6/7 Mental Toughness Thursday

Glee just did box jumps for the first time in workout! Congrats GLEE! Today's Mainsite WOD will test your mental toughness. It's a great opportunity to work on your self talk. We are doing the Intermediate option as Rx for our gym. 
The Third Pillar of the Invictus Mindset is self talk. I have blogged many times about self talk. There is nothing more heartbreaking for me as a coach to hear someone say, "I don't..., "I can't...", "Yeah, but I did it scaled." We are capable of so much more than we think. In fact, Coach Glassman, founder of CrossFit said the biggest adaption to CrossFit is between your ears. 
The Invictus Mindset 's Third Pillar of Mental Toughness is all about what we say to ourselves externally and internally. If your words are not positive, affirming or instructive you are not tapping into your full potential. 
CrossFit Invictus has trained several CrossFit Games champion teams and individuals. One of the basic tenants of their competitors program is to be disciplined and dedicated to supporting each other. When we are supportive of each other, we create a positive training environment and everyone benefits. 
Muhammad Ali once said, "I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was." 
How do you think Ali's self talk affected his training, his practice and his competitions? What words do you say to yourself when you're in the middle of a lift, or a workout?
We coaches are constantly cueing and encouraging, in fact we are downright relentless, because we know for most of you the internal dialog is crap. We know because we've been there. We try to be the voice you want to hear inside your head.
Have you ever noticed how our cues are positive, e.g. we say, "keep going," or "one more rep," rather than "don't stop"? There is a reason behind our specificity. 
When you hear, "don't stop," either as an internal dialog or from a "well meaning" encourager, your brain ignores the first word, "don't" and focuses on the second, "stop." Then you obsess about stoping and taking a break. Instead, when you hear, "keep going," or ,"one more rep," your brain focuses on going and more. 
Next time you're in the middle of a workout, possibly the one you'll be doing today, reword your internal dialog into positive and affirmative statements. It takes a little mental physics, and the rewards will be worth it. 

Click Here for The WOD