Mental Toughness by Keith Hurd

As we are still going strong in the summer and pushing ourselves more and more each day. I find that one phrase is still spoken after many of the WOD's (workout of the day) by our clients. "I could have done better!"

This 5 word phrase has started to bother me, "Why you ask?" For the same reason we try to push ourselves daily. I find it frustrating that we still find a mental block when doing our perscribed WOD. As Crossfit is demanding physically it is more demanding mentally. When I hear my clients say this phrase my first response is, rolling of the eyes and shaking my head as if they will never understand. But then, I take a deep breath and realize that when I first started I was in this position as well.

Mental Toughness is not something that is passed on through generations, it is a feature and attribute that is picked up thru hard work and repetition. Almost as a skilled welder or artist works over their entire life to master and seperate themselves from being good at their skill to being great.

After having my client complete "Fight Gone Bad," he said those five words, instead of my first reaction I came back and said, "How?" His response was I could have gone faster. He felt he started slowly in the first round because it was a new workout and he didn't want to get tired quickly and not be able to complete the workout. Right away I knew he had mentally checked himself out of the workout before it even started.

Part of doing these workouts is not knowing what to expect. Getting those butterflies in your stomach should not be viewed as a sign of being scared or of weak, but of anticipating what is gong to make you better in life. If you go into every workout thinking you'll pace yourself to make sure you can handle it, then you are automatically setting yourself up for failure.

If you were asked by your boss to prepare a presentation about your past years achievements, would you scale back on your accomplishments and duties when writing and preparing the speech? "Hell No!" You would spend that evening going over every little thing you have done for him. You would even have your spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend listen as you went over the presentation 30 times the night before. The next morning you awake and feel like you going to blow them out of the water!

"Why do you feel so confident going into this meeting?" Because you mentally prepared yourself for the task at hand! So, the next thing you may say is, "the WOD is different, I had time to prepare for the speech." And my reply is, "Why isn't each WOD a preparation for the next WOD and the next one?"

It should never be about questioning ourselves on "if" or "how" I can be better. It should be "I am" and "I did" better after each workout. Putting all that power and intensity from the start of the WOD until the end, or whatever you do in life is only going to make you stronger for the next task at hand.

Who cares if you pushed yourself so hard from the start that you find yourself on the floor kicking your legs and making noises as if your going into labor afterwards. At least mentally you know that you made it and you're not questioning yourself whether your better or not.

Most importantly you have built a foundation for the next task at hand.