Steven Shrago of CrossFit London recently wrote about the importance of a strong mind in the CrossFit Journal.  One of the aspects he touched on was how negative beliefs and negative self-talk can impact your performance.  Have you ever really taken a hard look and reflected on how you actually talk to yourself?  Whether in your mind or out-loud, self-talk largely affects the way we approach a challenge.  This concept can be applied with any challenge in or outside the gym, but for simplicity sake we’ll focus on the challenges we face in CrossFit and how to deal with performance-limiting beliefs.

Take a moment and think a situation or event (trigger) you really struggle with.

Now I want you to listen carefully to your own self-talk and write down what you think and feel about this trigger.  Be honest with yourself.  Writing the information down helps keep the material fresh in your memory for the next steps.

Consider what you’ve written down, and look for any of the following patterns:

• All-or-nothing thinking:  black-or-white thinking with no shades of grey.  An example of this is thinking that dumping your weight on your last rep makes the entire set a failure.
• Generalizing:  words like “always,” “never,” and “can’t.”  For example, “I’ll never be able to do 10 reps.”
• Selective focus:  picking out a single, unpleasant detail and using it to color your feelings about the whole.  For example, “Pull-ups make my hands hurt.  I hate pull-ups.”
• Jumping to conclusions:  anticipating the worst outcome and convincing yourself that what you predict is a fact.  For example, “That last lift was hard.  I’m not strong enough to deadlift my own bodyweight.”
• Selective memory:  exaggerating the importance of insignificant events (missed snatch) and shrinking achievements (first kipping pull-up).

Now, read the thoughts you’ve written down out loud.  How do they sound to you?  What would you say to someone else if he/she said the same things?  Is what you heard reasonable or realistic?  Is there a way of expressing it in a more positive way?  Dig into the statement and understand where it comes from.

If you felt your self-talk can be better, consider how you can reframe these statements to focus on the positive.  For example, exchange the first thought for the second:  “I’ll never be able to do a full dead-hang pull-up without the bands” vs “I’m getting stronger everyday.  I’ve moved from the green band, to the blue, to the red.  I’ll get a dead-hang pull-up very soon.”

Now read these reframed statements to yourself aloud because you need to hear them.  Remind yourself of this exercise the next time you prepare for a challenge.  Distorted thinking can limit performance.  Prepare for challenges by training your mind to help you (i.e. positive self-talk) rather than hinder you.  Sunday’s post will discuss in more depth ways we can improve our self-talk and build it into habit.

WOD 05.19.10

Back Squat

Run 400m
3 Rounds
10 Push Jerk
10 Kettle Bell Swings
10 Pull-ups
Run 400m