Strength: Physically Mentally

You are in the final portion of a grueling mid summer marathon, the last water station was a mile ago, but it seems like a marathon away in itself, and the finish lines seems twice the distance. You have ran this this distance a dozens of times in the past and thousands of times in your mind. You start to think one more step but each step seems harder and your becoming frustrated. Do you want to quit? you could walk off right now and no one would blame you, look how far you've gone and how great you did. You would probably get a pat on the back for the effort.

You Quit... and say yourself, i will do better next time. 

I am going to provide 5 stages of preparation that you can apply to anything, and will help you succeed in fitness, challenges and life in general.

Step 1: Being physically ready: If you were going to climb a mountain, would you use a stepper machine for the distance you would be doing to get to the top of the mountain? Or, would you climb smaller mountains to get used to the climb you will be facing in the future. This may seem intuitive, but the fact that you KNOW you can complete the task ahead of you due to training leads us to the next step.

Step 2: Mental readiness: I will start this off with a quote from a brilliant and amazing man. "Do not fear the man who practices 1000 different kicks but fear the man who practices the same one kick 1000 times." - Bruce Lee. Practicing what is ahead of many times mentally prepares you to be victorious in what ever you put your mind too.

Step 3: Controlling your Emotions: Don't let your emotions get in the way of victory. If you see someone running slightly faster than you and pass you while running. Do not try to match their pace, hold steady and keep a cool head. This applies to any competitive sport.

Step 4: Using your intuition: I face this anytime i am pushing my limits. While running a night time half marathon i started to feel a pain in my leg. From countless runs i knew that this pain is due to my form slipping into the undesirable area from fatigue. Change your stride and continue on and the pain will subside and you lose no time. compared to someone who will feel pain, won't know how to handle it and quit. This step is the hardest to grasp and takes plenty of time and training to conquer your predispositions.

Step 5: Putting your heart into it: When times get tough, and you know what has to be done. Use what ever strength you have left and get it done. Failure is always an option while training, however, failure in the line of battle is not an option. And if you don't feel like finishing the race, or going the extra distance while in a lifting competition because it might be hard. This means you failed yourself somewhere along the line of training.



Using these steps and the motivational advice from the previous post. Motivation Post . You are in the right step to controlling your life a bit more. Don't accept excuses anymore. The day i decide that it's okay to give up will be the day i am dead.

Workout

Pushups for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Do this for 8 rounds. (4 minute workout)

Rest 1 minute

Situps for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Do this for 8 rounds. 

Rest 1 minute

Air Squats for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Do this for 8 rounds. 

This is known as a tabata and they are amazing. The workout will take you 14 minutes total (including built in rest), so be sure to give it your all.