Instructor: Everyone grabs a Press weight!
Participant: What are we going to do then?
This is so recognizable to people who are new to the principles during a Trojan Workout. Trojan Workout teaches you to get stronger physically and mentally. We use Mental Power Principles to do this.
Accept reality is one of our principles. What we mean by that is that we learn to accept everything that life throws at us and can act from that attitude. How? By directing your inner world. And that’s, for example, by not resisting life’s surprises, and keep show up, all the time. Just like before your workout.
At the start of a Trojan Workout, you always do a short metal check-in. That’s what we call MEIS. MEIS stands for mental effort intensity scale. So how much effort you can do mentally. And on that you determine the intensity at the start of the workout. In the case of kettlebell exercises, that includes the weight of the kettlebell.
Why is that mental strength? Because first and foremost, you learn how you are in the moment. With a check-in, you learn to feel how you are really doing. With what’s going on in your world today, you just can’t feel good and happy all the time. What you can do is pay extra attention to your experiences in a structured way. And secondly, you learn to act with self-respect from that feeling. Which in turn also makes you stronger mentally.
Important; It should never be the training schedule or instructor that determines how heavy you train. You decide! If you are really into it, then your kettlebell weight is a little higher. Have you had a bad day, been in a traffic jam, hassle at work, fight with someone close to you, and you are bothered by that, then you pack a lower weight. But you do train. And you respect your own limits.
With this we immediately challenge the myth that mental training in a workout is about always going as hard as possible and always pushing your limits. It is much more important that you learn to respect your limits. A Trojan Workout is tough and requires your full attention. But even then, you remain in control.
So the next time the instructor asks you to grab a Swing weight at the start of your class, check in with yourself and grab the weight that suits your MEIS of that moment and start in the mental Trojan Pose. Whatever exercises are being done that class!