1/19 Mental Toughness Thursday

Red Feather has a very solid position at the top of her press. She also regularly develops her mental toughness through a regular meditation practice. What do you do to develop mental toughness?
One of my favorite mental toughness teachers is Navy Commander Mark Divine with SealFit and the Unbeatable Mind project. I have had the pleasure of working out at SealFit with actual Navy SEALs, attending Kokoro yoga classes, and reading most of Commander Divine's books. 
Commander Divine is a rare man. He's a retired Navy Seal warrior, a CrossFitter, a yogi, a devoted meditator, and a mental toughness mentor. All things to which I also aspire. 
One of the best lessons I've learned from Commander Divine is to feed the my courage wolf. He writes about this American Indian parable in his blog post What Wolf are You Feeding?
In this parable, we have two wolves who reside inside us. In our mind is the fear (or hatred) wolf and in our heart is the courage (or loving) wolf. What type of person we are is dependent upon which wolf we feed. Doubt, self loathing, negative thoughts, etc., all feed the fear wolf. Compassion, encouraging others, and forgiveness feed the courage wolf. According to Commander Divine (and this is what he teaches aspiring Frogmen in his SealFit program):

Feeding the wolf of love and courage makes us more kind, patient, tolerant, powerful and present. We will avoid conflict and be better leaders.  We won’t hesitate to lean into the hard tasks; fear will cease being an influence in our lives.

​The nice thing is that by feeding the wolf of love and courage we will be simultaneously taming the wolf of fear.  How can we feed the wolf of love and courage?
​

• By taking care of teammates
• By encouraging rather than judging
• By showing compassion for yourself, and forgiving yourself for your personal disasters
• By looking for and finding good in the world

Condition your mind to feed the wolf of love and courage daily.  Pay attention to your mind and witness it feed the wolf of fear. Interdict, re-direct and maintain the positive courage state!

I challenge you to notice which wolf you feed. Which wolf do you feed when you're driving to the gym? Which wolf do you feed right before the coach yells, "3,2,1, GO!" Which wolf do you feed when the workout gets really, really hard? Do you feed the courage wolf and lean into the hard task? Do you feed the fear wolf and convince yourself it's too hard, too heavy, too...whatever. 
Feed the Courage Wolf. Feeding this wolf will make you happier, your family happier, your friends happier, your coaches happier, the world happier. 
​Today's Workout
Gymnastics Pressing Progressions: 3-5 Rounds not for time. Pick a tuck or L hold, handstand push-up, ring dip and pistol progression you can do. You can pick a progression from different levels as needed.

Level I

1. 30 sec tuck hang from bar
2. ​5 downward dog handstand pushups (HSPU)
3. 10 second ring support hold
4. 5 pistols each leg with a box

Level II

1. 30 sec tuck hold on parallettes
2. 3 strict partial range of motion (ROM) HSPU
3. 10 second dip support hold 
4. ​5 pistols each leg with bands

Level III

1. 30 sec L hold on parallettes
2. 3-5 strict full ROM HSPU
3. 3-5 strict ring dips
4. 5 pistols each leg

then,
Push Press 1-10-1-20-1-30 reps for load. 
Use the heaviest weight you can for each set. Your score is the total load for all the barbells, not counting reps.
​Today is a heavy day (Woohooo!) We love heavy days because in addition to strength, we develop stamina, power, speed (with the push press) and mental toughness. Good luck!
Rest as needed between sets.
Compare to Feb 24, 2016