The ”I Don’t Wanna” Zone
One of the phrases I hear most often as a trainer is ”I can’t”. Even as clients are doing the exercises, even when they’ve done it before, even when it’s clear that they CAN, those two words can’t help but make their way out. ”I can’t”. The problem with these words is that they’re self-fulfilling. When we tell ourselves we ”can’t”, we often ”won’t”.
Your mind will often tell you to stop long before your body needs to: I call it the ”I don’t wanna” zone (often confused with ”I can’t”). Even if you don’t wanna, you often CAN, and training past the ”I don’t wanna” zone as often as possible will get you results faster (and help you break a plateau). Past the sea of ”it burns” and ”this is hard” is an extra 2-5 reps that you didn’t know you could do! And THAT’S where the work counts the most.
When your mind starts telling you ”I don’t wanna”, TELL YOURSELF YOU CAN. Convince yourself that those last few reps are possible, do-able, and just within your reach. You won’t know your limits until you test them!Your body WILL tell you you when you get to the ”I can’t” zone. Don’t let your head tell you first. :)
