10 Biggest Mistakes

in Mental Training for

Strength and Athletics

By Logan Christopher

www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Disclaimer

The exercises and advice contained within this book is for educational and entertainment
purposes only. The exercises described may be too strenuous or dangerous for some
people, and the reader should consult with a physician before engaging in any of them.

The author and publisher of this ebook are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for
any injury, which may occur through the use or misuse of the information presented here.

The application of mental training presented here is only for peak performance and not for
the cure or treatment of any disease, psychological or otherwise. Please see a qualified
professional for any medical problems or issues.

This ebook may not be reprinted, reproduced, or retransmitted in whole or part without
the express written consent of the author and publisher.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

 "Never inhibit or limit yourself by the seemingly impossible.
Place no limits upon yourself and you will have none.
Think that you're strong...and you are.”
- Joseph Greenstein, The Mighty Atom

Thanks for downloading the 10 Biggest Mistakes in Mental Training for Strength and
Athletics. In this ebook I aim to clear up some of the big misconceptions people have
when it comes to using the mind for strength, fitness and athletic goals. Along with that
you’ll learn some specific drills that will help you to use mental training the correct way.

If you’re new to my work then let me introduce myself. My name is Logan Christopher
and I am the owner of Legendary Strength. I trained at the gym like everyone else during
high school, getting programs out of the bodybuilding magazines because that was what I
was exposed to. After more research I found out that there was a lot more out there from
bodyweight exercises to kettlebells, hand strength to strongman lifts and more. I became
an avid fan reading about and training with all these tools and different methods.

I’ve been called a physical culture renaissance man because of my ability in so many
different areas of the strength and fitness world. Some of my accomplishments include
weighted backflips, pulling a firetruck by my hair, one of the best kettlebell jugglers in the
US, doing 301 kettlebell snatches with a 24kg kettlebell in 10 minutes, deadlifting more
than 500 lbs and much more.

I’d always been interested in the mental side of training. In my early days I played around
with various techniques, seeing some good results, but then not always using them. After
many years I dove into intensive study when I realized this was the one area that is more
important than any other.

Add to that the nearly complete lack of instruction by anyone else, and I took it on myself
to start spreading the word about mental training and how it can give you faster results,
regardless of what your goals are. So without further adieu let’s get started.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #1
Not Doing Any Mental Training
Unfortunately, this is the biggest mistake of them all. You might hear them say, “Mental
training, what’s that?” And if they do have an idea about it they’re likely falling into the
other traps you’ll read about here.

How can you get better at something you don’t do? You can’t.

You have to engage in using the skills that will improve your results. Two things will
happen. You will get better results and you will get better at doing the various mental
training tactics. The best part is the better you get at using mental training, the better the
results you’ll gain from it. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. You get better on two
fronts.

Unfortunately for most people physical training is just that, physical. People focus solely
on it. It’s easy to mindlessly go through your workout. And you may get some results
from doing so. Buts its only a fraction of what’s possible with the same actual work done!

People all over the world enter into a gym to get something out of it. This may be looking
better by losing fat or gaining some muscle. Perhaps they want to get stronger or be better
on the field or mat.

If this is the case for you (which I’m guessing it is) then why do you want to not use the
most powerful tool you have?

Your MIND

Yes, your mind can be a tremendous ally in your journey. But you need to learn to use it
right. If you don’t then you may get results, and you may not.

Unfortunately your mind can also be your biggest enemy and you may not even know it.
Here will be showing you the steps to get the positive use out of it and eliminate anything
negative that will slow your progress.

All I want you to do now is decide you’ll actively engage in mental training on a regular
basis. The rest of this document will give you ideas on how to do that.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #2
Thinking Mental Training is just about Mental Toughness
You need to be tough. This is the attitude of fathers, coaches and many weight trainees all
over the world. And yes toughness is important.

You need to be tough to train. Its much easier to not do anything. To sit on your couch
and eat a whole carton of ice cream. Working out will build this toughness but you also
need some to get started with it.

And with mental toughness you can go pretty far. You can train longer than your
opponents. You can train more frequently.

But even then you’re still likely to fail against someone who trains smart!

There is much more to mental training then mental toughness.

Visualizing your goals coming to fruition doesn’t take a shred of toughness, yet was found
to be almost as effective as tough actual training in a study of basketball free throws.

Using an anchor to bring about a peak state doesn’t have anything to do with toughness
(unless you want to set an anchor for being tough which would work just fine).

There will always be a category of mindless trainees who think all you have to do is work
hard. Not getting the results you want? That means you’re not working hard enough. It
couldn’t possibly be for any other reason, could it?

There are times to work hard. There are times to work pretty easy. And there’s times to
work smart (and I would say this is the one you always want to do). If you could get
better results with less work would you be interested? That’s what mental training is
about.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #3
All You Need is Concentration and Focus
This is similar to the point on mental toughness. Make no mistake, concentration and
focus are supremely important. Keeping your mind intently on the exercises at hand is very
smart thing to do.

Concentrating on doing the lift before you do it is also important. But what is
concentration? Are you staring at the weight? Are you visualizing the lift being
successfully completed? Is it better to focus on something else, like your goal, instead of
just the exercise? What’s your mind doing after the set? Where is your mind the rest of the
day?

As you can see from these questions there’s a lot more to it then ‘just concentrate’. And
again that only scratches the surface of all that’s possible with mental training.

And with some mental training tactics like anchors you can go from joking with your
buddies one second to instantly having the concentration and focus needed to set a new
max PR for yourself.

Mental toughness, concentration, and focus are what most coaches and people talk about
when they refer to mental training. This is what 90% of the already small amount of
literature on mental training for athletics is usually about. But this stuff is just child’s play
to other techniques.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #4
Only Visual Visualizing
One of the other aspects of mental training that most people are familiar with is
visualization. Again its another important technique. But few people do it. And fewer
people actually do it right.

The problem with visualization is largely its name. You see, it misleads people into
thinking its all about the pictures you see. My guess is that a primarily visual person came
up with the name. But what about a kinesthetic person?

The truth is in ‘visualization’ you must engage all the senses. Not only engage them but
bring them about to their fullest potential. Your visualization can be so vivid in detail its
just like going through reality. When you can do this then your results will sky rocket.

Or to put it bluntly if you do it wrong, then you won’t get any results. (Even worse if you
have some psychological tag-ends concerning what you’re going after, you’ll actually slow
or stop your progress.)

You remember those basketball free throws from earlier. One group actually shot free
throws. Another group just visualized shooting. And a third group was the control. The
first group improve 24% after a period of time. The second group that only visualized also
improved 23%. Almost identical results. And the control group saw no improvement.

Here’s the good news. My guess is those that visualized were probably doing it at least
partly wrong. They probably received some coaching but who knows? And they still got
great results. What happens when you can visualize with vivid imagery, feeling the bar in
your hands, the ground beneath you, hear the sound of the gym, even smell the chalk in
the air? When that happens you have something special. And what happens when you
combine visualization with actual practice? Maybe a 30-50% increase?

Here’s a short drill that will help your visual and kinesthetic sense. Close your eyes. Then
recreate exactly what it was that you were seeing. Can you spot every object including
those that were in your peripheral vision? What would they feel like if you picked them
up? Now go ahead and open your eyes. What were you missing? What details did you
have wrong? Close your eyes again bringing more vivid detail onto your mental screen.

Practice this and get it down in many instances before you try lifting weights in your mind.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #5
Not Having Concrete Goals
If you don’t have a specific goal, then you are largely wasting your time. When you have a
concrete goal with a burning desire behind it then everything you do towards that aim will
be far more effective. Just by setting the goal you’re ten times as likely to hit it.

Have you heard of SMART goals? This is an acronym that stands for five important pieces
of goal setting.

Specific

Is you goal specific? The easy question to ask yourself if will you know the exact moment
you have completed your goal? If your answer is yes, great. If its no, then your goal is not
specific, and you won’t know the proper actions to take to hit it.

Measurable

Is your goal measurable? How will you know when you are closer to your goal then you
are now? If you can measure it you can track your results. And with tracking comes
improvement.

Actionable

Is your goal actionable? Is this a goal you can take action on? Is it something that is within
your powers of control? If it is then you can do something about it and it makes a good
goal. If not, you can’t do much about it so don’t waste your time on it.

Realistic

Is your goal realistic? Is it something you can realistically accomplish? If you’re 300 lbs.
overweight and want to enter the Olympics next year, I’m sorry buddy, you don’t have a
chance, unless they make eating an Olympic sport. Whatever it is it has to be realistic to
you in your mind.

Time-Sensitive

Is you goal time-sensitive? This means does it have a deadline. When you set a deadline
you dramatically speed up the process of your achievement of that goal. Without a
deadline your achievement can just move further and further away.

These five are important and they make up five of the steps of my 17 Steps to 100% Goal
Setting Success. There are other important aspects you must deal with like Volition and
Psychological Reversals if you truly want to accomplish your goal fast.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #6
Not Engaging in Mental Training Every Step of the Way
Mental training isn’t something you should passively engage in. Nor is it something you do
every once in awhile. It should be practiced every single day. And while you’re in the gym
it should occur right along with each and every exercise you do.

From Peak Performance:

They discussed government-funded athletic programs that integrate sophisticated

mental training and vigorous physical training. One study evaluating these
intensive programs suggests their potential. Four matched groups of world-class
Soviet athletes diligently trained for many hours each week. The training
regimens were as follows:

Group I - 100 percent physical training

Group II - 75 percent physical training, 25 percent mental training
Group III - 50 percent physical training, 50 percent mental training
Group IV - 25 percent physical training, 75 percent mental training

When the four groups were compared shortly before the 1908 Winter Games in
Lake Placid, Group IV had shown significantly greater improvement than Group
III, with Groups II and I following, in that order.

In short the more mental training you do the better results you get! Of course we don’t
know the specifics of what exactly they did for physical training and mental training.
Perhaps Group I-III were overtrained. But I don’t think that accounts for everything.

There are times for specific mental training tactics. Like sitting and visualizing outside the
gym. Also you can combine tactics pre-, post-, and during workouts the entire time. The
more you do the better you’ll get.

If you want to get fast results you need to engage in mental training at least as much as
you do in actual physical training.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #7
Thinking Your Mind is Disconnected From Your Body
Science has done amazing things for us. But for many people it also has given us an
entirely mechanical outlook on the universe and life. Yet if you look at other science and
studies you’ll find how something as subtle as consciousness can effect the results of
random number generators. More and more research is coming out every year showing
how our minds, the thoughts we think, effect the world around us. Like the Baxter effect
which showed ‘anxiety’ in plants hooked up to a polygraph machine when he simply
thought about burning them.

So to believe what you think of won’t have an effect on your body is so laughable that it
should be completely discarded. You mind and body are intimately connected in both
directions.

Your physiology of your body can alter the state your mind is in. If you change how you
see things in your mind it can not only change how you feel about them but your body
may change in posture as well.

It then follows that your thoughts, visualizations and the energy of your body will surely
effect how you digest food, utilize fat stores for energy, alter hormones, and the firing of
muscles. I just read about Dr. Gates who increased the size and strength of his arm by
thought alone without any exercise!

When you’re visualizing a goal of yours where do you see it? How big is it? How bright is
it? We can play with these submodalities to enhance the image and make it more powerful.
Move your goal image in closer, make it bigger and brighter. If you’re in the image then
increase your size so that you’re 10 feet tall. This should be accompanied by a feeling of
greater confidence and power. Think this technique could be useful in lifting weights?

Remember what is vividly imagined is recorded as real in the body. The feeling you get
from being 10 feet tall in your mind will cause physiological differences in your body. Is
this going to add 100 lbs. to your squat? Not likely. But if it adds 1%, 2%, or 5% to what
you can do isn’t it worth it? And when you combine these gains over time that can add up
to over 100 lbs. on your squat or any other exercise or goal you have.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #8
Not Learning to Use the Different Levels of Your Mind

Most people are aware that we have a conscious mind and the subconscious. But many
think that the conscious mind is the one that is running the show. But really the
subconscious mind is about 100000 times more powerful.

That is where we store all our beliefs, ideas and memories. If your subconscious mind is
running a program that is in conflict with a conscious goal you want, you know who will
win out? The subconscious mind. That is why people fail at many of their goals. They have
something in the subconscious mind that holds them back.

The difficult part is that you may not even be aware of it in the least. Sometimes you are
but many times you are not. And this program that runs, like in the background of your
desktop computer, sabotages you from ever hitting your goal.

There are many techniques for changing beliefs and other programs in the subconscious
mind that are in conflict with what you consciously want. Some are slow working, others
are much faster.

Here’s one way to get started. The conscious mind works primarily on the Beta brain
wave level. And the subconscious mind works on Alpha and Theta. If you can get down to
the lower brain wave levels you’ll be able to ‘hook up’ the different levels of you mind and
you can change things in your subconscious mind.

For instance, an affirmation is basically useless when said in a Beta brain wave level. But
the same affirmation done at Alpha or Theta will be 100-1000 times as powerful and with
repetition can cause real and lasting changes.

By working with meditation, or an even faster route of hypnosis, whether by yourself self
or with someone else, you can easily get to these lower brain wave levels.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #9
Not Engaging in Shortcuts Where You Can

We’ve mentioned a bit about beliefs. This is a huge area that does need to be focused on.
Do you believe that you can become strong? Do you believe your strength goes down as
you age or after just a week’s layoff? Can you get stronger and build endurance at the
same time? Can you build muscle and shed fat at the same time? Can you lift that weight?
Are you doomed to joint pain as you get older?

These are all beliefs and there are tons more where they came from. If you had to spend
30 days to change one belief through hypnosis or just affirmations you wouldn’t get
anywhere fast. But luckily there are faster routes.

One of the fastest techniques out there comes from Energy Psychology. The results from
these techniques when you know how to properly use them can seem like magic. But you
need to be careful who you share these techniques with. A friend on mine had massive
psychological issues from being blown up several times over in Iraq. When he told the
doctors what he was doing to get better they locked him in the room because he was
“beating“ himself!

Other shortcuts include anchors. I mentioned these briefly before but they can really bring
about instant state changes useful for peak performance, relaxing and many things
between. These are being used all the time whether you know it or not.

When you do squats or deadlifts do you approach the bar the same each time. Do you get
ready and set the same each time. These are simple anchors you may already be using to
bring about focus and concentration. But what if you use them even more consciously.

I’m all about using shortcuts that are strictly beneficial where and whenever I can. In
essence mental training is a shortcut to better and faster results. And when we can make it
shorter, faster and with superior results all the better in my opinion.

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com

Mistake #10
Trying to Pave Your Own Route
I’m a bit of a lone wolf. But I’ve gotten the best results in my life when I sought out the
best to help me in anything I wanted to achieve. And for that reason I’ve enjoyed a fairly
decent degree of success in what I do.

The truth is if you try to figure out how to do everything on your own you’ll have to go
through a lot of trial and error. This means tons of wasted time. Its also wasted effort and
may at times lead you to want to quit.

Even if you do study, trying to find the few books available on mental training for athletes
you’re still going to be missing some of the pieces of the puzzle. And you’ll also miss out
on all the shortcuts available. The best mental training books for athletes are from the 80’s
and earlier. Good stuff, but we’ve learned a few more things since that time.

The other option, and best, is that you can take a proven successful path by modeling what
someone else has done. By learning from the best.

When I got serious about learning mental training I found there wasn’t much available
though I came across my current mentor, a sports psychologist, martial artists and much
more, whom I’m paying in excess of $2,000.00 each month for everything I’m learning
from him. It’s money well spent. A good part of all that I’m learning is on mental training,
that I then turn around and teach you as it applies specifically to health, fitness and
strength.

What I’ve done is put together a Mental Training Quick Start package that will get you
the best head start. In fact once you have this you’ll honestly be 99% ahead of anyone else
once it comes to mental training.

You can read the full details at:

http://www.thinkandgrowstrong.com/quickstart/

Of course I may change or pull down this offer at anytime so I would highly suggest you
check it out today.

In strength,

Logan Christopher

Copyright © 2011 Legendary Strength. www.ThinkAndGrowStrong.com