“The Greatest adaptation to CrossFit takes place between the ears.” – Greg Glassman, CrossFit Founder
Mindset is the established in-built attitude held by an individual, having the right attitude towards training will, in most cases, give you the best outcome. To achieve this, we need to be able to focus on what we will get out of the workout in the most positive light possible.
Yes, we may lack energy, motivation, or even general fitness, but the ability to apply the right attitude, and take all the positive elements from what you will get from your workout, can and will boost positive thinking and the correct mindset.
Positive self-talk, and truly believing you can achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle can be the biggest strength you hold in life.
Before we begin to practise positive self-talk, we must first eliminate any negative thinking; although, in areas of health and fitness, negative effects can sometimes help us overcome setbacks. But in general, we should use the power of positivity as much as possible.
In health and fitness or CrossFit specifically, you may find you are doing the following;
- You blame yourself for everything. Ok yes, we need to take ownership in areas of health and fitness, but some things are out of your control, you must try to let it go.
- You focus or home in on just the negative aspects, ignoring most, even all the positives that could otherwise be an overriding element.
- Catastrophising, or catastrophic thinking. A form of negative thinking, you expect the worst outcome from a workout and you rarely let logic or reason persuade you otherwise. “If I can’t hit my weight loss target now, I’m never going to lose weight, there’s just no point”.
Therefore, even if you are focusing on being positive and overcoming these negative traits, you can still have the right mindset towards negative situations, or setbacks.
In the case of ‘training the mind’ try taking a good look at a situation and tell yourself, “I AM good enough”; “I CAN make it happen”; “I CAN do it”; “The more I try or learn, the better I WILL get”; and more importantly… “THIS WILL BE FUN!!”.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable and learn to make the hard decisions. Which is better? Saying… ‘I’ll do this because it is easy’ or ‘That looks harder, I’ll give that a go’!
Once you start making those tough decisions over and over again, it will soon no longer be a difficult choice choosing one or the other; you will be creating a positive habit. You will be developing mental toughness and in turn, you are beginning to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Resulting in the ability and skill to formulate and accomplish your health and fitness goals.
Be proud of every effort you put forward, and begin the journey of controlling, and optimising your positive self-talk.
Thomas Burnell