Focus on Adapting

We have a saying in FiTness:

“The most dangerous athlete in the room is the one who is most adaptable.”

See, MOST MissionFiT workouts will expose you in one way or another. If you avoid the hard, or try “not” to get exposed in workouts, you won’t get very far. And you won’t improve your skill.

The more willing you are to be exposed, the better you’ll be.

 

Most workouts will get you to the point of experiencing fatigue, doubt, and maybe even wondering why you do this. You might start failing, having to take long breaks, and getting passed by others. You’re frustrated you can’t push through the workout. Then you start to get frustrated. You’re essentially fighting yourself. Your body language changes, then you look and feel defeated. As a result, you slow down even more. You put your hands on your thighs and start shaking your head at yourself. Your doubts won.

Programming For Challenge

No matter how good you get, the program is designed to continue to expose you. That’s essentially the point of the programming. To show you where you’re weak, so you can work on it to be more well-rounded.

Where Is Your Focus?

Most athletes want to know how to stop having fear, anxiety, or doubt around workouts. They want to be able to push harder, so they can move longer and faster. But, they’re focused on the wrong thing. You likely won’t fully be able to remove doubt and discomfort from your workouts.

 

“Improvise, Adapt and Overcome”

Instead, expect that you’ll get to that point where you’re struggling. Then, focus on adapting.
Be the best at adapting. Respond to those thoughts with strong body language.

Here’s a simple little step-by-step:

1. Expect and WANT doubt before a tough workout, then know how you want to RESPOND to it.

2. The moment you feel any “negativity” creeping in, smile, literally smile and say “RESPOND”

3. Use body language that you’d be proud of if you were watching yourself. So, lighten up your facial expression, step back (no more than 2 big steps away from equipment), roll your shoulders back, keep your eyes up or forward. Take a deep breath or two and smile, if possible.

4.  Pick a set, pace, amount of rest, etc and aim to stick with it. If you can’t stick to it, that’s okay. Go back to A and repeat
—–> Get out there and practice. Expect it to get hard. Then adapt in a way you’ll be proud of at the end of the day.

 

Set a timer and see how long it takes you to find the numbers from 00 – 99, in order, on the grid below.
You can simply put your finger on the number if you’re doing this through your screen.

Another way to use the grid is by AMRAP. Set a timer for 2 minutes and see how many numbers you can get. Once you’re done, take a little break and then start again picking up on the number you left off on.

You can continue to use this grid, or other ones as a way to practice increasing your mental focus, ability to concentrate and ability to stay composed while pushing your pace.

Practice & Print

If you’d like to print out this image you can always save the image. When you want to mix it up, you can find lots of concentration grids online too. It’s a fun and different way to challenge and train your ability to stay focused on the task at hand. With practice in training your attention, you can actually improve it.