With the end of the year fast approaching, we often get in to ruts with our training; and then, in January, attempt to blow it up, trying to make up for lost time. This week's blog deals with keeping your head on straight, especially this time season.
"Fear is the enemy of will; will is what makes you take action; fear is what stops you and makes you weak. You must ignore your fear; when you're afraid, you cannot act; when you cannot act, you cannot defend; when you cannot defend, you die."
Sports performance is totally mental. When you get on the
field, the court, or whatever your choice of competition may be, it’s your mind
that will allow you to compete or not. You’ve heard the story about a lady who
had a rollover car accident, and her baby is trapped inside. In a moments
notice, that little woman breaks every single dead lift record in the world by
half a ton when she lifts that car in order to pull her baby to safety. We all
know that lifting that car should not have been physically possible. But, at
that moment, she didn’t even consider that; she didn’t care. Her mind was in
charge, and she knew that she had to rescue her child, bar nothing. You have to
be in the same state of mind when playing sports if you really want to go any
where. Being half way into it will only get you half way to nowhere.
One of the biggest mental failures that many athletes make is not setting goals. What you need to do is to set actual goals: "I want to add 100 pounds to my squat in six months," or "I need to get a 4.8 in my 40." Then, you must become obsessed with that objective and dwell on it constantly; burn it into your brain.Arnold
used to say that when he trained biceps, he would imagine them filling the room
as he did curls. Look at his arms during the peak of his competition days – did
you think it worked? "What the mind can conceive, the body can
achieve…"
After you set your goal, then break it down into readily achievable smaller goals. By doing this, you will see your progress regularly get better, and, in turn, will push you to try harder. Take the above squat example. 100 pounds in 12 months may seem like quite a big order, but let’s break it down. Let’s say you’re doing a single rep of 315. So, with the proper regimen, in one month you can easily make a 335. Not bad. And with that success, you’ve primed and stoked yourself to hit 350 or 360 by next month. And on and on, until you hit 415, or maybe even more, and in less time! Small accomplishments fuel larger ones. But beware: at the same time, the opposite can be true. The same mental ability that we all have to empower us further can also be the force that limits us.
I remember one time when I was training at a local gym, and I noticed this guy at the rack next to me. He was pretty small framed, but he was really putting up some decent weight, and without much of a struggle. After he racked the weight, I told him that his lifts were looking good. I asked him he had considered doing any competitions. He said he had thought about some local events, but then realized that he never could. I asked if he had some sort of medical condition that would prevent him. He said no, and went on to say that he would never be able to compete against "those types of guys," meaning any strength athlete. All I could do was shake my head. Here we had a guy who could probably have easily taken his weight class in a number of competitions if he trained for it. Yet I knew he would never amount to anything because he would not allow himself to.
We’ve all been in that boat one way or another. We’ve all been in that situation or condition where we want to go further, but fear we may fail, or may just not be good enough. But the key here is that word "may," and the situation doesn’t matter. "Damn," we think to ourselves quietly, "What would it be like to enter that squat competition?" Or how about "I really wanted to ask that girl out," or "I would love to be able to get my running time down to a 10 minute pace." But instead of going forth, we will say "But I could NEVER do that…" How do you know? Have you tried it already, or are you letting fear control your life? What’s the worst that could happen, really? You could lose the competition, the girl could say no, or you are only able to run in 11 minutes… that’s it! You won’t die or anything else, so how can you let your uncertainties limit yourself?! Don’t!!!!
Listen, if nothing else, remember this: you will always be presented with choices in your life. Are you going to spend your time on this planet living a life of "What if…" scenarios? Or are you going to go out there, take a deep breath, and take a risk: at worse, failing and learning from your mistakes; but at best, achieving more than you could have ever possibly imagined! Don’t be part of that group of boring individuals that will never know the sweet taste of victory because they never take any risks. Get out there and live life!
One of the biggest mental failures that many athletes make is not setting goals. What you need to do is to set actual goals: "I want to add 100 pounds to my squat in six months," or "I need to get a 4.8 in my 40." Then, you must become obsessed with that objective and dwell on it constantly; burn it into your brain.
After you set your goal, then break it down into readily achievable smaller goals. By doing this, you will see your progress regularly get better, and, in turn, will push you to try harder. Take the above squat example. 100 pounds in 12 months may seem like quite a big order, but let’s break it down. Let’s say you’re doing a single rep of 315. So, with the proper regimen, in one month you can easily make a 335. Not bad. And with that success, you’ve primed and stoked yourself to hit 350 or 360 by next month. And on and on, until you hit 415, or maybe even more, and in less time! Small accomplishments fuel larger ones. But beware: at the same time, the opposite can be true. The same mental ability that we all have to empower us further can also be the force that limits us.
I remember one time when I was training at a local gym, and I noticed this guy at the rack next to me. He was pretty small framed, but he was really putting up some decent weight, and without much of a struggle. After he racked the weight, I told him that his lifts were looking good. I asked him he had considered doing any competitions. He said he had thought about some local events, but then realized that he never could. I asked if he had some sort of medical condition that would prevent him. He said no, and went on to say that he would never be able to compete against "those types of guys," meaning any strength athlete. All I could do was shake my head. Here we had a guy who could probably have easily taken his weight class in a number of competitions if he trained for it. Yet I knew he would never amount to anything because he would not allow himself to.
We’ve all been in that boat one way or another. We’ve all been in that situation or condition where we want to go further, but fear we may fail, or may just not be good enough. But the key here is that word "may," and the situation doesn’t matter. "Damn," we think to ourselves quietly, "What would it be like to enter that squat competition?" Or how about "I really wanted to ask that girl out," or "I would love to be able to get my running time down to a 10 minute pace." But instead of going forth, we will say "But I could NEVER do that…" How do you know? Have you tried it already, or are you letting fear control your life? What’s the worst that could happen, really? You could lose the competition, the girl could say no, or you are only able to run in 11 minutes… that’s it! You won’t die or anything else, so how can you let your uncertainties limit yourself?! Don’t!!!!
Listen, if nothing else, remember this: you will always be presented with choices in your life. Are you going to spend your time on this planet living a life of "What if…" scenarios? Or are you going to go out there, take a deep breath, and take a risk: at worse, failing and learning from your mistakes; but at best, achieving more than you could have ever possibly imagined! Don’t be part of that group of boring individuals that will never know the sweet taste of victory because they never take any risks. Get out there and live life!
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