The Power of Mind

Dawn McDaniel at her Revelation Fitness 'After' Shoot
Dawn lost 17 lbs in 12 weeks

The other day I was doing a workout with the guys and I had a Revelation about the power of the mind.

Let me set the stage.

Two guys, one gal (me) doing the workout.

Whoever finished last had to be the first to run 400 m with a sandbag on his shoulders. The second-place finisher was next, and so on.

I was neck-and-neck with one of the guys about halfway through the workout and it became clear it would be a battle to the end.

Here is where my head went.

"No one will fault you if you lose. These are guys. You are a girl."
"They don't know that you didn't sleep well last night."
"They don't know that you didn't get your coffee this morning."

And on and on.

Excuses. The devil. Negative voices.

But here's the funny thing about excuses.

We all 'know' what our own 'problems / limitations' are. "I have kids." "I have a job." "I have debt." "I have a slow metabolism."

But do we know everyone else's?

Back to the workout.

Here's the problem with the "I'm a chic so of course they'll beat me" excuse: the box I was jumping on was a good 6 inches shorter than the guys' boxes, and I am as tall as both of the other two. Secondly, the guys' chinups were chest-to-bar; my chin was barely grazing the bar on most of mine.

I was able to look around the gym and immediately counter my own perceived limitations that day. But do we do that in life??

Clients always tell me, "it's because..." (I'm busy, I have a job, the economy, I'm trying, I think I'm just meant to be fat, I'm hungry, I can't live without carbs....). But do they see what the others are going through?

Do I?

I'm a woman it's harder, I run a business by myself, I'm naturally curvy, so-and-so did such-and-such, it's hard to workout so much when you're in your car all day, and on and on and on.

How often do I stop to ask others' perceived limitations - and find out if the box I have to jump on is in fact 6 inches shorter than theirs?

Had I given into negative thinking that day I could have lost. No one would have faulted me. The status quo would have remained the status quo.

Negativity begets more of the same.

Let me break from that workout here to make a tangential point (I will return to it in a moment).

Gold's Gym's declaration of August as "Cankles Awareness Month" is to me a classic example of negative, inappropriate thinking. (I also find it someone sexist and derogatory towards women).

Whereas I stand fully behind In-Home Training & Crossfit - both of which we offer at Revelation Fitness - as positive, empowering approaches (I CAN lift heavy things and run fast and eat paleo vs. I must workout like a hamster on a treadmill so that I don't have cankles) I have declared:

AUGUST
IN-HOME TRAINING / CROSSFIT AWARENESS MONTH

Join the federation of trainers & individuals who are effecting positive change - for women, men, and pretty ankles all across the world.

And as for the workout that day?

I won.

By a single box jump.