I know what you’re thinking. There’s no way that I would ever have the audacity to refer to myself as an “Academic Meathead”. After all, I’m just some airbrain Personal Trainer who lives in the gym for the majority of my waking hours playing with dumbbells (both literally and figuratively). Hell, I don’t even have a college degree! What gives me the right to call myself an academic anything? Meathead perhaps, but academic? No chance!

Well it just so happens that despite what many people may think or conceive of me, I’m more then just a snappy dresser with an amazing set of wheels. I mean seriously, have you seen my quads?!?! Even though I do spend a great deal of time working on my body, I spend an even greater deal of time working on my mind. In fact, believe it or not, I train my mind harder during my own workouts then I do training my body. As crazy as it may sound to the average gym goer, the greatest life lessons that I have ever learned when it comes to hard work, discipline and even relationships have been either in the gym or have been related to working out. Let me explain.

Like most people, when I first began training with weights I did so because I wanted to improve on my physical appearance. I didn’t like the way I felt about myself and I admired people who appeared physically stronger and more fit then me. I taught myself how to train and eat properly so that I could continue to grow and achieve results with my own physique. Along the way people started to notice how quickly my body was transforming and would ask me for advice and assistance with their own training and diets. The more people I helped the busier I became with designing training programs and diet plans for random gym members at my local gym. At one point, I became so busy that I had to actually turn people away! It was at this point that I realized I could make a career out of helping people become more fit and healthy while at the same time doing something I loved. So naturally I went to school to get my Personal Training Certification and become a Personal Trainer. And the rest is history as they say.

Except the rest wasn’t and isn’t history. My physical stature may have opened a few doors and helped me break into the fitness industry but I knew that I could not rely on that alone to make a living at training people, never mind running my own Personal Training company. I realized at a young age that my body alone could only take me so far which meant I would have to rely on my brain to take me the rest of the way. I knew how to train my body but I had to learn how to train my mind. This was a valuable lesson and one that I would not forget.

One of the questions I ask my clients from time to time is what they are thinking about during their own workouts. Some are focused solely on the workout itself, while others might be thinking about a problem at work or at home, I’ve even had a few clients tell me they’re thinking about how much of an asshole I am for giving them such hard workouts to begin with. Regardless, as a fitness professional/intellectual I’ve always found it interesting to find out what goes on through a person’s mind while they are training.

I can tell you exactly as to what goes on in my mind when I’m working out. First off, my mindset changes about an hour before my actual workout. I start visualizing upon the muscle group that I will be focusing on for that particular day. I plan out my workout ahead of time in my head so that I’m fully prepared and ready to begin as soon as I enter the gym. On my way to the weight room I may say a quick hello to a friend or a colleague but as soon as I begin my first set it’s straight to business. To many I may come off as rude or unapproachable when I’m training however this is not the case. I’m simply focused and determined to get through my workout. And for me to maintain the level of intensity needed to get through said workout requires my full undivided attention. Which brings me back to how working out trains my mind harder then it does my body.

I”m a firm believer that intense physical exercise of any sort helps builds a strong character and an even stronger mind set. I believe that almost nothing can challenge us more then taking ourselves beyond failure both physically and mentally. Yes, squatting 315lbs for 10 reps is damn hard. But doing it while doing a triple drop set is even that much damn harder. And I’m not talking physically, I’m talking strictly mentally. The thought of having to put my body through a taxing leg workout exhausts my mind more then it does my body. But once that leg workout is done I feel amazing, I feel confident and I feel that I could do anything that I set my mind to. I feed off this energy and use it to help fuel my fire for success outside of the gym.

So as much as a meathead as I may be, I’m also a brainiac when it comes to business. If I don’t know about a certain subject I force myself to learn it and relearn it until I can teach the damn thing. I rely on the mental strength that I’ve built over the years through my intense crazy workouts to get me through any and all stressful and complicated events that occur within my own life.

The benefits of exercise as we all know are endless. An obvious benefit to training with weights is that it strengthens our bodies. But a not so obvious benefit to at least me anyways was that it would help strengthen my mind set even more.

“Your strongest muscle and your biggest enemy is your mind. So train it well.”
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Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove