Weekly Mental Fitness Workouts

January 15th - January 21st

Welcome back & Welcome in,

Before we get to the workouts, I invite you to try a quick activity:

• Set a 1-minute timer on your phone

• Your goal is to be in the present moment.

• For the next minute, simply count the number of thoughts that pop into your head

Give it a try!

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Exercise #1: Acceptance —> 3 days x 2 songs

How many thoughts showed up for you in the opening activity?

It is extremely difficult not to have a thought pop in your head, let alone 20. Sometimes, we even grab onto our thoughts and spiral with them. When we try to control these thoughts by telling ourselves not to think of them, we immediately think of whatever it is that we told ourselves not to think of.

Training our brains is not about trying to limit the thoughts from happening, it is about trying to get better at accepting our thoughts, allowing them to happen, and refocusing back on the present moment.

The Exercise: Mindful Music

1. The Set Up:

   1. Pick a Song or Instrumental of your choice

   2. Pick one part of the song to focus on (Drums, Guitar, Vocals, etc.)

2. The Task:

   1. For the whole song, attempt to only listen to the part you chose.

3. The Goal:

   1. Every time you lose focus, allow the distraction to happen, accept it, and refocus back on the task. Train yourself to accept distractions instead of trying to control them.

“Although it is tempting to do so, you can’t just think that you understand how to be mindful and save using it for only those moments when the big events hit. They contain so much power they will overwhelm you instantly, along with all your romantic ideas about equanimity and knowing how to be mindful. Meditation practice is the slow, disciplined work of digging trenches” - Jon Kabat-Zinn

Exercise #2: Gratitude Training —> 5 days this week

Spending more time on positive emotions and aspects of your life that you are grateful for allows you to unlock more of these experiences.

The Exercise:

1. The Set Up:

   1. Choose a space where you will practice gratitude. (a journal, notes app on your phone, piece of paper, etc.)

   2. Place it in an obvious location that will prompt completion of the exercise

2. The Task:

   1. Write down 3 things that you are grateful for. I encourage you to try to go deeper under the surface and pick less obvious things.

   2. Write down your happy hour for the day. What moment are you looking forward to the most or brought you joy?

3. The Goal:

   1. Recognize positive emotions & experiences and enhance the opportunity for them to happen again.

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Exercise #3: Stress Training —> 3 days x 5 minutes

The Exercise: Measured Breathing (4 inhale-1 hold-7 exhale)

1. The Set Up:

   1. Download this breath pacer to support you in this practice

   2. Make for when you want to breathe 3 days this week and put it into your calendar/schedule.

2. The Task:

   1. Get in a comfortable position, start the breathing pacer for measured breathing, and follow along for 5 minutes

3. The Goal:

   1. Destress and experience a state of relaxation. You deserve it!

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I hope you have a great week of training!

As a reminder, if you are interested in testing out a new software that will deliver personalized mental fitness workouts to you at no cost, please reach out to me at ryan@rgfperformance.com. Alongside these personalized mental fitness workouts, you will receive a free live session of training.

Be Easy,

Ryan