by Fatima Cook

What pushes you that extra mile (foot or even inch)?  Just when you feel like you have given it your absolute all...I mean dug up mojo on a cellular level...a spark is ignited...a trigger is pulled, and you are able to persevere, even transcend.  What is that “thing” that enkindles your brain to fire it up when you had, just a split second ago, felt like you had burned up every match in your matchbook...like you couldn’t possibly go any harder or any longer?  

Gregg does this thing in his classes where in the last 10-30 seconds he asks you to consider doing more....going faster, harder, stronger.  He gives you about 15 seconds to decide whether you will maintain your current level of exertion or elevate it.  I have to say that in most cases, I feel like I am already struggling uncomfortably, on the brink of ceasing and desisting.  Yet I make the split second decision to find more.  Oftentimes I look around the room once the effort is over and see that many others have done the same.  Where does that last burst come from?  Before he says whatever it is he says, you were ready to kick it.  Somehow you are able to launch yourself to the next level for those last 10 seconds.  Again I ask, what is that?  It works every single time.  A great coach/trainer can do this for you.  This is why we pay exuberant amounts of money for our trainers, classes and gym memberships.  This is why we work out with others or compete in events.  Motivation.  I mean really good motivation.  The kind that feels like we did it ourselves.  The kind that feels unforced, not guilt-driven.  Can we bottle that, please?

Anyway, the bottom line is that we have...we are, so much more then we first can see.  Once we are able to get past that belief, or block, we can achieve so much more.  There are ways we can do this for ourselves (ultimately, we must meet Gregg’s motivation with our own, but that is the topic for another day).  Here are my humble few thoughts on the matter, most taken from Gregg.

 Find a word that signifies something to you.  It doesn’t even need to be one word.  It can be a phrase.  It can even be the name of someone you either love to death and would do anything for, or someone you are insanely competitive with.  When you find yourself looking for an excuse to back off, repeat that word to yourself over and over again or see that person in front of you.  Let it motivate you to go a bit further....3 seconds longer, 2 mph faster, 1% harder...

Timing is everything.  As the saying goes, the enemy you know is much better then the one you don’t.  You can’t push yourself harder endlessly.  You just can’t.  Can you most likely do it for 10 seconds, maybe 15, maybe even 30?  Yes.  Give yourself time slots to work within.

Timing is everything.  Gregg only allows us 10-15 seconds to “decide” to go for it or not.  He doesn’t go on and on about it for hours, even minutes.  Don’t give yourself the time to back out of it.  As Nike so succinctly puts it, “Just do it”.

Believe and let go.  Change your mind into actually believing you can and “just do it”(great tagline, Nike).  Your mind is your greatest friend and your biggest enemy, depending on how you use it.  Don’t entertain the idea that you may not, cannot.  Know that you are going to try and try.  Just that, is already success.

The reality of it all is that this translates with perfection to all things in life.  Your physical training can be life training.  In anything you do, your work, your children, your husband/wife, family, etc...believe you are limitless, and you will break barriers you never thought possible.