Reading to Relax

For me I need intensity and focus in the Gym, especially the last 3 - 4 weeks of the prep as it comes into crunch time, when calories are at a lowest, energy levels can be lacking but we need to be pushing harder and harder.

So when I'm not in the gym I need to be relaxing my body, but not my mind. I believe in keeping the mind working, but relaxing the stress it is working under. So I read books. Lots of Books.

Between January 20th and April 26th I read 21 books. For my Show Prep for WABBA Ireland (August 11th - November 1st) I read a further 19 books. Including a lot of Shakespeare plays, Macbeth, the Tempest, 12th night and Julius Caesar. Dante's Divine Comedy and Homer's Odyssey as well as a lot of other fiction and historical fiction. 

For me reading is a great way to relax and take my mind of the stress of a show prep when I'm not training or working. And it also helps take your mind away from any stupid craving you may develop as your sugar levels are lowered, because unlike when you are watching tv, your mind is less likely to wonder when reading a book, especially if it interests you. Other people play video games and stuff like that and I do as well, but not as much.

In the words of Socrates “The mind is everything, what you think is what you become.”

Keep dreaming, keep working and never give up.