What do you believe? I don't mean this specifically related to health and fitness. Although for people nutrition can become a theology and they speak of it as though it were a religion. I believe eating organic is the only way to go. I believe that eating meat isn't healthy. These statements don't reference science but instead our beliefs. And sometimes our beliefs can be at odds with science. Just ask Kyrie Irving. So there are times in life where we believe so strongly in something that we make life decisions based on this belief. Consider the placebo effect which basically says that a positive health change is due the placebo itself. The placebo has no active medical ingredients and therefore it is our belief that the placebo will work that accounts for the beneficial effect. We are probably familiar with these types of research studies. One group takes a pill to treat a disease and the control group does not. The pill has no medical ingredients but the study participants don't know this. They are made to believe the pill will deliver a positive health result. The experimental group, i.e. the ones taking the pills, experience the positive health outcome. More recently there have been studies involving an open label placebo and a control group. An open label placebo involves a group of research subjects that know they will be receiving a placebo. The other group of study subjects continue their regular treatment plans known as treatment as usual. Now it's important to be clear that the placebo group knew what a placebo was and that is what they would be receiving during the study. I'm imagining the information session for the study going something like this: You're not getting any medicine. Instead you're going to eat Tic Tacs twice...

Whenever we add a new member to our team we use a fairly standard evaluation process. And this includes asking what they think is the most important element lending to the success of the client.And their answers vary from:'Nutrition is the most important. You can't out-train a poor diet. And society in general is eating poorer quality food and more of it.'Can't argue with that.Others will say:'Getting enough varied and intense exercise is the key. With some many modern conveniences we can work, shop and be entertained without getting off the couch. Plus fewer schools, in the US, offer physical education and kids are more into social media and gaming.'Good points for sure.Really confident young coaches will say:'The coaching is the most important. Showing people the proper and safe way to train allows them to lift more intensely than otherwise. Plus they the individual is accountable to another person ensuring better compliance to the process.'Ok, yeah that makes sense.And still others will argue that:'The program is the most important. As long as you have a solid plan for what is supposed to be done, how much and when, anyone can implement the instructions and get the same results.'I wouldn't disagree with that one either.But guess what? They'd all be wrong. Because the first and most important consideration for achieving a rehab, weight loss or performance goal is mindset.If you believe you will fail, you already have. If you don't trust in the process you are just going through the motions. And if you don't believe that you can achieve great results you won't.When I look back after all the years of working in the fitness and performance industry there is one common feature of those who achieved the best results. And that was their positive mindset. It was the belief that they could do...