4/26 Mental Toughness Thursday

Lace up your running shoes! 
Yesterday I shared with you the poem, Invictus by William Ernest Henley. This poem speaks to an indomitable spirit in the face of adversity. It is the poem Nelson Mandela recited everyday he was in prison. It also inspired CJ Martin to name his first CrossFit affiliate,  CrossFit Invictus.
Last year I was San Diego and dropped into CrossFit Invictus. I admit I was a bit intimidated to go to this world famous CrossFit Affiliate. CJ Martin, owner and head coach, has created a large, tight, and competitive community. At the CrossFit Games you can see CrossFit Invictus's "Sea of Green" in the stands.
Since Invictus opened in 2009, CJ has coached more than 30 individuals and a dozen masters athletes to the CrossFit Games. The Invictus affiliate team has qualified for the CrossFit Games for seven consecutive years and placed in the top five 4 of the 7 years – taking 1st place and earning their first affiliate cup championship at the 2014 CrossFit Games. That's a damn impressive!
I met CJ in person when I attended The Master Class, a two day seminar for Master's athletes in 2012. He presented on mindest, metal toughness, and programming. So I was not at all surprised to see that he recently published a book on the mental toughness training at CrossFit Invictus, The Invictus Mindset: An Athlete's Guide to Mental Toughness.
​I will be sharing what I learn from The Invictus Mindset with you over the next several weeks. CJ and his co-authors, have segmented mental toughness into five pillars of training:
Pillar One - Goal Setting
Pillar Two - Visualization
Pillar Three - Positive Self Talk
Pillar Four - Arousal Control
Pillar Five - Self Confidence
I have explored these topics in other blog posts, and for the next month I'm going to give you some very concrete actions you can take to develop these five mental toughness pillars. Get Psyched! We are going to study The Invictus Mindset together. Are you ready?

Click Here for The WOD