“Is it true what they say, if you don’t use it you lose it?” This is one of my favorite lines from Steve Carell’s character in “The 40 Year Old Virgin”. It’s a question so applicable to our daily lives, even though in the movie he was looked at as in idiot for asking.
We often don’t realize so much of our existence relies on us using certain faculties mentally and physically to maintain life. Where we tend to fall short is on the ones that help us improve the ability for ourselves to function mentally and physically. Many people believe 3 to 4 hours a week of concentrated exercise is enough to stay healthy or even improve our health. Those people are partially right, along with those who turn themselves off mentally and go through their normal habits before and after work to alleviate stress from ongoing decision-making. This is where people actually start to lose it since they’re not using it. Get where I’m going?
Physical improvement doesn’t just end at the gym, and extends further than your nutrition as well. If you’re physically trying to better yourself for long-term health, you need to have a concentrated effort all day long. A concentrated effort in how you sit, stand, hold posture, walk and perform your basic functions before you really start to make strides in all areas.
The same goes for your mental development as well. We can mask our mental training in many forms in games, activities, studying interesting topics but it isn’t until you have practical application of these skills that you see results. It’s true that everyone needs a hobby, but I find it truer that everyone needs MANY hobbies. Hobbies that challenge memory, challenge organization, mechanical mind-ness, and some physical principles, among many other things, including one of the most beneficial: willpower.
We have to understand willpower is one of the strongest tools we can have as our mind will often fail before our bodies will, but like Arnold says, “we must train our minds to work for us, not against.” Willpower spills over into our physical preparedness., it gets us into the gym after a long day at work, it allows us to make smart decisions when we are tired and most vulnerable. The things we do when we are exhausted show our true strength, so if you don’t exercise your willpower and go into autopilot, you can be certain that your losing it. You’re losing the battle for your health as well as your personal strength.
During my time off from exercising I spent a lot of time almost meditating about exercising. I went 9 months just about without being able to workout, but I would find myself thinking about doing deadlifts, squats, bench press, pull ups, clean and jerks, snatches and others. After all that time off, when I did make it back into the gym I actually found myself doing each of these with even better form. Was I weaker? Yes, but all that concentrated effort mentally made a difference. I would envision myself doing each exercise with a specific tempo, effort to maintain posture as well as form and it worked. It actually helped my mind-muscle connection even though my nervous system is weaker and can’t send as strong of impulses to my muscles, and it’s possible I may never quite get my strength back because of the damage that was done. In the end I developed a better feel for my body through that concentrated effort mentally, but there is research to support this as well.
There was a controlled study of 2 groups. One group went to the gym and exercised 3 to 4 times a week, and the other spent an equivalent amount of time meditating on exercise for the same amount of time, and each group showed an increase of work capacity over a 4 week period, even though only one group actually exercised. Pretty interesting how much our mind can do right?
But there are other things we can do, and we must remember that. Play some games, do Sudoku or put together a puzzle. Challenge your memory and decision-making skills. Did you know a study showed that people who play a couple of hours of First Person Shooter games showed better decision-making skills as well as manual dexterity? All these tasks become more difficult and frustrating when you’re exhausted, but I urge you to try this. When you’re tired, keep yourself from getting emotionally distracted or discouraged, and use that last bit of energy to concentrate on being successful at what you’re doing. You’ll find your ability to focus stronger, and decision-making under exhaustion better.
My challenge to you is to use it before you lose it. Remember when you’re tired that you can still be strong, all it takes is a concentrated effort to do so and you’ll be rewarding yourself by establishing good habits.
triumfitco 