Get Your Mind Right

Scott

5 Ways To Push Through A Painful Wod
In CrossFit we talk a lot about “mental toughness”. Every WOD requires you tap into it on one level or another. Your mindset is another skill that can be improved and worked on. Just like progressions for Pull-ups, there are steps you can take to progress to a stronger state of mind. Here are five ways to help you improve on your mind set in a tough work out.

1. Count to 100
In a wod that requires running, rowing or biking it can be helpful to count to 100 in your head. Focusing on each number will clear your head of other thoughts you may be having such as “This hurts”, “am I done yet” or “I hate running” just to name a few.
If and when these thoughts come into your head focus back on the number you were on and if you lose count start back at one. The key is to keep your mind counting and not wandering.

2. Put Your Time in Perspective
This is a good mental exercise to do right before a work out and a good reminder in the middle. Let’s say the wod you’re about to do is 10:00 in length, that leaves 23 hours and 50 minutes where you don’t have to do this work out today. As much as the wod may hurt and you want to stop or slow down, remind yourself that you have the whole rest of the day/night NOT to do burpees. Your 10:00 will be over before you know it.

3. Know When To Use The Clock
A work out for reps can be more mentally challenging than one for time. One of the benefits of pushing hard on a work out that is “for time” is that you can get it over with sooner. When your time domain is already set, it can be hard to find the motivation to keep your intensity up.

  • When you’re starting an AMRAP that has the same rep scheme the whole time try looking at the clock after the first round. Then make it a game to keep that pace the whole time. You may fall off a few seconds but make it your goal to keep up that intensity through out.
  • When you’re starting an AMRAP that has ascending reps do not look at the clock! In most cases the first half of a work out like this will go by much slower than you’d like. You get through rounds 1-5, look up at the clock and only 90 seconds have gone by. Trust that the second half of the work out will go by faster. Once the reps get higher the work out will seem shorter. In a case like this try to have a goal number in mind for your reps before you start and keep your eyes off the clock.

4. Be Nice To Yourself
There will be cases in a work out where you’re not performing the way you thought or hoped you would. Your pull ups feel off or you can’t seem to catch a good rhythm on your wall ball set. This is not the time to start beating up on yourself. Remind yourself that you like being in the gym and you have fun here or find a similar positive thought that resonates with you. This isn’t the time to start telling yourself that you’re terrible at wall ball or you’ll never be good at pull ups. Push those thoughts right out of your head and try to replace them with good ones.

5. Lie To Yourself
Little lies to yourself in a work out can go a long way. When you’re moving from one movement to another tell yourself you’re just going to get the first rep out of the way to get you moving. Chances are you’ll end up doing more than one rep and you saved yourself some time by not resting and thinking about the fact that you have 20 reps to do.

When working from station to station, tell yourself you can rest during the next movement. Instead of taking multiple breaks when you’re working through one exercise, remind yourself that you can rest on the next movement. If you do that with each station in your work out, you’ll take less time to rest and that will keep your intensity up in the work out.

If one or all five of these tips resonates with you, give them a try the next time you step into the box!

Warm-up
5 Rounds
:20 on/:10 off
-Jump Rope
-Squat Jump

Mobility
Calves
-Mash and Stretch

WOD 1 (20 min cap)
Open 17.5
10 Rounds
9 Thrusters, 95,65
35 Double-unders

Scaled- 65,45, Single Unders

Scores/Comments from 17.5 on 3/24/17

Rest 10 Minutes with Guided Mobility

WOD 2
50/40 Cal Row/Ski or 40/30 Cal Bike
50 Kettlebell Swings (1.5,1)
50/40 Cal Row/Ski or 40/30 Cal Bike
50 Kettlebell Lunges (1.5,1)

Extra Work
Work up to a Heavy load for the complex:
1 Push-jerk
1 Split Jerk

WOD
7 Minute AMRAP
5 Muscle-ups
5 Sandbag over the shoulder (140,90)
100ft Sandbag Hug Carry