Quick. Check your face now. Rather, FEEL your face now.
What do you notice? Tension. Truckloads full of facial tension. The jaws clenched and eyes stretched in anxiety.
Now do this. Relax all of your facial muscles.
Start from your forehead. Check your cheeks. Observe your nostrils. Once they are completely relaxed, draw the tension out of your jaw. Release the clench of the jawbones together and let them just 'stay' atop each other. Maybe even feel your neck and see if it is overly tight.
Most importantly, relax your eyes. De-stress your gaze.
Once your entire facial muscle groups feel completely relaxed, be like this for a few more seconds, probably ten.
Here are a few magical things that might happen to you as soon as you do this:
1. You will find your entire body following through and experiencing the relaxation
2. Your mood will be heightened. Here's a small test. Practice this above tactic whenever you are in an argument or are paranoid with something. The above maneuver ( or lack of it ) is going to give you an instant improvement in your anxiety and stress levels.
3. Your mind gets instilled with positive thoughts and an overall pleasant outlook towards life.
4. With time, you will learn the highly valued skill of 'Resting On Demand'. Can you rest on demand whenever you're super stressed at work, on the road, between flights or any chaotic situation? If the answer to any of these questions is No, you need to learn facial relaxation.
5. You stop being in the past and the future and being to live more in the present.
6. The biggest benefit to this practice that I have experienced is that I began to be a calmer person in general. There are times when I used to experience 'hyper' times in the past. With the practice of relaxing on demand, these moments are now diminishing fast.
7. Most people might find it contradictory but relaxing your face even while performing heavy lifts in the gym can surefire your way to a better and smoother performance without the added risks of passing out or overly elevated heart rates. The major cause of a tensed face during training can be stopping your breath after inhaling a deep bout of air. Breathe evenly and naturally. More importantly, do not forget to exhale during the execution of a lift.
Exhalation is where the relaxation lies
Two key points to consider though:
1. Daily practice is different from 1 rep max testing or competition attempts.
Now, before you even ask me, do not get confused between your routine lift practice and a max effort attempt. The latter is only a single and will need every part of you to maximally contract; the former will not.
Most people watch a powerlifter performing a record breaking hoist on the platform and assume that to be demeanor they should adapt during each repetition they perform in the gym. Nope. Relax your face but tense your body, which takes us to:
2. Understand the difference between total body tension and facial relaxation.
You need to keep your mind cool in order to ward off any anxiety out of it and get a clear vision before you attempt the next set. But you also need to tense your entire body into a tight single unit before you get under the bar and until you get out from under it.
I haven't come across an easier method to let go of that broken down feeling coming from tough workouts. Facial relaxation is instant, effective and free.Try it everyday. You will improve. And so will your lifts.
What do you notice? Tension. Truckloads full of facial tension. The jaws clenched and eyes stretched in anxiety.
 |
| You never know, how tensed you can be |
Start from your forehead. Check your cheeks. Observe your nostrils. Once they are completely relaxed, draw the tension out of your jaw. Release the clench of the jawbones together and let them just 'stay' atop each other. Maybe even feel your neck and see if it is overly tight.
Most importantly, relax your eyes. De-stress your gaze.
Once your entire facial muscle groups feel completely relaxed, be like this for a few more seconds, probably ten.
Here are a few magical things that might happen to you as soon as you do this:
1. You will find your entire body following through and experiencing the relaxation
2. Your mood will be heightened. Here's a small test. Practice this above tactic whenever you are in an argument or are paranoid with something. The above maneuver ( or lack of it ) is going to give you an instant improvement in your anxiety and stress levels.
3. Your mind gets instilled with positive thoughts and an overall pleasant outlook towards life.
4. With time, you will learn the highly valued skill of 'Resting On Demand'. Can you rest on demand whenever you're super stressed at work, on the road, between flights or any chaotic situation? If the answer to any of these questions is No, you need to learn facial relaxation.
5. You stop being in the past and the future and being to live more in the present.
6. The biggest benefit to this practice that I have experienced is that I began to be a calmer person in general. There are times when I used to experience 'hyper' times in the past. With the practice of relaxing on demand, these moments are now diminishing fast.
7. Most people might find it contradictory but relaxing your face even while performing heavy lifts in the gym can surefire your way to a better and smoother performance without the added risks of passing out or overly elevated heart rates. The major cause of a tensed face during training can be stopping your breath after inhaling a deep bout of air. Breathe evenly and naturally. More importantly, do not forget to exhale during the execution of a lift.
Exhalation is where the relaxation lies
Two key points to consider though:
1. Daily practice is different from 1 rep max testing or competition attempts.
Now, before you even ask me, do not get confused between your routine lift practice and a max effort attempt. The latter is only a single and will need every part of you to maximally contract; the former will not.
 |
| This is not how your regular exercise practice might look |
2. Understand the difference between total body tension and facial relaxation.
You need to keep your mind cool in order to ward off any anxiety out of it and get a clear vision before you attempt the next set. But you also need to tense your entire body into a tight single unit before you get under the bar and until you get out from under it.
 |
| A relaxed face and a tensed body. No Clenched teeth here. |