Issue #25

Stronger glutes, know your potential, play the long game, and don’t negotiate with yourself.

Read time: 3.6 minutes

Hey Warriors,

Today is a mind training edition, and we are going to make sure that part of us that controls everything else is the most efficient possible.

It’s a 3-step approach:
- Believe you can
- Accept it’s a life-long game
- Turn off the inside voice and doubts

Follow these and you should be better armed for your physical transformation.

Let’s be honest, most of the time the real reason you’re not sticking to the plan is psychological.

It’s not because you’re tired, injured, or busy.

Yes, sometimes these things happen but when you skip a workout, how often is it because you don’t feel like it?
8? 9 times out of 10?

Fix that and you can see how it will be a game changer.

Keep reading for more.

If you need any help with your training, please let me know by replying to this email and I’ll share my answer with everyone.

Now let’s start! 💪

1. Minimal equipment, maximal activation.

Here’s an often forgotten exercise that can do a lot with very little.

Side lunges are absolutely great at building stronger glutes, but also quads and hamstrings.

Since they are done on one leg at a time, bodyweight lunges are challenging enough for many people.

And for those of you who are stronger, a dumbbell will suffice.

This is why I’m saying you can get a lot of benefits from it with very minimal equipment.

Here are 2 tips for you:
1) For good form, imagine this is a normal squat, on just one leg.
2) For better activation, do all your reps on one side first and then on the other side, rather than alternating.

Click this link for the full YouTube video and instructions.

2. Know your potential.

You don’t know your potential because you were never taught how to fulfill it.

Fitness and health marketing keeps cultivating in you a fixed mindset.
A lot of businesses thrive on your own belief that you’re average and can’t change.

They want you to believe something’s wrong with you and the only way you can fix yourself is by purchasing their magic product.

This is sad because when was the last time you actually tried pushing your limits, repeatedly and consistently, for a few years in a row?

The truth is if you actually are a physically average human being, you are already capable of so much more than you think.

Socrates said it is a shame for any of us to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which our body is capable.

For you to find out, there is no magic product. Instead, there are 2 simple steps to take.

The first one is to have faith that you can achieve far more than your current unambitious fitness goals.
The second step is to start training as if you would never live long enough to reach your limits, because that’s the truth.

3. Play the long game.

Losing weight, gaining muscle, or any type of fitness progress…
None of it can last if you don’t transform your mind too.

Maybe that’s why you keep relapsing.

This is what happens when we only set short term goals and treat everything as a temporary fix.

This is what you get when you look for shortcuts and hacks, or when your plan consists mostly in depriving yourself or following a very tough program for a short time.

In other words, this is what happens when you want to earn things fast instead of looking for a sustainable way to get it.

The first thing we need to change is our mindset.
We need to accept that we are in it for a very long time, if not forever.

We must always start with our mind, because this is the only way we’ll be strong enough to continue training.
And to continue training is the only way our results will last.

4. Don’t negotiate with yourself.

You need to learn to turn off the brain as a defense mechanism against procrastination.

It’s the same cycle every time you have to do something.
You plan, you are determined, and you get excited and already proud at the idea of having done it.

But then it’s time to act, and it’s seldom a fun part.
Especially when it’s leg day.
Or maybe for you it’s cardio.

Do not start negotiating with that little voice inside your head.
It’s not reasonable, and nothing can justify canceling whatever it is you have to do.

That’s when you have to turn off your brain.
What was the plan? Do it. Do the work.
You will feel so good and proud when you turn it on again.

Not to mention you’ll be a little closer to where you want to be.

Discipline is a lot about watching our own mind, and knowing when and how to control it so that we can keep taking steps forward.

I hope you found some useful tips and motivation in today's edition.

Please share your feedback and help me improve my content for everyone!

A great way to do this is by replying to this email with a personal question you have about fitness.

Thanks for reading and see you next week!

- Nico

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