From childhood we are programed to be cautious and not push it too hard out of fear of injury. Our parents say things like, "Don't climb too high, you might fall." or "If you try that, you might get hurt." Now obviously they are doing this out of love and concern, however, not realizing that those little brains are taking this all in. This is programming that we end up carrying in our brains for the rest of our lives.
So we can't blame this all on our parents...........Our brains are actually hardwired to protect us! To put it in simple terms, when we stub our toe, our brain sends signals down to our toe to say, "Ouch that hurt!" Our brain then remembers what it feels like to be hurt and it tries to protect us. We end up living in protective mode for much of our lives, unless we bring awareness to the impact that our brain really has and getting out of our comfort zone!
The next time you do your workout and you don't feel like pushing it harder or switching it up ask yourself.....
"Am I really at risk of injury if I add 5 more push ups? Will I be unable to walk if I add 10 more squats?" Or......
Is my brain just trying to protect me by telling me I can't do any more?" My guess is, you will find that you are more than capable of ramping things up if you start ignoring all of those pre-programed thoughts.
Try a little bit of reprogramming by practicing mantras like, "By pushing harder I will get better, stronger and faster." "I am in control of how my body responds to my workouts." Or, "It hurts so good!" LOL!
It's my belief that our brains control 99% of everything we do. If you want to keep getting results from your workouts tell that brain that YOU ROCK!!!!