9/8 Mental Toughness Thursday & Happy Birthday Chris!

D$'s double unders are looking great! He has been practicing them and it shows. 

​Mental toughness is cultivated through practice. Practice, for most of us, is a series of steps, forward and back, up and down, that eventually lead to some form of competence. Practice might never lead to mastery, we might practice at something all of our lives only to end up, "pretty good." 

Your CrossFit practice is no different. It is one component of a larger group of healthy lifestyle things at which you're practicing. All of these things you're practicing are choices, activities you choose to help you be happy and healthy. 

I just read this great blog post from the folks at the Whole Life Challenge on practice. I thought you might like it, too. 

Practice can be anything that allows us to focus on the exact moment without becoming attached to a big payoff. For those of us who spend time in the gym, our training provides an already existing platform for “practice.”

Our strength training sessions serve as a daily opportunity to listen to our body, expand previous limitations, and realize that what we were previously attached to—a score, a weight, or a number—was simply a small step along our path. If setting one personal record was all we ever wanted, then why do we keep coming back?

In strength training, many of us are aware of the need to simply put in the work. We know that every workout brings us one step closer to our goal, and that every well executed rep gets us one step closer to seamless technique. We become machine like and technical in ways that feed our ability to form a sense of self. It is in this truth where we discover that through diligent practice we can be removed from our attachment and suffering. The ups and downs of training impact us less because we prioritize quality training time over a need to achieve new records every day.

You know you are not your deadlift, right? Nor your back squat? Being able to reduce your attachment to outcomes is an exceptionally relevant skill when you have great teachers like barbells, stones, axles, sandbags, and our greatest teacher—gravity.

The barbell will always carry with it all the lessons we need to know. It is chanting all the mantras that have ever existed by just sitting there waiting to teach us.

As a strength athlete, you have thousands of opportunities per training cycle to learn the lesson of mindful attention. In meditation, there are activities such as following the breath, focusing on a flame, or reciting a mantra. All of these are important in learning a foundational practice, but none of them can bring about the intense focus that is present when you need to pull one and a half times your bodyweight off the floor. You can choose to start that rep thinking about the next one, or you can let each and every rep drown out all the chatter and noise. In that moment, you have a learning opportunity few will ever discover.

The effort involved in daily, intentional practice seems tedious and unnecessary. This tedium creates hesitancy and fear related to the investment of your time.  In a world where we are told that weight loss can happen overnight, the part of us that understands the incremental nature of change has been lost. We become afraid that our long-term effort will be criticized by the metaphorical hare passing up our tortoise. But remember this: 

1. Fear is a wonderful thing. It is a great consultant, and normally a poor leader. Fear should get its opportunity to speak and be heard without getting the chance to drive all of the decisions in any specific process.
2. Be wary of sudden and extreme change. If you are reading this to find the path of least resistance it is time for us to part ways. Change is not known for its speed, and, if you resist change, then your suffering will increase.

If you are able to embrace the process of change and tedium of learning, then you understand the nature of reducing suffering. We are here to learn the process of goal development and self-acceptance. We are not here to double our bench press or get a six-pack in four weeks. 

To make the decision that you must meet goals quickly and without patience is to make the decision that attachment and suffering will remain your training partner. Speeding up strength-related goals can lead to injury, and you are likely to attempt to speed up recovery to return to your previous numbers. These two patterns will continue until you develop enough self-compassion and patience to slow down and listen to what your body needs.

Attaching to the idea that we can create an unwavering concrete version of ourselves is the root of suffering and eventually will stifle our practice. Without our daily engagement in life we will become stale and slow to change. We must seize the chance to stop making ephemeral goals, and start making our practice the one constant companion on our journey. We will always limit ourselves by creating a concrete goal. The only goal is practice. We cannot afford to idolize a concrete idea as if that idea will somehow finally fulfill us. This will always limit possibility. This creates a version of ourselves that needs credit, heroic praise and attention. These things limit the strength of simply putting in the reps, staying present, and allowing our sentient nature to arise from the internal strength that is ever present within us.

To become attached creates suffering, but our practice allows us to see that our limitless self does not set goals. Our limitless self is beyond goals. We have achieved a limitless nature. We must allow our practice to show us this truth every day.
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Discovering what blocks you is the first step in moving forward. This is one of the things we learn in playing the Whole Life Challenge. During the Challenge, you’ll improve your connectedness, exercise, nutrition, sleep, hydration, mobility—all important factors in living a truly fulfilled life. Click here to learn more. 

Today's Workout 

Level I
5 rounds for time of:
10 Double Unders
10 Push Jerks 95/65
Rest 1 min

Level II
5 rounds for time of:
25 Double Unders
10 Push Jerks 135/95
Rest 1 min

As Prescribed 
5 rounds for time of:
50 Double Unders
10 Push Jerks 185/135
Rest 1 min

Today's workout is meant to be heavy and fast. The reps are low and should be completed unbroken. Scale the weights so that you can do the push jerks unbroken or in two sets. The weight should be a challenge, but not so heavy that you have to do the reps one at a time. This workout tests our power, speed, coordination, core strength and endurance. Good luck! 

Happy Birthday Chris!

We hope your special day is full of love, laughter and a heavy barbell.