Strength Training for your mental muscles

 

Learning Fitness at the fitness academy has taught me that repeating the same exercises over and over again with the same weights and the same number of repetitions, every session for months together is not going to yield  noticeable improvements in hypertrophy or endurance . If anything, over-time your performance is going to plateau.

Yes , any exercise is good for the health after about 2 - 3 months you will notice that the monotony becomes boring and exhausting . Good Personal trainers, including the one I train with , understand this very well and incorporate techniques to avoid this monotony, into their training schedules.

Thus, I look forward to every single training session with great enthusiasm because,  I am faced with the challenge and excitement to provide the muscles of my body with an unknown stimulus . I can almost always expect that one of the following will happen:-

• The  trainer will change the exercises
•  He will increase or decrease the sets and reps 
• The weights will be increased
• Compound exercises involving different muscle groups will be incorporated
• Innovative super-sets will be created 

 I know that the possibilities for stimulating the muscles for the rest of my body are endless. But I also recognize the fact, that the all important muscle that drives my career and my life , the Brain, also needs strength training .

I have found it very easy to get anxious, bored and frustrated if I try to do the same things, the same way, every single day at work and at life. Although I should not be making drastic changes to my life style, incremental changes, as I have found have done me a world of good. These changes might have been including a new hobby or  changing my ways of doing certain things.

The brain needs exercise as much as any muscle of your body .  Time for cliche No. 1 :- "You use it , or you lose it ". It needs stimulus, strength and conditioning . It needs the influx of innovative ideas, new challenges , new knowledge , new training and new skills.

Perhaps we all  can do some  of the following to keep this fine workhorse in top shape:-

• Learn a new skill . for example playing the piano, it may unravel your hitherto hidden musical genius.
• Find an alternative route to your work . Or beat the traffic by going to the dance -class or the gym class on the way.
• Learn Latin dancing. Yes we all have left feet but we all can learn if we put our mind to it.  How about, I increase the level of embarrassment for some of my friends  even further and suggest dragging your partner with you. 
• Join a local sports club. If nothing else, kick a soccer ball with your kids.
• Get on the social media bandwagon. no better way to keep abreast with the latest news. Twitter, Facebook, linkedin, Pinterest...take your pick. Blog, comment, post something, encourage a conversation or a debate or join a debate online. Try to get your creative juices flowing.

• Do the Sudoku or the crossword. Great way to stimulate the brain cells.
• Do meditation or yoga . Flush out those bad thoughts, anxieties and ill-will and stabilize and calm your mind and your heart through mental catharsis.
• Read ! Read ! Read. anything and everything. Even if you don't like a topic read the first paragraph just to get it's essence.
• If you are a programmer, learn a new Programming language or up-skill yourself in what you know already. 
• If you are a techie , learn the soft skills .
• If you are a people leader, learn the technology. 
• Ask your manager to train you in a new skill , or if you are the boss, enroll yourself into a training course that will benefit both you and the company you work at.
• Travel to a new destination if you can. If you can't afford international travel, try going interstate. If not interstate, go intercity . If nothing else, Just go to a new street you have never been to and say hello to a stranger.
• Try to gain horizontal skills through performing different roles in the company that you work at. 
• Do some charity work or work out at a soup kitchen. nothing more fulfilling than helping the needy.

I wish I could do all of the above , but doing a lot of it has helped me immensely at work and in life.

In closing  Time for cliche N0. 2 . "I will pass this way but once, let me make the most of it ...."