We all love the days where we have big PR’s. Lifting a heavy weight, going faster than ever and learning new skills are the major boosts that show your hard work is paying off. The trouble is these days are few and far between. Unless you’re a true beginner, there are going to be far more days where you grind, work and sweat without doing anything worthy of being posted on social media. It is these days that add up over time to earn your PR’s. Without the in between there could be no end result. So how should we truly define success? Is it only the achievement of a goal, or is there something more we should be striving for on a daily basis?
If it is the summation of daily hard work for weeks, months and years that bring us to the epic moments in sport, then it is this hard work that is truly important. The right perspective on your daily training will allow you to stay committed to your plan, remain consistent in the face of adversity and block out distractions that can interfere with the pursuit of your goals.
The key is to improve your best. This is what happened today, regardless of outcome. Tomorrow is undecided. The next time you come into the gym, if you can eliminate one distraction between your weight training sets, push a little bit harder on those middle rounds of conditioning or stay focused and get the most out of your accessory work, you have improved your best. If you make a PR you have also improved your best, but even if it is the appropriate time in the cycle to make those attempts, there are a million factors that may prevent you from lifting that heavier weight or running that faster lap. There will however always be small things you can do to heighten your connection with your workout.
Your mindset going into your workout is one such factor. Are you excited for the opportunity to work on your skills? Curious about how you’ll handle a novel piece of your workout? Or are you hyper aware of how tired you are and that you don’t feel like training hard? If you are engaged with a sense of excitement or curiosity about your workout you are much more likely to work hard and push yourself. Obviously if you focus on how bad you feel, or other things you could be doing, there will only be so much mental energy left for your workout. Make sure to take the time to get your mind on track before your training session.
Once you have your session started on the right track you have to keep it that way. Just like obstacles can get in the way of PR attempts, things like emails or conversations can get in the way of training as well. Taking steps to eliminate these distractions by leaving your phone in your bag and sitting quietly between sets will help you keep yourself in the zone during a complete session. Not to say that you can’t talk with your training partners, but there is usually a difference between conversation that is conducive to quality training and conversation that is not. Learn the difference.
Finally you’ll have to be aware of what’s happening to understand what a quality mindset is and what being focused feels like. Taking some deep breaths with your eyes closed before the workout is a great way to facilitate this awareness. I like to take 10 breaths and focus on nothing besides my breathing – until I can make all 10 breaths without distraction I won’t move forward with my training session. While this can sometimes be harder than it sounds, it is a generally a quick way to dial yourself in either before your workout or midway through if you need to.
Creating an honest assessment of your mindset, focus and awareness on a daily basis creates achievable goals and limitless range for improvement. Focusing solely on the outcome of your training only creates a black and white scenario for analysis. Resolving to improve the aspects of training you have control over not only empowers you, it creates responsibility because you will know for certain whether or not you did everything you could to get the most out of your workout.
