Balance the Imbalance – Part VII: Positive Image
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Written by: Mark Allen
Over the next few days Mark Allen will explain the best way to balance the task of maintaining a high level at your strongest sport, while also improving in your weaker sports. In this edition, Allen explains the benefits of simply replacing negative statements with positive ones.
Just because you may not have been proficient in a specific sport in the past doesn’t mean that you can never become good at it. Make a shift in self-image. Replace negative statements with positive ones. Replace “I can’t run like a runner” with “I can run like a runner.” Also tell yourself, “I can swim in even the roughest water. I can cut through the wind and still be strong on the bike.” Whatever you may have believed that you were not, it’s time to put that in the Dumpster and become comfortable with a new and more positive experience of your abilities. Take the time to reinforce your belief in your abilities over and over again. Old habits die hard, so it will most likely take more than one day of telling yourself that you can run strong through the entire race for it to become who you are on a consistent basis. Thought precedes form. Right now is the moment to begin making that shift and start the transformation from weakness to proficiency.
The second part of having a positive self-image is having an idea in your mind of what someone looks like who is extremely proficient at the sport that you are trying to improve in the most. The easiest way to do this is to watch footage of events where the world’s best are competing. It could be a world championship or the Olympics. It might be a marathon or the Tour de France. Look at how the best in the world move through space. Imagine how it feels to do what they are doing. Look at it with that part of you that is aware of your body’s orientation in space. Imprint it in your brain. Then, when you are out there training in that sport, replicate their movements with your body. See them, but feel your body doing what they do in the way they do it. It doesn’t matter if you are going as fast, but you should begin to feel their motion inside you.
Next up, Allen explains why not going all out in your strongest sport can benefit your weaker sports.
Mark Allen is the six-time winner of the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii and is available for speaking engagements worldwide. For further information about Mark’s speaking availability, please call 1-800-994-5306. Based in Santa Cruz, Calif., Mark has a state-of-the-art online triathlon-training program at www.markallenonline.com. In addition, Mark co-teaches a workshop titled Fit Soul, Fit Body with Brant Secunda, a shaman, healer and ceremonial leader in the Huichol Indian tradition. They have recently released a book by this same name that you can find at bookstores near you or on Amazon.com (Fit Soul, Fit Body-9 Keys to a Healthier, Happier You).