Mastering your thoughts means catching the inner voice that says this is going to be terrible and consciously replacing it with I am going to try, one rep at a time, because so much of the physical is accomplished mentally. The way you talk to yourself when you read the whiteboard, when the alarm goes off, and in the middle of a hard workout either pays big dividends or causes you significant problems. For this Physical Friday I walk through how I work on that inner monologue.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Your attitude going in largely sets your intensity, and intensity drives results. Walk up to a posted workout thinking this is going to be horrible and you have already cut your effort, walk up thinking that looks challenging, I can do that, and you attack it. My commitment level on the way into a workout has a tremendous amount to do with whether I perform well or even set a PR, and the more intense the training, the faster the progress toward any goal.
First, catch yourself doing it. You are not uttering the words, you are thinking them, and you can notice the thought, this is going to be terrible, I don't think I can do this, and consciously swap it for something better, I am going to try, I will do one rep at a time, I will make it through. You may not stop it immediately, but awareness is the start, and slowly you change the conversation.
It comes from coach Ben Bergeron, who runs the CompTrain Masters programming I have used while chasing the CrossFit Games. He asks, if your inner voice were played on a megaphone or a loudspeaker, would you be pleased with what it was saying? Most of us talk to ourselves in a way we would never talk to a friend, you would not have any friends if you did. The test makes you notice it and clean it up.
Because the moment the alarm goes off tends to start your day in one of two directions. Get up and do what you planned, and the day starts positive, talk yourself back under the covers, and you have started by avoiding the plan. That single decision, repeated, is a big part of success, and the inner monologue is what decides it.
The gym compresses life's challenges into short, intense windows. The way I talk to myself in a brutal workout is very similar to the way I talk to myself in a hard stretch of business, a fishing tournament, or any difficult preparation. Practice handling frustration and doubt under a barbell, and you are practicing for everything else, just faster and more often than life usually allows.
Ben Bergeron is a CrossFit coach and author who has coached champions and writes the CompTrain programming, including CompTrain Masters, which I have used in my own training. What sets his coaching apart for me is that the mental training rides alongside the physical, daily lessons and quotes about how athletes talk to themselves, including the megaphone question I come back to constantly.
I unpack each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
So much of what we are trying to accomplish physically is really accomplished mentally, and almost nobody trains that side. The voice in your head is talking before every workout and through every hard minute of it, and whether that voice helps or hurts is largely up to you. I lay out where to start in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The instant you read a posted workout is where the mind starts playing tricks, this is going to be horrible, this is the worst. The same workout read with a different voice, that looks challenging, I think I can do that, produces a different athlete. I talk through how I handle that moment in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Hiring Ben Bergeron for programming gave me more than workouts, his mental lessons changed how I listen to my own head. The megaphone question, would you be pleased if your inner voice played out loud, stopped me cold the first time I heard it. I share how I have used his approach in the episode, so press play in the player above.
You would not talk to a friend the way most of us talk to ourselves. Become aware of the voice, change it where you can, and watch what it does to your intensity, your training, and everything downstream of it. Email me at podcast@saltwaterexperience.com and tell me how self-talk has affected your training. Press play in the player above.
self-talk · inner monologue · Ben Bergeron · CompTrain Masters · CrossFit Games · the megaphone test · morning alarm discipline · intensity · PRs · mindset · gym as a microcosm of life · Physical Friday · Tom Rowland Podcast
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep me ready for long days on the water, in short, focused episodes built for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and anyone who wants to stay in the game for life.
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