Relax Already!

Stay relaxed. Be calm.

A couple years ago I began to notice the best workouts I had were the ones when I was "tired" before I started. The workouts when I had to really force myself to get started. It finally dawned on me. It's a principle from various martial arts and also wrestling, which is where I first learned it.

A relaxed state is more powerful than a stressed state.

When you are relaxed you can react faster, stronger and with more accuracy than if you were all wound up.

Make a fist, and tense your arm as hard as you can. Now punch your other hand as fast as you can.

Okay, now make a loose relaxed fist, relax your arm and hit that other hand again. Feel how much faster that was?

This principle makes it way into all physical and mental activities. Be calm. Focus, then do. In competition, all other things being equal, the relaxed athlete will win.

I began to incorporate this in my regular non-combative exercise. I put myself in a calm state before I begin, no matter how hard what I was about to do was. And I always performed better than if I got myself "all pumped up."

Give this a try. Before you exercise hard, do some deep breathing, calm down and tell yourself, 'I'm going to do this now, and that's that, no need getting all worked up about it." Then begin. You'll notice how much better you feel during and after the workout.

Stay calm people!

Train smart,

RL