Your mind builds strength

[Andy62]

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1211472&pageNo=0#1211752

[kungpow]

what a great article. thanks andy.

[Andy62]

Science is starting to confirm ancient knowledge.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i keep willing for my penus to get bigger and it never happens.

[Andy62]

So does your girlfriend. Incedentially it is spelled "*****' not "penus". Before you can use it you first have to know how to spell it.

[stricker]

always good info on t-nation although it is a bit full on hahaha

good point about science and ancient knowledge. ive had two very different people tell me about the healing power of the mind this week. both from almost opposite extremes, one a tough as nails thai boxer the other a soft force wing chun guy said almost word for word the EXACT same thing !!!

ps im getting that pic blown up into a poster :D

[Andy62]

That is a great picture isn't it?

[Ford Prefect]

This is really old news to the sports psychology folks. I wasn't aware of to the exact science behind it as I never had the curiousity to look, but I have seen many case studies like the one he was referring to with the pinky finger.

When I was heavily into powerlifting and olympic lifting, I used to have at least one 15-30 minute meditation session each day where I would just keep imagining myself putting up PR's and being stuck under a weight but battling through it. I'm not sure if it Dave Tate told me about this or if he had written an article about it.

When I was competing other sports like basketball and baseball, coaches would always tell me to visualize yourself succeeding every night before you go to bed... making your pitches, hitting that jumper, etc. My mother, who is a cancer survivor despite being told she only had a few more years to live (now over 12 years ago and testing completely cancer-free), used to tell me about the visualization exercises she used to go through.

I think there really is a lot to this and that the power of the human mind remains relatively untapped. If you are serious about succeeding in your lifts or sport, give it a try. Amusingly enough I ALWAYS fell asleep about 5-10 minutes into it for about the first month. I think that was because I always it did it right after I came home from work and was wiped. :)

[JohnnyMnemonic]

I think these people are irresponsible. They have tunnel vision. They focus on inconsequential things so much that they miss the obvious.

Part of learning kung fu is to be observant, to listen to what you hear, and most importantly, to keep your eyes and your mind open, curious and critical.

The man in the article talks about this and that. He accompanies the article with some pictures. Each of those pictures demonstrates a person who is not healthy. Why would someone want to listen to the advice of a person who uses pictures of unhealthy people as examples for the validity of his claims?

The first picture is of a woman. The picture is tilted sideways. You are a kung fu man. You have a brain. Why is the picture tilted? Was the camera broken? Did the tripod only have two legs? Was the woman standing on an incline? Why is the picture tilted?

Why is the woman's left arm bent? Her right arm is held straight. Why isn't her left arm held straight? Just because? You are supposed to be a kung fu man. You should be able to describe in detail what is happening with this woman to cause her to hold her left arm bent like that.


The second picture is a triple picture of a human body with the circulatory, the nervous system and I think some organs within the body. Examine the pictures. Don't just glance at them. Don't focus on what the people want you to focus on. The circulatory, the nervous or the organ system. Look at the body itself. What do you see?

You should notice that the sides of the torso are not even. One has a dip or depression in it while the other side is relatively straight. Why is this? Is it normal for people to have two uneven sides to their torso?


The next picture is Dr Evil doing his famous "pinky to the mouth" gesture. You are a kung fu man. Why does he make that gesture? Because it is part of his character? Because it is funny? Does that gesture indicate anything to you about the state of his body? If you are observant, you can see it right in the picture.


The next picture is of a guy with large calves. Do you believe that is normal? Do yo u beleive that is healthy or good for the man? As a kung fu man, you should have your own authoritative opinion about the picture.

Martial arts tell us the body is divided into Yin and Yang. Yin is soft and Yang is hard. The body and most everything else in the universe should be balanced. Does that man look balanced to you? It looks like he is very strongly Yang. Those hard muscles could be classified as Yang.

Common sense tells us that if the Yang is very big or strong, the Yin must be weak or small. Is that healthy for the long life of a human being?


The final picture is of a man who has lifted weights for a long time and has become very strong. If you look at the picture, he looks strong everywhere. If you are an observant kung fu man you should see something more. You should see obvious signs that his body is imbalanced.


Nothing happens by coincidence. There is an explanation for everything. This man who is focusing on the nervous system inside of the body is missing all of these hints to the condition of the body that are plainly obvious from the outside.

If he overlooks or ignores obvious poor health signs on the outside of a person's body, is it really wise to trust what he says about what is going on the inside of the person's body?

[JohnnyMnemonic]

Your body and brain are inextricably intertwined in a physical way. A strong mind and a strong body is not just a wise saying. There are concrete physical ways in which the entire body is related to and influences the brain.

The brain is not an isolated object sitting in the skull. The brain is not like an ice cube floating in a glass of liquid.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

some people lift weights and some people lift crack pipes.

in the end its all the same.

[unkokusai]

The brain is not an isolated object sitting in the skull. The brain is not like an ice cube floating in a glass of liquid.


In your case it's like it doesn't exist at all!

[Andy62]

If you can look at the woman in that picture and all that you see is the position of her arm- you have a problem friend.

[IronFist]

some people lift weights and some people lift crack pipes.

in the end its all the same.

qft.

123456

[Andy62]

I don't think so.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

spelled "*****' not "penus".

apparently your not a fan of borat. i'll not fault you for it.

[Andy62]

I think that it all comes down to what Dr. Maxwell Maltz said in his great book "Psychocybernetics:"

" Experimental and clinical psychologists have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the human nervous system cannot tell the difference between an 'actual' experience and an experience imagined vividly and in detail."

[Mr Punch]

Johnny M MUST be taking the p!ss! :D

And BTW, she's standing on a slant because her left breast hasn't been suckled yet today.


" Experimental and clinical psychologists have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the human nervous system cannot tell the difference between an 'actual' experience and an experience imagined vividly and in detail."No probs with the article, but I disagree with anything that explicitly states the bolded bit above.

[Andy62]

But by now it is a proven scientific fact.