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Geoff, Bodybuilding mental blocks - case study 2.

Geoff was a Bodybuilder who came to me for advice on why he was able to build nearly every muscle group in his body, but large pectorals (chest) muscles still continued to elude him. There can be many obstacles to growth in bodybuilding and natural ability is only a part of it. Some people are just born with genetic advantages, advantages in upbringing, and social conditioning. Some athletes have a higher amount of muscle fibres in certain muscle groups compared to others, making it easier to build that group of muscle. However this is no reason why an individual cannot build their muscles to the maximum that their body will allow. I do not believe in the notion that one is stuck with genetic advantage / disadvantages, there are too many examples of amazing people who have overcome such setbacks and broken through these boundaries.
I believe we can amount to almost anything that we desire. Some have to work harder for results than others, but this only makes it more rewarding when success is achieved. All humans are capable of the same actions, as long as they create the mindsets that they need to accomplish that goal.
Geoff's problem I discovered went back all his bodybuilding life. He was a late developer as a teenager and always regarded himself as smaller in physical size than his peers. Even though he grew far larger than his peers in his later teens and went onto become a not insignificant bodybuilder this self-image stuck in the back of his mind. His chest was developed, but not in comparison to his other muscle groups. In bodybuilding symmetry this is exceedingly important to the athlete and when one muscle group lags behind it can result in much anxiety.
Geoff and I went about correcting this mental block of his. We worked on the notion that now he had grown-up and become an adult, it meant that he was now capable of increasing his chest muscles to coincide with his self-image. In this programme we set about a routine of self-hypnosis so that Geoff could continue to increase the effects of the hypnotic sessions I performed with those of his own. One aspect of the hypnotic script that he used was to feel the muscles in his chest become warm with the increased blood flow into the muscle. He was also instructed to imagine the muscle growing as he concentrated upon its warm sensation and the flow of growth hormone that would be drawn to the area. This had a two-fold effect. It directs the mind that it does indeed grow easily (remember the subconscious has no reasoning facility). Also blood is drawn to the area and pumps the muscle up, this increases the likelihood of muscle building and encourages the athlete, increasing his belief in the effects of self-hypnosis.
As we have seen, just directing the mind to have an effect upon the body can and does have a biological effect, cells reproduce, muscles build, injuries heal faster and fat is easily burnt.
Geoff was a bodybuilder, so as with many he had to push himself past the Machismo barriers which stated to him that he didn't need help. He was too tough to present himself to any type of sports therapist. Fortunately he overcame this perception and was subsequently able to make leaps ahead in personal development. His chest muscles began to grow with previously unseen proportions. The more his chest grew the more powerful his self-image and belief in the effects of hypnosis became. This increased the effects. There came a time when he no longer needed to concentrate on the chest and started to look at his body as a whole unit again. Geoff now has continued with his belief in hypnosis and especially self-hypnosis, this has enabled him to attain the body and personality that he requires. If there is something in his life that he does not want or anything he does want to gain, he has tools to move towards that goal.
With the continued use of hypnosis Geoff has been able to visualise his body the way he wants it to be, the shapes, feelings and even the strength that he desires are all attainable. And to think, all of these improvements just by setting aside a little time for himself each day!
Mental blocks are very powerful, both in sport and life generally. Our individual upbringings have a huge effect on our adult lives, these are the things that develop our personalities and the perceptions that we have of our lives experiences.
A lot of the time, as was partly the case with Geoff's chest development problem, our mental blocks are developed in childhood. We have difficulty in changing along side our self-images when we graduate into adult hood. Geoff had a perception that his chest muscles grew very slowly and this was a perception brought with him from his childhood days. Clearly children don't have large muscular physiques so his perceptions were perfectly rational for a child. If a person goes into adult hood at a later stage than his peers, internal communication can prevent the body from developing well in a particular way. We've seen that internal dialogue is powerful enough to change our body's in any which way we command it to, so this has to have an effect. It is self-perpetuating because the more we focus on the problem the stronger the command becomes. It was true that Geoff could not previously develop a chest. When he was a child, and when developing at puberty he was a late developer so this only reinforced his perception that he would never develop. This can in many cases create a fear of not developing, which in turn again strengthens the likelihood of the problem continuing. Together we were able to remove the old fear and develop new success strategies that were more in tune with Geoff's self image as an adult.