You hear it when you are running, swinging your Kettlebell or
while you are throwing the weights around in the gym. That little voice inside your head that bargains, begs and try's
its best to convince you that you should stop.
You tell your-self that you only need to do one more rep
or a few more seconds will be enough for today. Each time you
give in, each time you choose not to endure but rather to listen
to the voice inside your head, you move further away from reaching
your performance goals and closer to staying stuck in a performance
plateau.
The ability to endure, to push through the noise
in your head and to get the job done is what separates those that
reach their goals from those who struggle with plateaus.
There are many mental tricks and exercises that athletic
trainers use to help their clients overcome the urge to settle
for poor performance over peek performance.
For example when I train fighters at the Agatsu Academy
I have them use their imagination to stimulate their runs.
While they perform their daily roadwork they are certain
every now and then to hit an endurance wall and to start thinking
about cheating and cutting the run short. The moment that these thoughts pop into their
head they are to take that as a cue and begin to mold the situation. They begin by imagining that they are in the
fight that they are training for and that the urge to stop is
really their opponent applying a submission hold or a flurry of
strikes. With this new perspective they have to face
more than just the desire to cheat a bit on their run, but rather
they have to face the thought of giving in to their opponent.
If they stop the run, they will be knocked out or submitted.
Sometimes just getting out for the run is a challenge
in and of itself. There
are many times when the last thing you want to do is lace up your
shoes and hit the street. When thoughts of running later in the day creep
into your head you should take that as a cue signaling that it
is time to put on your shoes.
No thinking about it! No
bargains with yourself about making up for it in the gym. As soon as you think about not running, get
up, get your shoes on and go out and run!
Turn those negative thoughts into positive cues and push
yourself. Rather than holding yourself back you will
take your normal impulse to take it easy and turn it into a training
cue.
Along with turning negative thoughts into positive
training cues we can further cultivate the desire and will to
endure through various training drills.
The greater the demand you place on yourself through conditioning
drills the greater your ability to push though all kinds of adversity.
Take a simple push-up set for example.
Rather than performing a few standard sets create a super
set every now and then and use it as a test for muscular and mental
endurance. Pushing through the pain and fatigue in such
an exercise will cultivate with you the will to continue. You can use the same mental imaginary from
the running exercise or something else to keep up your motivation. These drills need not be complicated but rather
must in some way challenge you to go further than your perceived
limits. Start off with
something simple like this push-up drill.
Begin
in a standard pushup position.
Throughout the course of this drill you will not stop or
allow your knees to touch the ground. The
number or repetitions will depend on your ability; begin with
a simple set of ten push-ups.
Let's work the triceps for this drill by keeping your elbows sliding next to your ribs as you come down.
Upon
completing the set of ten come down half way through a pushup
and hold for a count of ten.
Now move down about an inch from the ground and hold for
another count of then. Work your way back up to the middle and hold
for a count of ten. Push
all the way back up and begin another set of then push-ups.
With a second set of ten under your belt you
now remove on arm from the floor and place your weight on your
supporting hand. Hold for a count of then and switch to the
other arm. You are not
doing one arm push-ups but rather keeping strain on your arms
by loading your weight on them.
(Remember that at no time during this routine should your
knees touch the ground.)
After you have completed the last static hold
return to a final set of ten push-ups.
This very basic push-up set will challenge some of you
while others will need to mix things up a bit in order to create
a drill that will be demanding for their fitness level.
Consider mixing dive-bomber pushups into the mix along
with changing the number of repetitions.
From push-ups to sit-ups it's all about performance and teaching yourself to push it.
What level of performance are you willing to settle for? Everyone says that they want to be great but how many of us will
do what it takes? Great
performance comes when great desire is allowed to grow and endure. Create training moments for yourself that will
harness your desire to improve and cultivate your will to reach
your goals.
Shawn Mozen, ROSS IT, RKC is the owner of the
Agatsu Martial Arts Academy in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As a
full time coach Shawn offers training in a wide variety of areas
of self-improvement including, strength & conditioning, self
defense training and MMA. His clients range from LEO, and martial
artists, to weekend warriors who are trying to get in top shape.
For training info or customized Kettlebell programs contact: shawnm@agatsu.com and www.agatsu.com.
