Can you think yourself thin?

Our guest writer is Kristy Thomson! Kristy is a personal trainer at Les Mills Christchurch and has been a competitive figure competitor for almost 10 years. She gained her pro card in 2010 and is competing at her Pro debut at the IFBB Australian Grand Prix in March '11.

You can find out more about Kristy at www.kristythomson.co.nz, in the meantime read what she has to say about using your brain power to conquer your body.

Can you really think yourself fitter?

If you pretend you have confidence in your ability, that self-created illusion will generate the chemical signatures of those feelings inside your body. I have always believed it is very important to have that mind and body connection. With all the bodybuilding shows I have competed in, I have always done a lot of positive self-talk.

Sometimes, no matter how hard you train, how many different programmes you try or how many personal trainers you hire, you just can't reach your goals. It's a frustrating experience, and it's where sports psychology can help. By examining your mental processes (both conscious and unconscious), a good sports psychology book can help you develop and use techniques that retrain your mind. With the right mindset and the ability to stop emotions interfering with your training, you'll be amazed at what you can achieve.

A great book to read is John Kehoe’s "Mind Power". It teaches you how your mind can play tricks on you. We have two parts of the mind, the "inner mind” and the "outer mind". For example, while driving the car, in your outer mind you are thinking about driving the car, but in your inner mind you are thinking of the conversation you had on the phone to your friend yesterday. The book teaches you how to switch your mind to thinking about just one thought. This is very important in weight training and also in weight loss.

A great book to read is John Kehoe’s "Mind Power". It teaches you how your mind can play tricks on you. We have two parts of the mind, the "inner mind” and the "outer mind". For example, while driving the car, in your outer mind you are thinking about driving the car, but in your inner mind you are thinking of the conversation you had on the phone to your friend yesterday. The book teaches you how to switch your mind to thinking about just one thought. This is very important in weight training and also in weight loss.

	A lot of people put themselves down by telling themselves they are fat or no good, or think things like "I’m sick of being fat and I will never lose this weight”. This is not a great way to think and really ruins things for you. Instead I always teach my clients positive self talk and believing in yourself, by doing this it will lead to positive actions.
For example “I am lean, fit and toned” is a great one, even though you might think “look at me I’m overweight”, you must realise that I believe you can be leaner, fitter etc and you must to.

The book also covers visualization - what is this? This is where you use your imagination to see yourself as the goal you want, for example if you are a size 16 seeing yourself as a size 12. Often people can’t do this, so instead you can visualize someone else who is round that size.

I Just want to finish off by saying I think its very important to stay positive, you may not at the start but sooner or later you will find that it will start to work and all your actions will lead to your goals.

Kristy Thomson
10 Feb 11

Check out Kristy's website: www.kristythomson.co.nz

Can you think yourself thin?

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