more like I won’t snap my fingers. Logan: Okay. But actually he’s indicating certain feelings with his gestures and all of that. Man: He’s standing up straighter, too. Logan: Yeah, he has even more of that. Okay, so this was the future, but since this was just your mind we’re playing with, we can take that all back into the present right here. Okay? Good. Notice that you can have that feeling of ownership along with it the whole time. Go ahead do a couple more. You don’t need to max out. Just do a couple.

178

T r a n s c r ip t s

of

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g D r i l l s

[Matti does 4 handstand pushups on fingertips moving much smoother] Woman: Wow. Man: Yeah. Man: Nice. Matti: I could have done more but… Logan: On a scale of 0 to 10, how difficult was that? Matti: 4 maybe a 5. Logan: And you could see the dramatic difference in doing the exercise. Thank you very much.

Visualization Technique Improvement on Muscle Ups This example comes from the No BS Strength Secrets Workshop. Here hypnosis is used to enhance the performance of muscle ups. After an intensive day of bodyweight and kettlebell training, Luis wanted to get better at the muscle up. He had performed them before but only by using lots of kip. I began by sharing some technical knowledge about using the false grip, since he needed to learn it first. After a few pointers, we moved on to hypnosis. This hypnosis is quite simple. A short relaxation period is followed by mental rehearsal, then the use of the imagination to make the move even easier. This approach is a variation of the Visualization for Strength exercise described earlier. Logan: You ever been hypnotized before?

179

M e n ta l M u s c l e Luis: No Logan: Well actually you have, just not in this manner. You get hypnotized when you drive. You get hypnotized when you watch TV. Go ahead and sit down. Okay. So on a scale of 0 to 10 how hard was that muscle up? Luis: Probably about a 7. Logan: A 7. And would you say it’s usually about there? Or was that easier once you got the technique? Luis: It was easier once I used the chalk. Logan: About a 7. Just remember that number. Go ahead and close your eyes and I want you to relax. You can just put your hands comfortably by your legs. Now just think of the muscles of your face and allow them to relax. Allow your eyes to relax. Going down, down, deeper and deeper. Allow your trapezius muscles, shoulders, arms, forearms and hands all to relax. Sinking deeper into relaxation. Allow your abdominals, all the organs inside, your heart, your lungs, everything to relax. Relax your hips, your thighs, your knees, relaxing down, down. Relaxing down, down. The loud train in the background will only serve to sink you deeper and deeper into relaxation. Deeper. Go ahead and imagine yourself at a nice calm relaxing place, like the beach for instance, if that’s relaxing for you. And you can feel the warm air. You can hear the crashing of the waves. You can taste and smell the salt water in the air. Good. In this deeper place of relaxation, your mind is calmed down. This allows you to access more of your inner power you have. You, I, and everyone knows we have much more strength than we can consciously use at any time. So we are going to do a little visualization to bring up more of that strength. Go ahead and see yourself from inside your body grabbing onto those rings with the false grip. Going to use chalk once again. Get into position. Point your pinkies towards the ground as Tyler said. You’re going to load in that position then boom, move

180

T r a n s c r ip t s

of

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g D r i l l s

quickly up into the muscle up, easier than you’ve ever done it before. Now we’re going to do it again. Lower into position. Get that false grip once again. You brace up in the pull up and make the transition smoother than you’ve ever done before. And press up in the dip until you get to the top. Now go ahead and run through this in your mind once more. Good. Now I want you to imagine yourself as if you were in Cirque du Soleil and you were doing fantastic ring tricks. The muscle up is just your setup before you do all these other things. So you effortlessly, with grace, with the crowd watching, muscle up so easily, so smoothly. Then you perform an iron cross, roll back into a maltese, all these other tricks. And it’s just easy because you are well practiced at this. You’ve done this. You’ve spent hours upon hours, many days of your lifetime to be able to perform at this high level. The muscle up is nothing. It’s easy. It’s just a simple setup for anything else you want to do. Good. Now on the count of 5 you’re going to be wide awake, feeling fine, feeling better than before, ready to do the muscle up as you’ve just rehearsed it over and over here. It’s going to be easy to do. Once, two, three, starting to come awake now, knowing that you’re easily going to be able to do this muscle up, because you’ve practiced it here over and over and over again. Four, five, eyes open, wide awake, feeling fine, feeling better than before, now let’s do a muscle up. (Luis does 3 reps in much better form.) Logan: Now he’s showing off. Have you ever done three in a row before? Luis: Yeah, but not hanging. Logan: Three in a row like that just coming back down. How was that scale of 0 to 10? That first rep? Luis: About a five.

181

M e n ta l M u s c l e Logan: Did that look different to all of you? There was a clear difference there. Group: Yeah. Luis: Yeah, I felt real light.

Anchor

for

Olympic Weightlifting

This example comes from the first Super Human Training Workshop I put together along with Bud Jeffries. First you’ll see some discussion of selecting the right exercise and anchor. This is followed by hypnotic visualization in order to set the anchor, using the process discussed in the chapter on anchoring. This wasn’t immediately followed by testing the anchor, but less than a week later Tyler reported that he set a very easy ten pound PR on his jerk, and said he could very likely have done ten more. Logan: Going to set in an anchor. Let me tell you a little story. So I set in this anchor for specifically working on skill stuff. I was working on progressions for freestanding handstand pushups. I wasn’t going full range but I think it was to four inches. And I was able to get just like one rep at a time. Then I was like oh yeah I got my anchor. I forget to use this stuff too. But the more you use it, I was like oh yeah I should practice my own mental training stuff. Then I fired the anchor, boom, three reps easy as that. Easier than doing the single rep before. Just firing that, getting into the state to do it and I was able to do it right away. So these can actually have pretty profound effects. Its not going to add 100 lb. immediately, but the more you use it the more powerful it becomes and it can really help out big time. Especially the anchors because, this stuff is good, anchors can tie this stuff all together so that its instant.

182

T r a n s c r ip t s

of

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g D r i l l s

Tyler: I can’t help but notice that the things that I have more skill in, I have more rehearsals and anchors for, and the things I’m not as skilled in, I don’t. Logan: Huh? I wonder if there is a correlation there. Tyler: I don’t know. Think about it. Logan: Okay, so for your Olympic lifting or something, do you use any anchor for that? Tyler: Like Bud (Jeffries), I have a similar breathing anchor. I breathe in, 1, 2, 3, a big inhale before I do things but I don’t have quite a polished setup routine. Logan: Well let’s do something. You want to choose locked and loaded? Tyler: No. Logan: Okay, choose something like a unique, physical motion. You can tap your wrist, cluck like a chicken. What do you want to do? Tyler: A big clap. Logan: You clap other times. If you’re at a movie and clapping all of a sudden you’ll be ready to lift. It doesn’t work. Unique. Tug on your ear lobes. Tyler: I always liked tapping on the forehead. Logan: Okay do it with the same hand. I usually do three times right in the third eye area. Okay we’re going to set that in. So tell me, do you want to work with the Olympic lifting specifically? Tyler: Yeah

183

M e n ta l M u s c l e Logan: Okay, tell me when you did a really good lift that you were happy with and your technique felt good because I know you’re big on getting the right technique. When did that feel good and you lifted a good amount of weight? Tyler: On a snatch? Never. Logan: No, this is important. For what were doing here, we’re going to take you down and revivify a state, like the lift before. If he doesn’t have one, trying to use any one of these bad times when he didn’t feel good and setting the anchor for there is setting an anchor for failure which we don’t want to do. If we’re setting anchors, and we have all sorts of unconscious ones, but we want to set positive ones that help us out. Tyler: My last split jerk PR and my last clean PR’s both felt really, really strong. Logan: Okay, we’re going to use both of those, one at a time. So go ahead and back away from the chair and close your eyes and breathe in and out. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, relaxing the top of your head. Relaxing your entire face. I really like to relax the left side of my brain and relax the right side of my brain. This would be a good drill for everyone to participate in. You can choose your own lifts and own experiences to revivify and set whatever anchor you would like to choose as we work with Tyler here. And as you just relax further down, any noises around just serve to further cause you to relax. Your entire body is loose and limp as you continue to breathe deeply. See and count the number three, three times. 3...3...3. This is physical relaxation and you know that anytime you see and count the number three, three times it becomes more powerful because that is exactly what anchors do. The more you use them the more powerful they become. Go ahead and visualize yourself in a very relaxed place. I’m sure you’ve had a good time relaxing when you were on vacation this past week or so, when you were able to completely let go and relax. Let everything, everything just relax compeltely. Both physically and mentally as you see and count the number two, three times. 2...2...2. And

184

T r a n s c r ip t s

of

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g D r i l l s

this is mental relaxation. You can return to it at anytime, even deeper, and come down faster than before as you relax further and further. See and count the number one, three times. 1...1...1. Relaxing, relaxing, relaxing, knowing that you can come to this deep level of mind any time you desire and it is so. Go ahead and touch the three fingers of your left hand to your thumb, and know that with this physical anchor you can achieve instantly, a deep level of mind and can use visualization and other skills to bring about faster skills and greater skills and greater strength. Go ahead and relax that hand. So you had a time recently when your clean felt really good. I want to see everything you did, right before the lift, getting prepared, approaching the bar, grabbing it in a specific way just like Bud talked about, and then getting set, getting ready, mentally getting yourself ready to go. Then pulling, feeling that bar just fly up and getting under it. Feeling that completely in your body, feeling the weight of the bar. Everything you’re doing, is feeling how good that is. Go ahead and drop the bar. Notice just how good, how happy you felt in that moment. Now go ahead and tap yourself in the third eye three times. Do it now. Okay and we’re going to repeat that once again. Except this time I want you to now visualize yourself doing a little more weight than before. And this time it’s going to feel just as good. And before you approach the bar you’re going to use your anchor. Go ahead and tap yourself in the third eye three times. Do it now. Now approach that bar in the state, ready, relaxed and explosively clean that weight. Do it in excellent form. Bend down, grab the bar, get set, get ready and explode. Feeling good. Coming to a stand and then dropping the weight. That feels great. Alright, we’re going to change the scene. Well you probably work out in the same place so add or subtract weight as needed for the jerk. Get ready for that. So now with the weight on the bar, see yourself having done this before, except this time we’re going to add yourself using your anchor. So see the bar there with all the weight, feel your feet on the ground. Know you’re about to lift this. You know very well because you’ve done it before. Go ahead and tap yourself in the third eye three times. And you know

185

M e n ta l M u s c l e instantly the state you need for this lift. Approach the bar. Grab it, get set, get ready, and you gotta clean it before you jerk it so clean it up into place. Tyler: I take it off of the rack. Logan: Okay, take it off of the rack. That’s good. You have it, get ready, get set, and explode upwards, getting under it. Feeling stable, feeling strong, feeling like, “Oh wow, that’s easy when I use my anchor this seems easier than before.” Knowing that I can use this many, many times. And I will continue to use it as I go forward. So now I want you to see yourself down the road, three months in the future, you’ve been working on snatches, working on cleans, working on jerks more than regularly. And also using this anchor regularly. See how much weight, see what weight can you do in three months with the clean? Tyler: 275 Logan: 275. See that 275 on the bar. And you know you’ve been working hard but this weight is even very difficult for you to do. So go ahead and fire your anchor. Go ahead and tap yourself. And approach the bar, get set, grab it, the feet in the right place, your body relaxed, ready to explode. And explode. The bar in place, the body gets in the right place and you stand up feeling good. And you go ahead and set it down and just enjoy that for one moment. And now we’re going to come up, back to an awakened state, knowing that you can use this anchor. It’s pretty late today but maybe you’ll try some out tomorrow and see how powerful it is, how good it feels to use this, knowing that you can continue to use it every time you lift, every time and make it more and more powerful. Because the more you use anchors the more powerful they become. Coming up now on the count of one to five. 1...2...the blood starts to rush back in...3...you can wiggle your fingers and toes...4...5. Eyes open wide awake, feeling fine, feeling better than before.

186

T r a n s c r ip t s

of

M e n ta l T r a i n i n g D r i l l s

Remember that you can watch the video of this hypnosis, see the anchoring in action and other details, plus all the other drills detailed here by going to the following link to grab this $200 bonus. http://www.mentalmusclebook.com/bonus/

187

M e n ta l M u s c l e

Bibliography Judd Biasiotto, 2001: A Sports Odyssey James Hadfield, The Psychology of Power Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain Change Your Body Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness L. Michael Hall, Games Slim & Fit People Play L. Michael Hall and Bob Bodenhamer, The User’s Manual for the Brain Volume 1 Robert Dilts, Tim Hallbom and Suzi Smith, Beliefs: Pathways to Health & Well-Being Steven and Joy Gurgevich, The Self-Hypnosis Diet Ted Garratt, Sporting Excellence Charles Garfield, Peak Performance Terry Orlick, Psyching for Sport Robert Nideffer, An Athletes’ Guide to Mental Training Thomas Tutko and Umberto Tosi, Sports Psyching Elmer & Alyce Green, Beyond Biofeedback Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code Andrew Salter. What is Hypnosis? Leslie M. Lecron, Self Hypnotism Leslie M. Lecron, The Complete Guide to Hypnosis Edward W.L. Smith, Not Just Pumping Iron Bruce Lipton, The Biology of Belief Dawson Church, The Genie In Your Genes Stanley Mann, Triggers Thomas Inch, On Strength George Hackenschmidt, The Way to Live Arthur Saxon, Text Book of Weightlifting Eugene Sandow, System of Physical Training George Jowett, The Key to Might and Muscle George Jowett, The Strongest Man That Ever Lived Maxick, Muscle Control Brooks Kubik, Dinosaur Training Robert Dilts and Judith Delozier, NLPU Practitioner Manual Robert Dilts and Judith Delozier, NLPU Master Practitioner Manual

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/07/31/woman-pulls-car-off-dad-performs-cpr-to-save-his-life/ http://www.castlecraig.nl/professionals/onderzoek/additional-methadone-increases-craving-heroin/ http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa013259 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18702709 http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/csa/vol26/rushall4.htm

188

M e n ta l M u s c l e

About

L

the

Author

ogan Christopher has been called a physical culture renaissance man for his work in many

different areas of fitness and strength training. While many people become experts in one specific area he seeks to master them all. As a performing strongman he has pulled an antique fire truck by his hair, juggled kettlebells that have been lit on fire, did weighted back flips, supported half a ton in a wrestler’s bridge position, and many of the more typical oldtime strongmen feats like phonebook tearing and nail bending. Being born without genetic gifts for strength he sought out the best training information to develop his strength. In addition to learning from top trainers he went outside the field of strength training. This led him into mental training and sports psychology which he has explored in depth, becoming an NLP Master Practitioner and certified hypnotist. He has studied many fields from energy medicine to Chinese tonic herbalism to help support the goals of peak performance. He is the author of many books and DVD programs to help people increase their strength, skills, health and mental performance. You can find more information at his main website, http://www.LegendaryStrength.com.

189

Get Your Ultimate Blueprint for the Attainment of Power, Functional Speed and Agility… “The first physical attribute we lose as we age is our ability to generate power. Close behind is the loss of skilled, coordinated movement. The fix is never to lose these abilities in the first place! Paul Wade’s Explosive Calisthenics is the best program for developing power and skilled movement I have seen. Just as with his previous two books, the progressions are masterful with no fancy equipment needed. Do yourself a favor and get this amazing work. This book will be the gold standard for developing bodyweight power, skill, and agility.”

—Chris Hardy, D.O. MPH, CSCS, author, Strong Medicine “Explosive Calisthenics is an absolute Treasure Map for anybody looking to tear down their body’s athletic limitations. Who doesn’t want to be able to kip to their feet from their back like a Bruce Lee? Or make a backflip look easy? Paul makes you want to put down the barbells, learn and practice these step-by-step progressions to mastering the most explosive and impressive bodyweight movements. The best part is? You can become an absolute Beast in under an hour of practice a week. Way to go, Paul! AROO!”

Explosive Calisthenics

Superhuman Power, Maximum Speed

—Joe Distefano, Spartan Race, Director of Training & Creator of the and Agility, Plus Combat-Ready Spartan SGX Certification Reflexes—Using Bodyweight-Only “Explosive Calisthenics is a masterfully constructed roadmap for the attainment of power, functional speed, and agility.”

—Patrick Roth, M.D., author of The End of Back Pain: Access Your Hidden Core to Heal Your Body “Coach Wade saved the best for last! Explosive Calisthenics is the book all diehard Convict Conditioning fans have been waiting for. There has never been anything like it until now! With his trademark blend of old-school philosophy, hardearned wisdom and in-your-face humor, Coach expands his infamous system of progressive bodyweight programming to break down the most coveted explosive moves, including the back flip, kip-up and muscle-up. If you want to know how far you can go training with just your own bodyweight, you owe it to yourself to get this book!”

—Al Kavadlo, author, Stretching Your Boundaries

Order Explosive Calisthenics www.dragondoor.com/B80

Methods By Paul “Coach” Wade #B80 $39.95 eBook $19.95 Paperback 8.5 x 11 392 pages

How Do YOU Stack Up Against These 6 Signs of a TRUE Physical Specimen? According to Paul Wade’s Convict Conditioning you earn the right to call yourself a ‘true physical specimen’ if you can perform the following: each  T LEAST one set of 5 one-arm pushups 1. A side each sets 100 of goal E side—with the ELIT ts each side— 2. AT LEAST one set of 5 one-leg squa side each 50 of sets with the ELITE goal of 2 each side— 3. AT LEAST a single one-arm pullup side each 6 with the ELITE goal of 2 sets of ight leg raises— 4. AT LEAST one set of 5 hanging stra with the ELITE goal of 2 sets of 30 e—

5. AT LEAST one stand-to-stand bridg with the ELITE goal of 2 sets of 30

? Well, how DO you stack up

C

hances are that whatever athletic level you have achieved, there are some serious gaps in your OVERALL strength program. Gaps that stop you short of being able to claim status as a truly accomplished strength athlete. The good news is that—in Convict Conditioning—Paul Wade has laid out a brilliant 6-set system of 10 progressions which allows you to master these elite levels. And you could be starting at almost any age and in almost in any condition… Paul Wade has given you the keys— ALL the keys you’ll ever need— that will open door, after door, after door for you in your quest for supreme physical excellence. Yes, it will be the hardest work you’ll ever have to do. And yes, 97% of those who pick up Convict Conditioning, frankly, won’t have the guts and the fortitude to make it. But if you make it even half-way through Paul’s Progressions, you’ll be stronger than almost anyone you encounter. Ever.

Order Convict Conditioning www.dragondoor.com/B41

Here’s just a small taste of what you’ll get with Convict Conditioning: Can you meet these 5 benchmarks of the truly powerful?... Page 1 The nature and the art of real strength… Page 2 Why mastery of progressive calisthenics is the ultimate secret for building maximum raw strength… Page 2 A dozen one-arm handstand pushups without support—anyone? Anyone?... Page 3 How to rank in a powerlifting championship—without ever training with weights… Page 4

____________

Calisthenics as a hardcore strength training technology… Page 9 Spartan “300” calisthenics at the Battle of Thermopolylae… Page 10 How to cultivate the perfect body—the Greek and Roman way… Page 10

____________

The difference between “old school” and “new school” calisthenics… Page 15 The role of prisons in preserving the older systems… Page 16 Strength training as a primary survival strategy… Page 16

____________

The 6 basic benefits of bodyweight training… Pages 22—27 Why calisthenics are the ultimate in functional training… Page 23 The value of cultivating self-movement—rather than object-movement… Page 23 The real source of strength—it’s not your muscles... Page 24

____________

One crucial reason why a lot of convicts deliberately avoid weight-training… Page 24 How to progressively

strengthen your joints over a lifetime—and even heal old joint injuries… Page 25

____________

Why “authentic” exercises like pullups are so perfect for strength and power development… Page 25 Bodyweight training for quick physique perfection… Page 26

____________

How to normalize and regulate your body fat levels—with bodyweight training only… Page 27 Why weight-training and the psychology of overeating go hand in hand… Page 27

____________

The best approach for rapidly strengthening your whole body is this… Page 30 This is the most important and revolutionary feature of Convict Conditioning…. Page 33 A jealously-guarded system for going from puny to powerful— when your life may depend on the speed of your results… Page 33

____________

The 6 “Ultimate” Master Steps—only a handful of athletes in the whole world can correctly perform them all. Can you?… Page 33 How to Forge Armor-Plated Pecs and Steel Triceps… Page 41

____________

Why the pushup is the ultimate upper body exercise—and better than the bench press… Page 41

____________

How to effectively bulletproof the vulnerable rotator cuff muscles… Page 42

Observe these 6 important rules for power-packed pushups… Page 42 How basketballs, baseballs and kissing-the-baby all translate into greater strength gains… Page 44 How to guarantee steel rod fingers… Page 45 Do you make this stupid mistake with your push ups? This is wrong, wrong, wrong!... Page 45 How to achieve 100 consecutive one-arm pushups each side… Page 64 Going Beyond the One-Arm Pushup… Pages 68—74

____________

Going up!— how to build elevator-cable thighs… Page 75 Where the real strength of an athlete lies… Page 75 Most athletic movements rely largely on this attribute… Page 76 The first thing to go as an athlete begins to age— and what you MUST protect... Page 76 THE best way to develop truly powerful, athletic legs… Page 77

____________

The phenomenon of Lombard’s Paradox—and it contributes to power-packed thighs… Page 78 Why bodyweight squats blow barbell squats away… Page 79 The enormous benefits of mastering the one-leg squat… Page 80 15 secrets to impeccable squatting—for greater power and strength… Pages 81—82

____________

Transform skinny legs into pillars of power, complete with steel cord quads, rock-hard glutes and thick, shapely calves… Page 102 How to achieve one hundred perfect consecutive one-leg squats on each leg... Page 102 Going Beyond the One-Leg Squat… Pages 106—112 How to add conditioning, speed, agility and endurance to legs that are already awesome…. Page 107

____________

How to construct a barn door back—and walk with loaded guns… Page 113 Why our culture has failed to give the pullup the respect and attention it deserves… Page 113 Benefits of the pullup—king of back exercises… Page 114 The dormant superpower for muscle growth waiting to be released if you only do this… Page 114 Why pullups are the single best exercise for building melon-sized biceps… Page 115 Why the pullup is THE safest upper back exercise… Page 115 The single most important factor to consider for your grip choice… Page 118

____________

How to earn lats that look like wings and an upper back sprouting muscles like coiled pythons… Page 138 How to be strong enough to rip a bodybuilder’s arm off in an arm wrestling match… Page 138 How to take a trip to hell—and steal a Satanic sixpack… Page 149 The 5 absolute truths that define a genuine sixpack from hell... Page 150 This is the REAL way to gain a six-pack from hell… Page 152

Order Convict Conditioning www.dragondoor.com/B41

How to choose authentic over artificial shoulder movements… Page 223 Why an understanding of instinctive human movement can help solve the shoulder pain problem… Page 224 Remove these two elements of pressing—and you will remove virtually all chronic shoulder problems… Page 225 The ultimate solution for safe, pain-free, powerful shoulders… Page 225

3 big reasons why—in prisons—leg raises have always been much more popular than sit-ups… Page 152 Why the hanging leg raise is the greatest single abdominal exercise known to man... Page 153 10 waist training secrets to help you master the hanging leg raise… Pages 154—155 How to correctly perform the greatest all-round midsection exercise in existence… Page 174

____________

____________

Going beyond the hanging straight leg raise… Page 178 Setting your sights on the most powerful midsection exercise possible—the V raise…. Page 178 How to develop abdominal muscles with enormous contractile power—and iron hip strength… Page 178

____________

How to combat-proof your spine… Page 185 Why the bridge is the most important strength-building exercise in the world… Page 185 How to train your spine—as if your life depended on it… Page 185 Why you should sell your barbell set and buy a cushioned mat instead... Page 188 How to absorb punitive strikes against your spine—and bounce back smiling… Page 188 Why lower back pain is the foremost plague of athletes the world over… Page 189

____________

Why bridging is the ultimate exercise for the spinal muscles… Page 189 The 4 signs of the perfect bridge… Page 191 How to master the bridge… Page 192 How to own a spine that feels like a steel whip... Page 193 How the bridging series will grant you an incredible combination of strength paired with flexibility… Page 216 Why bridging stands alone as a total training method that facilitates development in practically every area of fitness and health… Page 216

____________

How to look exceptionally masculine—with broad, etched, and powerful shoulders… Page 219 Those vulnerable shoulders—why they ache and the best way to avoid or fix the pain… Page 220

The mighty handstand pushup… Page 226 Using the handstand pushup to build incredibly powerful, muscularized shoulders in a short span of time… Page 225 How to strengthen the vestibular system—using handstand pushups… Page 225 8 secrets to help you perfect your all-important handstand pushup technique… Pages 228—229

____________

Discover the ultimate shoulder and arm exercise… Page 248 Going beyond the one-arm handstand pushup… Page 252 The master of this old technique will have elbows strong as titanium axles… Page 255

____________

The cast iron principles of Convict Conditioning success… Page 259 The missing “x factor” of training success… Page 259 The best ways to warm up… Page 260 How to create training momentum… Page 262

____________

How to put strength in the bank… Page 263 This is the real way to get genuine, lasting strength and power gains… Page 265 Intensity—what it is and what it isn’t… Page 265 Why “cycling” or “periodization” is unnecessary with bodyweight training… Page 266 How to make consistent progress… Page 266 5 powerful secrets for busting through your plateaus… Page 267 The nifty little secret of consolidation training… Page 268 Living by the buzzer—and the importance of regime… Page 275

Convict Conditioning

How to Bust Free of All Weakness—Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength By Paul “Coach” Wade #B41 $39.95

eBook $19.95

Paperback 8.5 x 11 320 pages 191 photos, charts and illustrations

The Experts Give High Praise to Convict Conditioning 2 “Coach Paul Wade has outdone himself. His first book Convict Conditioning is to my mind THE BEST book ever written on bodyweight conditioning. Hands down. Now, with the sequel Convict Conditioning 2, Coach Wade takes us even deeper into the subtle nuances of training with the ultimate resistance tool: our bodies. In plain English, but with an amazing understanding of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology and, go figure, psychology, Coach Wade explains very simply how to work the smaller but just as important areas of the body such as the hands and forearms, neck and calves and obliques in serious functional ways. His minimalist approach to exercise belies the complexity of his system and the deep insight into exactly how the body works and the best way to get from A to Z in the shortest time possible. I got the best advice on how to strengthen the hard-to-reach extensors of the hand right away from this exercise Master I have ever seen. It’s so simple but so completely functional I can’t believe no one else has thought of it yet. Just glad he figured it out for me. Paul teaches us how to strengthen our bodies with the simplest of movements while at the same time balancing our structures in the same way: simple exercises that work the whole body. And just as simply as he did with his first book. His novel approach to stretching and mobility training is brilliant and fresh as well as his take on recovery and healing from injury. Sprinkled throughout the entire book are too-many-tocount insights and advice from a man who has come to his knowledge the hard way and knows exactly of what he speaks. This book is, as was his first, an amazing journey into the history of physical culture disguised as a book on calisthenics. But the thing that Coach Wade does better than any before him is his

unbelievable progressions on EVERY EXERCISE and stretch! He breaks things down and tells us EXACTLY how to proceed to get to whatever level of strength and development we want. AND gives us the exact metrics we need to know when to go to the next level. Adding in completely practical and immediately useful insights into nutrition and the mindset necessary to deal not only with training but with life, makes this book a classic that will stand the test of time. Bravo Coach Wade, Bravo.” —Mark Reifkind, Master RKC, author of Mastering the HardStyle Kettlebell Swing

________________________

“I’ve been lifting weights for over 50 years and have trained in the martial arts since 1965. I’ve read voraciously on both subjects, and written dozens of magazine articles and many books on the subjects. This book and Wade’s first, Convict Conditioning, are by far the most commonsense, information-packed, and result producing I’ve read. These books will truly change your life. Paul Wade is a new and powerful voice in the strength and fitness arena, one that is commonsense, inspiring, and in your face. His approach to maximizing your body’s potential is not the same old hackneyed material you find in every book and magazine piece that pictures steroid-bloated models screaming as they curl weights. Wade’s stuff has been proven effective by hard men who don’t tolerate fluff. It will work for you, too—guaranteed. As an ex-cop, I’ve gone mano-y-mano with ex-cons that had clearly trained as Paul Wade suggests in his two Convict Conditioning books. While these guys didn’t look like steroid-fueled bodybuilders (actually, there were a couple who

Convict Conditioning 2 Advanced Prison Training Tactics for Muscle Gain, Fat Loss and Bulletproof Joints By Paul “Coach” Wade #B59 $39.95 eBook $19.95 Paperback 8.5 x 11 354 pages 261 photos, charts and illustrations

Order Convict Conditioning 2 www.dragondoor.com/B59

did), all were incredibly lean, hard and powerful. Wade blows many commonly held beliefs about conditioning, strengthening, and eating out of the water and replaces them with result-producing information that won’t cost you a dime.” —Loren W. Christensen, author of Fighting the Pain Resistant Attacker, and many other titles

________________________

“The overriding principle of Convict Conditioning 2 is ‘little equipment-big rewards’. For the athlete in the throwing and fighting arts, the section on Lateral Chain Training, Capturing the Flag, is a unique and perhaps singular approach to training the obliques and the whole family of side muscles. This section stood out to me as ground breaking and well worth the time and energy by anyone to review and attempt to complete. Literally, this is a new approach to lateral chain training that is well beyond sidebends and suitcase deadlifts. The author’s review of passive stretching reflects the experience of many of us in the field. But, his solution might be the reason I am going to recommend this work for everyone: The Trifecta. This section covers what the author calls The Functional Triad and gives a series of simple progressions to three holds that promise to oil your joints. It’s yoga for the strength athlete and supports the material one would find, for example, in Pavel’s Loaded Stretching. I didn’t expect to like this book, but I come away from it practically insisting that everyone read it. It is a strongman book mixed with yoga mixed with street smarts. I wanted to hate it, but I love it.” —Dan John, author of Don’t Let Go and co-author of Easy Strength

“Convict Conditioning is one of the most influential books I ever got my hands on. Convict Conditioning 2 took my training and outlook on the power of bodyweight training to the 10th degree—from strengthening the smallest muscles in a maximal manner, all the way to using bodyweight training as a means of healing injuries that pile up from over 22 years of aggressive lifting. I’ve used both Convict Conditioning and Convict Conditioning 2 on myself and with my athletes. Without either of these books I can easily say that these boys would not be the BEASTS they are today. Without a doubt Convict Conditioning 2 will blow you away and inspire and educate you to take bodyweight training to a whole NEW level.” —Zach Even-Esh, Underground Strength Coach

“Paul Wade’s section on developing the sides of the body in Convict Conditioning 2 is brilliant. Hardstyle!” —Pavel Tsatsouline, author of The Naked Warrior

Online Praise for Convict Conditioning 2 Best Sequel Since The Godfather 2!

If you liked CC1, you’ll love CC2

“Hands down the best addition to the material on Convict Conditioning that could possibly be put out. I already implemented the neck bridges, calf and hand training to my weekly schedule, and as soon as my handstand pushups and leg raises are fully loaded I’ll start the flags. Thank you, Coach!” — Daniel Runkel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“CC2 picks up where CC1 left off with great information about the human flag (including a version called the clutch flag, that I can actually do now), neck and forearms. I couldn’t be happier with this book.” —Justin B., Atlanta, Georgia

The progressions were again sublime

From the almost laughablysimple to realm-of-the-gods

“Never have I heard such in depth and yet easy to understand description of training and physical culture. A perfect complement to the first book although it has its own style keeping the best attributes of style from the first but developing it to something unique. The progressions were again sublime and designed for people at all levels of ability. The two books together can forge what will closely resemble superhuman strength and an incredible physique and yet the steps to get there are so simple and easy to understand.” —Ryan O., Nottingham, United Kingdom

“Convict Conditioning 2 is a great companion piece to the original Convict Conditioning. It helps to further build up the athlete and does deliver on phenomenal improvement with minimal equipment and space. The grip work is probably the superstar of the book. Second, maybe, is the attention devoted to the lateral muscles with the development of the clutch- and pressflag. Convict Conditioning 2 is more of the same - more of the systematic and methodical improvement in exercises that travel smoothly from the almost laughably-simple to realm-of-the-gods. It is a solid addition to any fitness library.” —Robert Aldrich, Chapel Hill, GA

Well worth the wait

Brilliant

“Another very interesting, and as before, opinionated book by Paul Wade. As I work through the CC1 progressions, I find it’s paying off at a steady if unspectacular rate, which suits me just fine. No training injuries worth the name, convincing gains in strength. I expect the same with CC2 which rounds off CC1 with just the kind of material I was looking for. Wade and Dragon Door deserve to be highly commended for publishing these techniques. A tremendous way to train outside of the gym ecosystem.” —V. R., Bangalore, India

“Convict Conditioning books are all the books you need in life. As Bruce Lee used to say, it’s not a daily increase but a daily decrease. Same with life. Too many things can lead you down many paths, but to have Simplicity is perfect.”—Brandon Lynch, London, England

Very Informative “Convict Conditioning 2 is more subversive training information in the same style as its original. It’s such a great complement to the original, but also solid enough on its own. The information in this book is fantastic-- a great buy! Follow this program, and you will get stronger.” —Chris B., Thunder Bay, Canada

Just as brilliant as its predecessor! “Just as brilliant as its predecessor! The new exercises add to the Big 6 in a keep-it-simple kind of way. Anyone who will put in the time with both of these masterpieces will be as strong as humanly possible. I especially liked the parts on grip work. To me, that alone was worth the price of the entire book.” —Timothy Stovall / Evansville, Indiana

Order Convict Conditioning 2 www.dragondoor.com/B59

Go Beyond Mere “Toughness”— When You Master The Art of Bar Athletics and Sculpt the Ultimate in Upper Body “Raising the Bar is very likely the most important book on strength and conditioning to be published in the last fifty years. If you only ever get your hands on one training manual in your life, make it this one. Buy it, read it, use it. This book has the power to transform you into the ultimate bar athlete.” —Paul “Coach” Wade, author of Convict Conditioning

R Raising

the Bar

The Definitive Guide to Bar Calisthenics By Al Kavadlo #B63 $39.95 eBook $19.95

aising the Bar breaks down every type of exercise you can do with a pull-up bar. From the basic two arm hang, to the mighty muscle-up, all the way to the elusive one arm pull-up, “bar master” Al Kavadlo takes you step by expert step through everything you need to do to build the chiseled frame you’ve always wanted. Whether you’re a die-hard calisthenics enthusiast or just looking to get in the best shape of your life, Raising the Bar will meet all your expectations—and then some! The message is clear: you can earn yourself a stunning upper body with just 3 basic moves and 1 super-simple, yet amazingly versatile tool.

“With Raising the Bar, Al Kavadlo has put forth the perfect primal pull-up program. Al’s progressions and demonstrations make even the most challenging exercises attainable. Anyone who is serious about pullups should read this book.”—Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint.

A Kick Ass Encyclopedia of Bodyweight Exercises

“Al Kavadlo has put together a kick ass encyclopedia of the most powerful and most commonly used bodyweight exercises amongst the various groups of bodyweight masters. From the most simple form of each exercise progressing to the most challenging form of each exercise, Al covers it. As a Coach and bodyweight training addict I loved all the variations shown.This book is far beyond just pull ups and there are countless exercises

Order Raising The Bar www.dragondoor.com/B63

And what’s even better, this 3 + 1 formula for upper body magnificence hides enough variety to keep you challenged and surging to new heights for a lifetime of cool moves and ever-tougher progressions! Cast in the “concrete jungle” of urban scaffolding and graffiti-laden, blasted walls—and sourced from iconic bar-athlete destinations like Tompkins Square Park, NYC—Raising the Bar rears up to grab you by the throat and hurl you into an inspiring new vision of what the human body can achieve. Embrace Al Kavadlo’s vision, pick up the challenge, share the Quest, follow directions— and the Holy Grail of supreme upper body fitness is yours for the taking.

for upper body and abs. Al covers what is probably EVERY exercise he knows of, uses and teaches others, breaking down proper techniques, regressions and progressions. This is HUGE for the trainers out there who do NOT know how to adapt bodyweight exercises to each individual’s fitness level. If you’re a fan of bodyweight training, between this book and Convict Conditioning you can turn your body into a deadly weapon!!!” —Zach Even-Esh, Manasquan, NJ “Al has put together the companion manual for all the crazy bar calisthenics videos that you find yourself watching over and over again—a much needed resource. Within this book is a huge volume of bar exercises that will keep your pullup workouts fresh

for years, and give you some insane goals to shoot for.”

ANNOUNCING: Announcin

Danny Kavadlo’s new book,

Diamond-Cut Abs

How to Engineer the Ultimate Six-Pack— Minimalist Methods for Maximal Results “Diamond-Cut Abs condenses decades of agonizing lessons and insight into the best book on ab-training ever written. Hands down.” —PAUL WADE, author of Convict Conditioning “Danny has done it again! Diamond-Cut Abs is a no-nonsense, results driven approach that delivers all the goods on abs. Nutrition, training and progression are all included, tattoos optional!” —ROBB WOLF, author of The Paleo Solution “There are a lot of abs books and products promising a six-pack. What sets Danny’s book apart is the realistic and reasonable first section of the book… His insights into nutrition are so simple and sound, there is a moment you wish this book was a stand alone dieting book.” —DAN JOHN, author of Never Let Go “Danny Kavadlo’s book might be titled ‘Diamond-Cut Abs’ but the truth is that it goes way BEYOND just ab training. Danny has actually created a guide to Physical Culture & LIVING healthy. The traditional fitness industry

has gone astray from what the body truly needs. Since 1989, I’ve read a ton of abs-related books—and they don’t scratch the surface of what’s inside Danny’s masterpiece. From powerful nutrition methods to training the entire body with a holistic approach, Diamond-Cut Abs is a vital addition to anyone’s library. I LOVE it!” —ZACH EVEN-ESH, author of The Encyclopedia of Underground Strength and Conditioning “As soon as I received Diamond-Cut Abs, I flipped to the table of contents. Amazingly I found what I have been fruitlessly looking for in ab books for decades: 66 pages dedicated to NUTRITION. Kavadlo passed his second Marty audition by not echoing all the bankrupt politically-correct, lock-step, mainstream nutritional commandments. When Dan starts riffing about eating like a horse, eating ample amounts of red meat, shellfish and the divine pig meat (along with all kinds any types of nutrient-dense food), I knew I had to give my first ever ab book endorsement. When he noted that he drank whiskey while getting his abs into his all time best shape, it

sealed the deal for me. Oh, and the ab exercises are excellent.” —MARTY GALLAGHER, 3-Time Powerlifting Champion, Author of The Purposeful Primitive “Danny’s new book definitely hits the mark. Diamond-Cut Abs outlines pretty much everything you’d ever need to know about building the best midsection your genetic potential allows for and without the need for any equipment. Keep up the great work, Danny!” —BJ GADDOUR, CSCS, author of Men’s Health Your Body is Your Barbell, CEO of StreamFIT.com “Danny flexes his expert advice in a way that’s solid, applicable and often entertaining. If you want the abs of your dreams, stop looking for the quick solution everyone claims to have and get ready to learn how to maximize your efforts towards your very own set of Diamond-Cut Abs.” —MIKE FITCH, creator of Global Bodyweight Training

DiamondCut Abs By Danny Kavadlo Paperback 8.5 x 11 230 pages

$39.95

eBook $19.95

Order Diamond-Cut Abs www.dragondoor.com/B77

Rings of Power

The Secrets of Successful Suspension Training— A Simple, Proven System for Building Sustainable Strength “If you care about getting strong, staying strong, and remaining injury free, Rings of Power is essential reading. I incorporated rings into my own training program a couple of years ago and am glad I did. At 45 years old, I am able to continue my strength pursuits unhindered by the joint and tendon injuries that plague many in the over-40 athletic community. I wish I had Mike Gillette’s book when I started with rings. The crystal clear instruction on techniques and progressions in this book would have saved me the countless hours of often-fruitless experimentation. Rings of Power will help you harness the power of your entire body in optimal synergy with your nervous system to greatly surpass the strength results seen with traditional isolation training, while bullet-proofing your joints and tendons against injury. The result is true, useable strength that translates to both your most demanding athletic pursuits and your daily life. This is a fantastic book for all ages, but absolutely essential for the aging athlete.” —DR. CHRIS HARDY, author of Strong Medicine “Finally—one of the great modern strength experts has taken the most powerful mass and power-building tool from pro gymnasts and ‘liberated’ this tool for the rest of us... Ring work is a very old method of total-body training, while being cutting-

edge at the same time, and Gillette is clearly a master of this art. The finest book on this topic ever published. When a legendary powerhouse like Mike Gillette dumps the bench presses and preacher curls for bodyweight methods, it’s probably time to put the usual junk techniques on hold and listen up... and when Gillette tells you that he actually gained strength and mass with his new methods while healing his old joint problems, you’d be crazy not to want to hear what he has to say. Possibly the best aspect of this book is that Gillette takes the athlete all the way from weak and shaky to insanely badassstrong with just a few technical modifications, and using a single training tool. Five stars from Paul!” —PAUL WADE, author of Convict Conditioning “Mike Gillette is one of the strongest men I’ve ever met in my life. I’ve seen him break bricks with his hands and bend iron with his neck. It thrills me to see that he’s applied his training principles, both physical and mental, to the common man, using some of the most old-school, minimalist equipment available: suspension rings. Hell Yeah, Mike! Mr. Gillette can teach more about strength training and body mechanics in one hour than many could teach in a lifetime.” —DANNY KAVADLO, author of Diamond-Cut Abs “Rings of Poweris simple and to the point. No fluff or gimmicks here. Commitment to the Basics AND Technique is the theme. If you follow through on these workouts and methods provided by Mike, you WILL build impressive strength from top to bottom.” —ZACH EVEN-ESH, author of The Encyclopedia of Underground Strength and Conditioning

Rings of Power

The Secrets of Successful Suspension Training— A Simple, Proven System for Building Sustainable Strength By Mike Gillette Paperback 8.5 x 11 • 120 pages

Book $29.95 eBook $9.95

Order Rings of Power www.dragondoor.com/B82

1 • 800 • 899 • 5111

24 HOURS A DAY • FAX ORDERTO: (866) 280-7619 ORDERING

INFORMATION

Telephone Orders For faster service you may place your orders by calling Toll Free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year. When you call, please have your credit card ready. Customer Service Questions? Please call us between 9:00am– 11:00pm EST Monday to Friday at 1-800-899-5111. Local and foreign customers call 513-346-4160 for orders and customer service

100% One-Year Risk-Free Guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with any product—we’ll be happy to give you a prompt exchange, credit, or refund, as you wish. Simply return your purchase to us, and please let us know why you were dissatisfied––it will help us to provide better products and services in the future. Shipping and handling fees are non-refundable.

Complete and mail with full payment to: Dragon Door Publications, 5 County Road B East, Suite 3, Little Canada, MN 55117 Please print clearly

Please print clearly

Sold To: Sold To: (Street address for delivery) B A Name__________________________________

Name__________________________________

Street _________________________________

Street _________________________________

City ___________________________________

City ______________________________

State _____________________ Zip ________

_____

Email_______________________________

Item #

Qty.

Item Description

Item Price

HANDLING AND SHIPPING CHARGES • NO CODS

Total Amount of Order Add (Excludes kettlebells and kettlebell kits): $00.00 to 29.99 Add $7.00 $100.00 to 129.99 Add $14.00 $30.00 to 49.99 Add $6.00 $130.00 to 169.99 Add $16.00 $50.00 to 69.99 Add $8.00 $170.00 to 199.99 Add $18.00 $70.00 to 99.99 Add $11.00 $200.00 to 299.99 Add $20.00 $300.00 and up Add $24.00

Canada and Mexico add $6.00 to US charges. All other countries, flat rate, double US Charges. See Kettlebell section for Kettlebell Shipping and handling charges.

A or B

Total

Total of Goods Shipping Charges Rush Charges Kettlebell Shipping Charges OH residents add 6.5% sales tax MN residents add 6.5%

METHOD OF PAYMENT ____Check ____M.O. ____Mastercard ____Visa ____Discover ____Amex Account No. (Please indicate all the numbers on your credit card)

EXPIRATION DATE

Day Phone: ______________________ Signature: __________________________________________ Date: _________________ NOTE: We ship best method available for your delivery address. Foreign orders are sent by air. Credit card or International M.O. only. For RUSH processing of your order, add an additional $10.00 per address. Available on money order & charge card orders only. Errors and omissions excepted. Prices subject to change without notice.

WARNING TO FOREIGN CUSTOMERS: The Customs in your country may or may not tax or otherwise charge you an additional fee for goods you receive. Dragon Door Publications is charging you only for U.S. handling and international shipping. Dragon Door Publications is in no way responsible for any additional fees levied by Customs, the carrier or any other entity.

1 • 800 • 899 • 5111

24 HOURS A DAY • FAX ORDERTO: (866) 280-7619 ORDERING

INFORMATION

Telephone Orders For faster service you may place your orders by calling Toll Free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year. When you call, please have your credit card ready. Customer Service Questions? Please call us between 9:00am– 11:00pm EST Monday to Friday at 1-800-899-5111. Local and foreign customers call 513-346-4160 for orders and customer service

100% One-Year Risk-Free Guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with any product—we’ll be happy to give you a prompt exchange, credit, or refund, as you wish. Simply return your purchase to us, and please let us know why you were dissatisfied––it will help us to provide better products and services in the future. Shipping and handling fees are non-refundable.

Complete and mail with full payment to: Dragon Door Publications, 5 County Road B East, Suite 3, Little Canada, MN 55117 Please print clearly

Please print clearly

Sold To: Sold To: (Street address for delivery) B A Name__________________________________

Name__________________________________

Street _________________________________

Street _________________________________

City ___________________________________

City ______________________________

State _____________________ Zip ________

_____

Email_______________________________

Item #

Qty.

Item Description

Item Price

HANDLING AND SHIPPING CHARGES • NO CODS

Total Amount of Order Add (Excludes kettlebells and kettlebell kits): $00.00 to 29.99 Add $7.00 $100.00 to 129.99 Add $14.00 $30.00 to 49.99 Add $6.00 $130.00 to 169.99 Add $16.00 $50.00 to 69.99 Add $8.00 $170.00 to 199.99 Add $18.00 $70.00 to 99.99 Add $11.00 $200.00 to 299.99 Add $20.00 $300.00 and up Add $24.00

Canada and Mexico add $6.00 to US charges. All other countries, flat rate, double US Charges. See Kettlebell section for Kettlebell Shipping and handling charges.

A or B

Total

Total of Goods Shipping Charges Rush Charges Kettlebell Shipping Charges OH residents add 6.5% sales tax MN residents add 6.5%

METHOD OF PAYMENT ____Check ____M.O. ____Mastercard ____Visa ____Discover ____Amex Account No. (Please indicate all the numbers on your credit card)

EXPIRATION DATE

Day Phone: ______________________ Signature: __________________________________________ Date: _________________ NOTE: We ship best method available for your delivery address. Foreign orders are sent by air. Credit card or International M.O. only. For RUSH processing of your order, add an additional $10.00 per address. Available on money order & charge card orders only. Errors and omissions excepted. Prices subject to change without notice.

WARNING TO FOREIGN CUSTOMERS: The Customs in your country may or may not tax or otherwise charge you an additional fee for goods you receive. Dragon Door Publications is charging you only for U.S. handling and international shipping. Dragon Door Publications is in no way responsible for any additional fees levied by Customs, the carrier or any other entity.