Strengthen us with Your Power

10 Simple Exercises That Will Strengthen Your Willpower!

When testing if willpower could be strengthened, researchers asked a group of participants to work on their posture for a 2-week period. Every time they caught themselves slouching, they were to correct themselves by sitting up straight. This simple practice vastly improved their perseverance on various willpower tests this one. [2]

To get started, simply correct your posture every time you catch yourself slouching at work or at home. It sounds extremely simple, but it takes willpower to sit up straight. Every time you do, you’re essentially doing “one rep” with your willpower muscle.

3. Keep a Food Diary

The same study also found that those who kept a food diary improved their willpower. Most of us don’t log all of the food we eat, so it takes willpower to keep track of it all. Any similar logging of information will also work, but I recommend a food diary because of all of its benefits listed here. [2]

To get started, I recommend downloading the MyFitnessPal App. It’s a simple food diary app that has a huge database of foods and nutrition information. Just keep the diary for 2 weeks, and it will increase your ability to resist temptations!

4. Use Your Opposite Hand

Using the same methodology as with posture, researchers conducted further studies that tested other corrective actions. One that worked particularly well was to use your opposite hand. Your brain is wired to use your dominant hand, so it takes willpower to use the opposite. [3]

To get started, select a chunk of the day to use your opposite hand. It doesn’t need to be any more than an hour in order to get results. And from personal experience, if you aim for more than an hour, you will unnecessarily tire out your willpower muscle.

5. Correct Your Speech

Another test that the researchers conducted was to change subjects’ natural speech. This includes resisting the urge to use swear words, or to say “hello” instead of “hey”. Again, it takes willpower to consciously go against your instincts. It doesn’t matter how you correct your speech, as long as you change your natural speech habits. [3]

To get started, select a chunk of the day to practice and choose the words you will change. Personally, I tried not using contractions (using “do not” instead of “don’t”, etc.) during work hours and it worked very well. all exercises listed above, doing this for just 2 weeks can vastly improve your willpower!

6. Create and Meet Self-imposed Deadlines

Anyone who remembers their college days, remembers what it was cramming for a test or doing a last minute paper. Your willpower gets taxed as you try to tune out distractions and become hyper-productive. Using this same principle, researchers found that by creating self-imposed deadlines you can work your willpower in the same way.

To get started, simply pick a task on your to-do list that you may have been putting off. Set a deadline for accomplishing it, and make sure you adhere to it. The participants who followed this process for 2 weeks not only got their old to-dos done, but also improved their diets, exercised more, and cut back on cigarettes and alcohol. [3] 

7. Keep Track of Your Spending

In the same way most of us don’t track the food that we eat, many of us don’t track our spending either. Even if you don’t cut back on spending – which would also be a willpower workout – researchers found that simply keeping track of where your money went will improve your willpower. [4] 

To get stated, check out this budgeting 101 guide which will help you get on top of your finances. You can also try using a budgeting app Mint. Mint can connect to your bank account, credit cards, etc. and automatically track your purchases. By simply reviewing this on a regular basis, you will see increases in your focus and ability to resist unrelated temptations sweets.

8. Squeeze a Handgrip

For the truly determined who want to increase their perseverance, you can squeeze a handgrip until exhaustion. If you’ve ever squeezed one before, you know that it gives you a deep forearm burn. So it takes willpower to keep squeezing. [5]

To get started, simply get a handgrip this one, and squeeze it with each hand until you’re exhausted. Willing yourself to continue squeezing even when it hurts will increase your perseverance on other challenging tasks.

9. Carry Around Something Tempting

Again, for the truly determined out there, you can increase your ability to say “no” by carrying around something tempting with you all day.

Researchers tried this with participants by teaching them how to resist cravings, then giving them a Hershey’s Kiss to carry around with them.

To get started, first learn how to resist a craving. This will be hard, so your will want to know how to deal with the craving. Then carry something small but tempting with you. It doesn’t need to be for an entire day, but for long enough that you will be truly tempted. By consistently saying “no”, you will increase your ability to resist other temptations and ignore distractions!

10. Be More Mindful of Your Automatic Decisions

A final exercise is to simply be more mindful of your decisions throughout the day. We are often so lost in thought, that our actions become automatic. Taking time to think about why you are making your daily decisions will increase your ability to focus and resist temptations. [3]

Источник: //www.willpowered.co/learn/strengthen-your-willpower

Bible Verses About Having Strength During Hard Times

A week or so ago I put together a massive post with well over a hundred bible verses about money and talked about how we need to make sure that we always put God first in our lives before money – and everything else.

We can easily allow money to become our master, and God can quickly move to the background if we’re not careful.

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matthew 6:24

One thing that occurred to me in the midst of listing all those verses, however, is that I never really touched on a topic that seems to be especially important right now in the midst of a double dip recession when so many people are having a hard time.  The idea of looking to God for strength in the midst of hard times.

Bible Verses About Strength

Today I decided to bring together some encouraging and challenging verses talking about how and where we need to find strength in the midst of turbulent times. I hope you find them uplifting as well.

Where Do We Find Strength?

Where do we find our strength? In the Lord our God!

Psalm 46:1-3 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.

Nehemiah 8:10 Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Exodus 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him—  my father’s God, and I will exalt him!

Psalm 9:9-10 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Psalm 34:10b Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Isaiah 26: 3-4 Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace—because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock.

1 Chronicles 16:11  Seek the LORD and his strength;  seek his presence continually!

Psalm 32:7-8 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Exodus 33:14 My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

Deuteronomy 31:8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Psalm 34:17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles.

Isaiah 30:15 In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.

Don’t Worry Or Fear, Find Your Strength In Him

It can be so easy to give into worry, fear and despair, but with Him we can find strength, and look forward to wonderful things.  He gives us hope!

Isaiah 43:1-3 Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord you God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Luke 12:25-26 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life[a]? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

Philippians 4:6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 27: 1-3 The LORD is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me,it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear;though war break out against me,even then I will be confident.

Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Psalm 145: 18-19 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Isaiah 12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

God Gives Us A Spirit Of Strength And Power

Through faith in Christ we are given a spirit of power, love and discipline, and for that reason we have nothing to fear.  We can hold onto his promises and be confident that he’ll see us through even the darkest of days.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Psalm 138:3 When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.

Psalm 16:8 I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Psalm 62:1-2 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Psalm 112: 1, 7-8 Praise the Lord! Happy are those who fear the Lord. They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord. Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid.

Psalm 91:1-2 You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust.”

Psalm 112: 1, 7-8 Praise the Lord! Happy are those who fear the Lord. They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord. Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid.

Hard Times May Come, But He’s There With Us Through Them All

Though we aren’t promised an easy life, we are told that Christ will be there with us when we believe in Him, that he won’t give us more than we can handle with His help,  and even our hard times can be used to glorify God.

2 Corinthians 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Philippians 4: 12-13 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation . . . . I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

1 Peter 5: 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Hebrews 4:16 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Deuteronomy 31:6,8 Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.

 Strength In Christ Our Lord And Savior

As the verses above illustrate, we’re told to call on Jesus Christ, and that he will hear us and give us strength, hope and a grace sufficient to carry us through.  He will be our ever present help when we’re in need, and he can give us a peace that passes all understanding.  For me that’s extremely encouraging.

How about you?  Do you have any favorite bible verses about strength, and where you can find it? Did one of the verses above stick out more than the others for you?  Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

Want to find more verses on Strength in the Bible and don’t have your own? Get a free Bible.

Источник: //www.biblemoneymatters.com/bible-verses-about-having-strength-during-hard-times/

A Symphony of Strength: Discover Your Power to Come Back Stronger

Inner strength is a powerful and intelligent force of calmness, emotional composure, and focus. It is not a harsh or abrasive energy that hits out at life’s cuts and curveballs, but runs gently a river of resilience through our veins.

Our inner strength is sculpted from the ashes of every struggle and painful arrow to our hearts.

We augment our inner strength by trusting in everything that we have stored within: a karmic bind to the strength of our soul which rises ever beautiful from the flames of failure and the darkness of despair.

Inner strength says, I do not fear the fall, for I know I shall rise, I do not deny the failure, for I know I can overcome, I do not pray for an easy tide of life, for I know I have been built to rise above each tumultuous wave. Inner strength speaks an eloquence that burns through the fire with a deeper vision that sees far beyond the flames.

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.

– Albert Camus

We are all uniquely carved with every inner tool and measure of fortitude we will need to accelerate past challenges and become stronger. We all have our own internal symphony of strength — a great rhapsody of hope and endurance.

The mountains before us are meant to be climbed, and our winters of woe inspire the wellsprings of renewal that allow us to surmount the arduous hills.

What resides within is our inner power to advance with resolve, embracing our strength of patience and adaptability to charge a way forward when all may seem lost.

Inner strength writes the story of our strategy, with pages of courage that outweigh the force, depth or gravity of anything extrinsic.

When we dig deep to the threshold of our inner strength we begin to unravel the might of our mental, emotional, and spiritual dynamism, valor and nerve.

Our hero within says that no matter what goes on around us, what we have inside is far more rugged, cognizant and impermeable. A hero knows how to hold on a little while longer to come back that much stronger.

Acceptance and accountability

Acceptance looks a passive state, but in reality it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness.

– Eckhart Tolle

Acceptance of any situation places the power to change it in our own hands. When we act, we do so from a place of acceptance and accountability, with a door opened wide to engage in new perspectives and purpose. The humility to accept rests on the bed of our deeper intelligence.

It takes great bravery and grit to embrace and yield to a tough circumstance in order to shape a way through it. Acceptance surveys and quantifies a situation with emotional insight and mental clarity.

Through acceptance we can seek the conscious calm away from the storm. We arm ourselves with the potential to stretch out our thoughts and feelings and to be supremely guided by the power and persuasion of our intuition and higher thinking. Understanding our propensity to adapt initiates us to make good and gain from impactful trials and challenges.

When we wrestle with life’s hits, greater obstacles are erected on our path and we make poor decisions as we fight from fear rather than from faith. Yet when we accept our struggles, we claim back our innate capacity to surpass them.

In doing so, we navigate to a place of humility; we expand our heart-space as we implicitly trust our infinite resources to see us through.

A symphony of strength

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser- focus.

– Bruce Lee

Obstacles and challenges allow us to feed into our visceral strength. We often get stuck in the rigidity of circumstance and lose sight of our lionhearted poise and the sound of our inner voice. Yet when we move away from our perceived limits and fears, we can transcend them.

Nothing is ever fixed or set in stone; failures and dark times are garnered by the same tokens of nature’s impermanence. Just as we transition from the cold nights of winter to welcome in the warmer hues of spring, we are gifted to trace a new trajectory to evolve through tough times.

We can remember that a self-assured warrior sits within us all — we hear the wise echoes that resound in the vitality of our strong and stubborn hearts.

When we focus on that energy that we have forged within, we materialize a higher vision of hope and steady self-belief. We can use every circumstance to inspire an inner engine of perseverance and passion.

We should not allow the voice of fear to breed mistrust — trust compels our hearts to kindle so we become our own worthy heroes.

Coming back stronger

If you’re an underdog, if you don’t fit in, if you’re not as pretty as the others, you can still be a hero.

– Steve Guttenberg

Stories of underdogs that win against all odds nourish our hearts with hope.

These are the people that no one believed in; the ones who were betrayed and bruised yet never gave in to naysayers or dark intentions.

Underdogs teach us that the comeback is far greater than the setback, and that what hits us can also bless us with an electric artillery of muscle and stamina that allows us to go the distance.

The push of anything external cannot contend with the weight of what lives within. The shape of the underdog, the dark horse, or the total long-shot is conjured by their own design of persistence and endurance.

We can learn so much from the beauty of the underdog, but most of all we can learn to trust ourselves to come back stronger — no matter what.

Believe in your symphony of strength

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.

– Christopher Reeve

Life is never meant to break us. For much of the time we only scratch the surface of our inner resources. There is so much more to delve into. We can indulge in rather than deny our challenges, knowing that we always have the amplitude to gather our greatness through them. The symphony of our strength is as loud as a lion’s roar, yet as subtle as the purr of a pussycat.

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Источник: //www.goalcast.com/2017/10/04/symphony-strength-discover-your-inner-powercome-back-stronger/

3 Ways to Become a More Powerful Swimmer

Power. The very word conjures up an overwhelming sense of speed, of inevitability, of conquering the competition and the pool. Here is how to become a more powerful swimmer in the water.

When we watch the top swimmers in our sport we see an almost effortless technique.

But we also see a chlorinated ton of torque and power, from their kicking motion off the walls, the distance they explode off the blocks, the white torrent closing speed they finish their races with.

While they exude a measure of technical proficiency, make no mistake, the swimmers we seek to emulate have a massive deal of power in the water.

There are a ton of training aids out there that are designed to help you specifically with becoming a more powerful swimmer.

From hand paddles, to stretch chords, to drag suits, to swimmer’s fins, and so on and so forth, there is no shortage of different forms of swimming equipment to play with that is designed to help you level up your brute strength in the pool.

Below I outlined three ways that you can achieve your goal of becoming a more powerful swimmer.

This little list is by no means comprehensive, and I limited it to the pieces of swimming gear that a swimmer can use completely on their own as well as within a team or group setting (not all solo swimmers are going to have access to a Power Tower, for instance).

Why Swimmers Should Train for Power in the Water

There are two main reasons that I adding resistance in these specific ways:

First, the weak spots in your stroke will become apparently pretty quickly. What happens when we add load to our swimming is that it magnifies what we are doing in the water.

Left hand not catching as much in the water? You’ll quickly notice the hiccup in the elasticity of the stretch chord. Not swimming with a balanced stroke? Same thing.

Your breaststroke kick not contributing propulsion? You’ll notice in a hurry.

And secondly, you can maintain proper range of motion and technique. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, especially when technique starts to falter.

In a recent article I wrote on the benefits of training with a drag suit researchers found that training with them for extended bouts of time changed technique and reduced distance per stroke, which is not what we are going for.

We want perfect technique, first, and then to load it up to the point of failure.

3 Ways to Improve Your Power in the Water

Here are three different ways that you can incorporate resistance training in your next practice, and how to make the most of your time spent developing brute strength swimming power:

1. Swimming with a band

For straight, sheer upper body strength this cannot be beat.

While most swimmers lean on their pull buoy to build upper body endurance and strength, it does come with it’s share of drawbacks.

While it can help build general upper body endurance (without your legs sucking up precious oxygen you can also pull longer than you would be able to swim), it’s not great for power.

After all, you can only really get your tempo up so high. On the other hand, the band around your ankles forces you to come to grips with developing a stronger, more powerful pulling motion.

Swimming with a band will also have your stroke become more balanced, your high elbow catch improves, and your stroke tempo increases.

All three things are absolutely essential for developing a faster freestyle, especially you sprinters.

Training tips:

• If you’ve never used an ankle band before, start off using a pull buoy and graduate to dropping the pull buoy.
• Do short distances with lots of rest to start out with. If you aren’t doing it with proper technique stop and rest.
• If you are currently on the DL with a brutal case of swimmer’s shoulder, do not try swimming with just a band around your ankle until you heal up and/or fix the technical issues that led to injury in the first place. Swimming with a band around your ankles is brutal on your shoulders.

2. Swimming or kicking with DragSox

I kick. A lot. I often spend half of my workouts on my kickboard.

There are lots of reasons why I doing heaps and heaps of kick sets, not the least of which is that I hate having my stroke fall apart towards the end of my races (as short as they may be), and to be honest, having a fast dolphin or freestyle kick is simply kind of awesome.

While I love using my swim fins to the point that I get gnarly blisters on my feet, I prefer using DragSox in order to build up the power in my legs.

They are my favorite for building crushing leg power. I have talked about why both in a post I did covering gifts for competitive swimmers, as well as in this essential swimming gear guide.

I’ll save you a click by reiterating why here again.

• They give you full range of motion. Power comes from loading the movement you want to improve. With a proper pair of DragSox (they come with various degrees of difficulty) the range of motion and even the tempo should match up to your regular swimming. It’ll be harder, but that is the point!
• Improves feel for the water. The moment you take off the DragSox and perform a high intensity swim you will feel as though you were fired a cannon. I guess it’s something to do with an improved feel for the water, but it’s a feeling that you will want to experience for yourself.
• Endlessly versatile. I lean on my DragSox for vertical kick work, particularly when the local lap swim is too crowded. Or I will combo them with fins to really get the lactate churning in my legs. I will do sprint swim and sprint kick work with them on. Options are endless!

3. Resistance tubing

In this case we aren’t talking about the type of stretch chords that you lasso around the flag pole, slip your hands into, bend over at the waist, and then wail away on. (Even though these do have their purpose.)

Nope, I am talking about the much funner kind—the type which you knot up one end to the starting block, and then buckle the other around your waist and swim out against it.

Research that we detailed in another post that talked about whether resistance training improved 50m sprinting performance. In that particular study, elite swimmers trained with resistance tubing twice a week, for 12-weeks.

The athletes swam against the chord, which was tied up to a starting block, and also getting speed-assist training by being pulled back by the tubing.

At the end of the 12-weeks the swimmers improved speed over a 50m versus the poor control group swimmers, who performed the regular workouts without the tube work.

There is one thing you will really notice when swimming against a stretch chord, and it’s something that is very hard to replicate otherwise…

Training with the tubing for short bursts followed by high rest ends up serving a powerhouse double-whammy; you get high value power work in while ingraining efficient body position into your swimming.

Final Note: Contrast Your Power Work with Speed for Max Effect

The research mentioned earlier in the stretch chord section found that resistance training works best when you alternate it with speed boost sets.

In other words, don’t just pound out rep after rep of loaded sprinting—add some full swim sprinting, or swimming with fins, or with the resistance tubing—to get even more from your resistance training.

The speed-boost work will teach your body how to swim fastest with less effort more efficiently, which, when we think about it, is precisely the point of all of this!

More Stuff This:

36 Ultimate Swimming Workouts for Competitive Swimmers. Need some inspiration for your next workout? We got all you can handle and more with workouts from Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and much, much more.

Источник: //www.yourswimlog.com/power-training-for-swimmers/