An In-shape Brain

I get to see all kinds of cool things coaching; yesterday I got to witness an out-of-shape brain work its way back. Every athlete knows that when you’re not training regularly, you get out of shape.  Muscles get weaker, smaller, slower.  And when the time comes to get back in shape, it is usually a long, painful process. Athletes often end up regretting their time off because it would have been easier to have just maintained.  What most athletes don’t realize though is that the brain, much like their muscles, can get out of shape too. 

My top runner, Nathan, has recently taken a 4 month break.  I didn’t begrudge him this as he had trained hard for 4 years, met all his goals, and will be running in college next year. He was burnt out and needed a break.  But now it is time to start training again so he is prepared for college.  Yesterday we had one of our challenging conditioning workouts, about an 8 on the Crider scale of brutality.  Over the years, Nathan has thrived in these challenging workouts but yesterday was a different scene altogether, well at least for the first 30 minutes.  He was stopping in the middle of reps, slipping into bad form, even complaining.  In my head I was thinking, this is not the kid I am used to coaching, this isn’t fun at all.  And then about 30 minutes into the workout I saw a click go off in his brain.  Literally his entire countenance changed, I could see focus on his face. His reps got better; his form improved, even though the workout had not gotten any easier.  Later when I asked him what had happened, he said “it’s like my brain said:  ‘oh we’re working out for real?.’”  Like his muscles, his brain had been on a 4 month vacation.  It had forgotten how to focus in an intense workout, how to mentally overcome and push through.  Nathan’s muscles were remembering the pain of being shredded and his mind was lamenting: ‘oh I actually have to work today?’

Later in the workout, a task I gave was especially difficult considering the previous few tasks and Nathan gave me a look and started to try to bargain his way out of it. ‘I object to this task.’ He said.  (This never would have happened 5 months ago, he loves to push his limits.) But his brain had gotten out of that habit.  The same mind that once told me I could never write a workout he could not do was now trying to get out of a task so it didn’t have to do a workout. This out of shape brain needed a reminder.  All I had to do was remind him that he loves challenges, that that’s who he is. And that he is capable of doing what I was asking.  And that tired mind relented.

Nathan is in my first block class and for the last few months I have watched him drag himself into class right as the bell was ringing: a tired, cranky, lazy, mess is what I’ve become used to.  Today, however, he came bouncing in (early!) saying ‘Coach, I feel great! It was easy to get up this morning, my muscles have that good kind of sore.’  He was bright eyed and sharp.  He was even motivated to bust out a paper he’s been putting off for months.  His brain had definitely woken up! 

In the brain we have these neural networks. Think of them like different roads.  Each route has certain landmarks(thoughts) along the way.  And what research has shown is that the more we travel a certain road or neural path, the easier it is to continue to travel that path, to access those thoughts.  But if we don’t travel one of our roads for a long time, It is often hard to find the path, and hard to travel down it.  (This is why if you haven’t thought about someone in years and then see them it may be hard to remember their name, or maybe you remember their name but not how you know them. That road is rusty.)  Scripture says we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  (Rom 12:2) and instructs us to think on things above, on things that are pure, true, just (Phil 4:8).  When we do, we forge proper neural pathways, pathways that we will revisit naturally, easily.  And then our actions follow suit. 

Oftentimes Christians focus on training their bodies to not do certain sins or to do certain good deeds, but they neglect to train their brains.  And when a Christian mind is out of shape… it won’t be long before the actions follow too.  In the same way that I loved seeing Nathan’s brain work back into shape yesterday, our heavenly Coach must love to see that in us too.  Much like the click I saw go off in Nathan 30 minutes into our workout, I have experienced a click of ‘hey we haven’t focused on God in a while, what are we doing.’  And much like the reminder I had to give Nathan about who he was and what he could do, I have had Christian friends (often my husband) give me reminders of who I am in Christ so that I can press on when I feel like giving up.  And much like the bright eyed motivated kid I saw bounce into my room this morning ready to take on the day, I have found that the more time my mind has spent focused on God, the easier the abundant, supernatural, purpose-filled life comes.