Developing an Unbeatable Mindset is the ultimate goal of training. Yes physical health and attractiveness are obvious benefits of what we do, but being able to completely control your own thoughts during a time stress is borderline transcendent. This unfortunately is much, much more difficult than training the body. Those of you new to training will not really be able to relate to this article, not yet anyway. It takes years of training/testing ones own limits to understand the way the mind and body are so heavily connected.
“If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on”
-Rudyard Kipling
The first thing I’d like to mention is Presence
The future and the past do not exist in the present. The past is a memory and the future is a notion. Simply by collapsing our time to the present, we eliminate uncertainty and analysis paralysis. We empower ourselves to maximize effort in whatever we do. Sounds simple, but alas, not easy at all. Here is an example of “analysis paralysis”.
4 Fran scores beginning at day zero and working out by the days on the left.
Day 0-10:14
Day 35- 6:35
Day 97- 3:40
Day 135- 4:15
Ok so this is actually the story of one of my advanced athletes who has since been working on his commitment to presence. On day zero he was already able to do the Thrusters and Pullups rx’d so clearly a solid athlete from the get go. Despite the 10:14 time, he thought it was the hardest workout he’d ever done. Second time around, huge improvement and you could visibly see that he was in less pain following the workout than the first go around. Simply a case of improved conditioning and comfort with being uncomfortable. 3rd attempt- Prior to the workout he’d been counting down the days to “Fran”. He was really psyched up and ready to attack it and he did just that. 3:40 is moving and that takes a certain dedication to not allowing yourself to slow down. Now the 4th attempt. Prior to the workout I noticed nervousness. The previous score left it’s mark and there was clearly a sense of fear of failure or regression. Although he worked hard, the idea of defeat was in his head prior to the start and it was externalized through his performance.
Now this athlete is still worlds ahead of where he was on day zero, but he is hitting his mental sticking point. This story is pretty typical of most CrossFitters. To overcome that obstacle, you must learn to train the mind to make a complete and utter commitment to living in the moment.
Hyper Focus is focus to the exclusion of everything else. Once focused on an action, or goal, you place all of your emotional, cognitive, subconscious and action energy toward achieving that goal. There are no compromises. There is no quit. Using your eyes as a “laser beam” to focus, also called “spirit eyes” among certain eastern martial arts, is how we stay hyper-focused. It also requires us to de-clutter our minds and environments, and be very selective of what we allow in. Again, simple but not easy.
Next time your doing a workout, pay attention to what you allow into your inner monologue.
3 types of mid-workout internal conversations I’ve had with myself.
1. Absent minded- I wonder what I’m going to do after this is over.
2. Partially committed- Wow this sucks a lot. Dah well gotta keep trucking.
3. Totally Committed- You can go harder, stop resting! Now damnit GO!
