Clear and Present Focus

There we were: 20 fitness professionals in a warm room on a Sunday morning, about to spend 8 hours together learning about how to be better coaches. It was hot, it was pouring rain and the energy level was a low. Completely pretending I was still in college, I had been out with friends the night before and went to bed at 12:30AM only to be woken up at 5AM by Bama. So it was a little rough. Which is why the way we started the day was so cool and I thought I’d share it with you.

Dr. Lisa Lewis, one of our two presenters that day, took us through a mental preparation exercise before diving into the information. Although this was meant to center ourselves for the next few hours, I thought it could be a brilliant way to get mentally checked in before heading into a workout.

Imagine you are about to exercise. But, not matter whether you love it or don’t, you might just be feeling a little scattered. How do you mentally prepare yourself for the task at hand?

Try this.

Mental preparation before workouts

Create intention: 

• Why am I here, anyway?

• Currently, how much of your mind pie chart is taken up by things (your laundry list, the project you need to finish at work, how annoyed you are that your dog only let you sleep for 4.5 hours)

• What do I want to have gained when I leave here?

• Go back to your pie chart: Time to clear space out to focus on the here and now

• Take mental inventory again

Clear space

• Decide you are going to set your thoughts aside for the next selected amount of time

• Shift focus to the here and now

Wake up and be ready

• What is your current energy level (1-10)?

• What can you do to adjust your energy, even just a little bit?

  • Doing jumping jacks?

  • Taking deep, energizing breaths?

  • Drinking a tall glass of water? Or a tall glass of espresso (don’t judge)?

Prepare yourself and surroundings

• Is your body prepared?

• Is your thinking prepared?

• Are your feelings prepared?

• If you answered no to the above, what can you do — nothing is too small — to inch you closer to a yes?

When we’re bombarded by information and images and different forms of media all of the time, it’s no wonder that even the most focused of us can feel like Jackson Pollocks sometimes. So I hope that this exercise helps to center you and get more out of your tasks — like your workout! — at  hand.

Let me know if you have any questions and if you want to follow Dr. Lewis, you can find her here and here. And if you want to laugh as you learn about exercise, you can find Tony here! (And if you’re not already following me on Instagram, do so here and here for crying out loud!)