The Power of the MIND

I realize it has been awhile since I have written much, but today I had a bit of a revelation that was too impacting not to share.  I have always known that the mind is a powerful tool in life and training, but even after years of athletics and now CrossFit, I tend to often belittle this reality.  The truth is, our bodies are often much more capable than we give them credit for.

Here is my explanation.

Two of my best friends and training partners, Carey Kepler and Lisa Thiel, and I have spent a great deal of time fine tuning our gymnastics skills over the past several months.  About two weeks ago "30 muscle-ups for time" popped up in our training.  I tackled it alone in 15:15 and knew that I had not pushed the envelope.  Shortly after, I sent my training buds a text telling them that sub 12 would be a very realistic goal, as I knew they would be tackling the same WOD later that afternoon.

Today, I rolled up to the gym, hung some rings to work on progressions, and spontaneously decided to knock out  thirty.  I kept telling myself over and over and over again... "I can do this in ten minutes, I can do this in ten minutes.  If my training partners can do this in ten minutes, I can do this in ten minutes.  I can do this in ten minutes.  I can do this in ten minutes."  I repeated these words over and over and over as I reached up to the rings with each new set.  At the four minute mark I had hit 16 repetitions and tore significantly.  I threw some tape on my wrists and began repeating those powerful seven words again.  The result, I finished in 10:19.

Fast forward several hours and this is where it gets interesting.  I pulled out my workout log to record my time.  I looked back and found that I had indeed improved significantly.  Then, I went back and found where I had recorded my training partners times and realized that they had actually finished in 13 minutes, not 10!  I am not sure where the "10" even came from!!  It was simply a number that I had impressed in my mind due to lack of a better memory, I suppose.  The point is this, because I told myself I could finish in ten minutes, I did.  I am not any stronger than I was on April 1st, I am not any more rested, or a significantly better gymnast.  My mind just decided to believe and my body followed.  Crazy, right?

Next time out... "I can do this in 8 minutes.  I know I can do this in 8 minutes.  I can do this in 8 minutes."

Happy training, may you let your MIND lead the way!