If you’ve come to one of our classes before, then you would have probably heard me say “PUSH TO FAILURE”. This is ingrained in our training philosophy because of one main ideology - stimulus equals adaptation. If you’re trying to make your body stronger (ie. adapt), then you need to apply a stimulus (ie. training) that is strong enough so that the body can hear it and then make the necessary improvements to build up.
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“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” In the Information Age, the unique skill that will determine your success is your ability to stay focused. But there are just so many distractions and temptations trying to steal your attention. Temptations exist in all forms and they always derail you from your long-term goals. They may come in the form of a chocolate cake, or a cold beer, a WeChat group
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Last blog we talked about how willpower is a construct of the mind. If you believe it is capped, then you have just capped yourself. On the other hand, if you don’t believe there is a willpower limit, then you will continue to do things that are good for you and for your future. This trains your dorsal striatum to side more with your prefrontal cortex of your brain - the logical side. This blog
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Continuing from last week’s blog on why it’s so hard to go to the gym, we explore the topic of willpower. As mentioned last week, the ego depletion theory has been challenged numerous times to the point now where I no longer believe it to be true. I must admit, that at one point I did believe in it. It made sense and had some studies done by psychologists that support the theory. But
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We all want to have the six-pack abs or the round firm butt. We all want to feel healthy and have more energy and be more focused at work. If only intention alone, was enough to get the the results we wanted, life would be so much easier. Unfortunately, we don’t do what is good for us; we do what is easy. So even if you know what to do in the gym, or you
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It is inevitable that we will all encounter some hardships in our lives. Even Buddhist philosophy claims that life is suffering in the Four Noble Truths. Sometimes, life gets a little harder and other times life can get a lot harder. What is certain is that you will undoubtedly experience many more hardships to come. And they come in many different forms. It can come from voluntary means like choosing to eat the healthier meal
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Are you mindful? Recently, there has been a huge focus on the word mindfulness. Why is it such a big deal? Is it really that useful or is it just another one of those hippie, healthy fads from California that will come and go? Here’s Olive Branch’s take on mindfulness. It’s a superpower. Except that it isn’t a modern thing. It’s been around for ages as described in the earliest literatures of Buddhism, which existed
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With less than a week to go before the the debut of Tough Mudder in China, Team Olive Branch is ready to take to the obstacle course and test what they’re made of. It’s only fitting that this week’s blog post be centered around being ‘tough’. So what does it mean to be tough anyways? From Merriam-Webster Dictionary: physically and emotionally strong : able to do hard work, to deal with harsh conditions, etc. Sounds
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The Psychology of High Intensity Training Following my previous blog entry on Attitude, I am continuing on this theme of the mental aspect of training by writing this blog post on the psychology of high intensity training. Notice, I am specific here in that I’m only talking about high intensity training and not other forms of training as the psychology involved in high intensity training is different than say doing a 100km trail hike
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