Though a Sunday morning, I woke at my typical 3 something. While I was green lighted to work out, I stopped to listen to my body. This listening to cues is a new skillset I'm developing to move away from my more active hammer through scenarios ideology. As you might expect, mindfulness contributes to its development—for that matter, just reminding myself to breathe better breaths yields returns.

While I'm fully on board on clearing out the clutter with mindfulness, I'm also practicing visualization with an experiment of pullups. You see, back when I was at 208 lbs, although I could get at least halfway through, I could never reach the top. Therefore, I'm putting the mental reps in to see if when I drop back down to 208, if I'll be able to do a complete pull up. Multiple even? It's based on research:

NCBI: From Mental Power to Muscle Power-Gaining Strength by Using the Mind

It's a small study, but, it kind of makes sense. What makes muscle: the brain directs responses to a workout. Sports behavior being shaped by pre-game visualization is not a new thing; I practiced my Taekwondo patterns in my head all the time. While not actively pursued for gains, even when I taught English, it wasn't ALL off-the-cuff segues into the diminutive lives of gnomes, there was prep work in a spatial context, too.

And I don't have to apply it to just things I can't do, but, if I run through a program in my head before I actually do it, there's support for greater success:

NCBI: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Motor Imagery Combined With Structured Progressive Circuit Class Therapy on Gait in Stroke Survivors

While I consider the tools of performance optimization, sleep plays a critical role. In the past, I've felt I only required 4 hours of sleep, but, I preferred 6 hours to reach equilibrium. Now, I'm not so sure...I'm studying and considering all of the metabolic processes and correlations that occur with greater sleep. So in that context, after this morning's mindfulness session that went on into 4 AM, I just went back to sleep.

And yet, there's nothing wrong with having a 3 something template (until I can study it further anyway); however there's value in having the ability to slam the TQM button on my assembly line with a well-timed audible. I love this line from Battlestar Galactica: "So what's your plan here? Personally, I tend to go with what you know. 'Til something better turns up." There's no room to float in the fluid space of indecision.