When you hear the word “tough”, what does that make you think of? What kind of emotion does that invoke in you? If you are like most people your mind most likely goes to things like being able to push through physical pain, being big and strong, or being able to endure hardship. But are those really mental skills? They sound more like physical skills to me… and by that standard mental toughness becomes a common misnomer for physical toughness. Today we are gonna fix that mindset and dive into what it REALLY means, to be mentally tough.
Now, I want you to take a minute and think about the internal dialogue you have with yourself. We all have that little voice in our head that is either our biggest cheerleader or our biggest critic depending on the situation. Sometimes, it can even be both on the same day. No one else can hear these thoughts, only you know what you are saying to yourself and only you can change that narrative. For the sake of this article we are going to frame this from a fitness perspective, but this is applicable to anything and everything we encounter in life.
Picture this…
Picture yourself in the middle of the hardest workout you have ever done. What were you thinking? What were you telling yourself with every passing second? Were you talking to yourself like you would your best friend, spouse, or partner? If not, we need to dig a little further.
Mental Toughness in Practical Application
We believe that mental toughness is closely related to the terms resilience, courage, grit, and determination. We need to start looking at this as something we can develop. This is not an innate skill for many people but luckily, just like any other muscle, we can build and develop this over time with repeated exposure and diligent practice. It is not easy and it is quite uncomfortable, but the first step in building mental toughness is simply bringing awareness to your current head space. I like to think of it as a “vibe check” for my brain. Am I in a negative headspace and self critical or am I going into this situation with excitement and looking forward to challenging myself? If it’s the latter, well then it’s full steam ahead and LFG! But if not, here are some steps I like to take to shift the narrative and get the most out of each session.
- Acknowledge and discover why I am in a negative head space to start with. Maybe it is stress from parenting, work has been tough that day, or maybe it’s just “one of those days”.. Remember, awareness is key.
- Is the stressor within my circle of control? I can only control myself and my actions/reactions to things. If it is not inside MY control, it doesn’t exist for the next 60 minutes while I am giving myself this opportunity to grow.
- Remind myself of my personal mantra– If I would not say this to one of my athletes inside my gym, I do not say it to myself.
- As a coach, this has had a MAJOR impact on my mental game as I love my community!
- Pick one word to focus on for the duration of my session. Often these focus words look like strong, confident, composed, gritty, resilient.
- Play that one word on repeat the moment one of those negative thought patterns creeps in… “You’re not good enough to get that score”, “you aren’t built to run that fast, just stay with the barbell”, “you’re just not enough”. No– full stop. Focus on YOUR word, whatever that may be.
- Repeat as many times as necessary. Rinse, wash, repeat over and over and over again.
You are probably thinking, “Well yeah Coach, that all sounds well and good but I just CAN’T do that”. Maybe not yet, but remember the first time you tried a pull up, or a heavy back squat, or running a mile? It was probably SO incredibly difficult, I know it was for me. But that repeated exposure and that dedication to the practice, to the journey of getting better slowly but surely made me better.
Is it perfect? No. And that’s okay. It’s a never ending journey and one that I am excited and eager to continue on and continue to learn about myself more and more.
But wait! So what actually IS mental toughness?
In our world, mental toughness is the ability to control you, your inner narrative, and to actively work against all that negative shit our brains like to flood us with from time to time. It has NOTHING to do with your physical abilities.
All love,
Coach Candy
