Release Your Power

Standing in front of the bar.

Weight belt wrapped snugly around my waist

Wrist wraps tightly wounded around my wrist

I stood. Thinking I was ready. Feeling like I was ready.

The rush. Oh that rush…Craving the pump, the power; the adrenaline.

I looked down at the bar and saw the long iron bar loaded with plates on each end mercilessly waiting for me to grip it and pull it up.

I set up ready to deadlift. I pulled.

Nothing.

Disappointment rippled to my hands and fingers, as I reached down to tighten them around the bar again. Still. Nothing.

It wasn’t going to budge. It just sat there. Still. Stubborn.

Cold and somewhat calculating.

Laughing at me.

And I just felt defeated.

The bar seemed so heavy tonight. What was I doing wrong?

I walked away and realized how heavy my mind was feeling;

and I felt the jolt of tension revive itself

against my skin…

Weighing me down, intruding on my lift.

I knew I needed to release the anger; the stress I had allowed to build all day long.

Focus.

It was important to focus.

I went over and tried again.

Still. It sat mocking me. Unwilling to move. My mind still not focused. But absent.

Where was I?

Anger rushed from my veins to the bar

Envision the lift not the weight of the barbell.

I closed my eyes for a brief second to allow myself to feel the lift;

capture the lift in my mind and felt the power from my body move the bar.

I heard the grunt and the sound of my breath deepening

I had it in me. It was buried deep.

I reopened my eyes walked up to the bar and lifted…it went up flawlessly….

I can always tell when I am internalizing negative energy because my performance during my training sessions suffer. There is a saying, “what you put out in the universe, you get back.”

We all experience bad days, but it’s how we choose to perceive them, internalize them, and how much we are going to allow them to feed from our energy stores.

When your mind is focused on something else; distracted by stress, worry, anxiety, it not only becomes a mental limitation, but a physical one as well.

Everything that affects you mentally recycles itself over and over again throughout your entire body, which ultimately causes your body to shut down.

When our minds are distracted by things we have no control over, we lose control of ourselves very quickly. The weight we carry around by holding onto these things becomes heavier than the burden itself.

The gym is a place to unwind; convert negative energy into something positive. But when we’re faced with stress and we hold onto it, negative energy produces nothing but leaves you feeling paralyzed and struck with fear.

If you’re carrying negative energy when you begin your workout, the barbell is going to be in control and overpower you.

When we allow a stressful event inside our minds, we are inviting all of its baggage as well; baggage we don’t have room for, and therefore will only divert us from what we are trying to accomplish; something positive.

Focusing on what upsets us, replaying the scenario over and over again in our head, to anyone that will listen sends a surge of energy that overpowers and controls the mind, and in response our bodies get overwhelmed and shut down.

Instead of focusing on what’s causing you stress; placing yourself in a vulnerable state of mind, and loading your body with all that unnecessary weight, close your eyes, take a deep breath and envision the power you have to reinforce control.

And then LIFT.