Don’t believe that simply changing the way
you think can have a big impact on your life or your accomplishments?
It’s a somewhat abstract concept to think
that just being more positive or more driven can attract more good things to
you, or that focusing more on the good in your life can make you happier.
So how about a demonstration to show just how powerful the mind is? What if the brain could make you considerably stronger, simply if you change the way you think?
Introducing Hysterical Strength
Hysterical strength is a term used to describe historical examples of people tapping into incredible physical power. The most common story is that of mothers who have to rescue their children from being trapped under cars or some other heavy object. In these scenarios, the mothers call upon some kind of superhuman strength and manage to physically move the cars out the way. How can this be possible?
While this has never been proven, there
actually is a good scientific explanation for how it might work and some
evidence to support it.
That’s because we normally are only capable
of accessing around 30%-50% of our muscle fiber. When exercising or going about
our normal routines, we can’t use 100% of our strength because we would risk
injuring our ligaments or exhausting ourselves. You can see this when someone
gets an electrical shock – this causes the muscles to contract to their fullest which is enough to throw the
individual right across the room!
But under times of incredible stress or in
life-and-death scenarios, it might just be that the brain is able to tap into
those hidden depths. This would work because of the release of stress hormones
like cortisol, adrenaline and perhaps other neurotransmitters such as
acetylcholine. Together, these could improve communication across the
neuromuscular junction, thereby recruiting a greater number of muscle fibers
and allowing the individual to access their ‘full’ strength.
Putting it Into Action
In theory then, you could gain more
strength simply by imagining your family trapped under a car. If you could really believe it, then you might be
able to access hidden strength enough to break your records in the gym.
But there are easier ways according to the
research. That’s because yelling at the top of your voice just so happens to
trigger a small stress response and studies demonstrate that this is enough to
allow you to gain a little more strength during lifts! Talk about mind over
matter...
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