Sunday Story…It isn’t over

Until it’s over. This one is simple. Whatever the task is in front of you; you will not stop until it is finished. If we are working for 20 minutes we work for 20 minutes, not 19:50 or even 19:59. If we are doing 100 of something we don’t stop at 80 or 90 or 99. We stop when we are done…we stop when the task is complete or the bell rings and not 1 second before.

This is a commitment to yourself. I will stop when I am finished, not when I’m tired, not when it gets hard, not when I feel like I should. I stop only when I am done.

We shut everything out (present moment focus), we only work on getting one more whatever, we stick to the plan that’s working and we work until it’s done. Our mental game is strong. I am committed to finishing. If we both get on the treadmill either you are getting off first or I am going to die. That is the strength of my resolve.

Pain is temporary. When it passes something else will take its place. Will it be regret? The regret of stopping, of giving up on yourself, of not being who you wanted to be that day? Or will it be the pride of finishing, of stepping into the power and strength that lies beneath your veneer, of squeezing every drop of effort from your body?

It isn’t over until I say it’s over.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Everyone has a plan…

Until they get hit in the face. On our road to mental toughness there will be setbacks, obstacles, things won’t go according to plan…you WILL get hit in the face.

We have present moment focus (#1) and (#2) the right self talk. Both of those things are going to get tested right now. What do you do when your plan isn’t working? What do you do when you get hit on the face?

This is when you need to keep #1 and #2 in the forefront. But you also need to be able to shift on the fly. What’s your plan “b”? Do you even have one? What happens when you get no-repped? What happens when your rope breaks?

#3 is best called, simply, Breathe. The plan has gone down the tube. You can keep hammering and hope it turns out OK. You can just slow down and let it go (violates #2 by the way). Or you can stop. Take a breath. Take another. Find your present moment focus on your new plan. Slow down here, go faster there. 3,2,1 go. The 2-5 seconds you just took will prevent the “wheels from falling off the bus”! The last thing you want is to try to stay with your plan as you get pummeled about the head and shoulders.

Present moment focus, self-talk, and breathe all work together to keep you on task and in the game. Next week…it ain’t over.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Nattering Nabobs

Of negativity. On our quest to mental toughness, one of the biggest things to control is your self-talk. What you say to yourself is of critical importance.

If you say you are tired, you will be tired.
If you say you are thirsty you will stop for a drink.
You don’t need chalk, you just want to rest…whether you admit it or not.
If you say you’re going to die, you are lying to yourself. You won’t die, your body will quit long before that.
If you say you can’t you probably can’t.

Remember step 1 is your present moment focus. Step 2 is controlling your interior dialogue. Move with purpose using the plan you set before starting. If there’s a change to be made, make it based on reality, not the story you are telling yourself. Just change the plan as a matter of fact, not emotion.

It is too easy to beat yourself up, to be negative about your performance, to allow negativity to creep into your performance. Just like we can’t re-organize a squat under load, it is almost impossible to regain positive attitude under a barrage of negative self-commentary. Train yourself every day to have positive self-talk…about everything. How am I today? Super good and getting better! How’s that work out? I love thrusters and burpees! It’s my wheelhouse! Say it enough and maybe someday it will be!

Step 3 next week.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Mental Toughness

The other day someone asked me how do I keep going in a workout when the lungs are on fire, the heart is hammering, the muscles are screaming, and your brain is telling you to stop? What’s the process to keep going? What’s the process to dig down and go faster, find another gear, negotiate for more strength? What do you do that makes this possible?

It turns out, for me, that there are several steps. It isn’t just one thing (is it ever?) First and foremost, it is present moment/task oriented. In other words, all I am concentrating on is what I am doing at that very moment. I am not thinking about the next task or the one after that. If I am rowing I worry about the row…stroke rate, pacing, form, and technique. That is all there is; me, the machine, the monitor, the noise of the fan, the click of the chain.

The next task does not exist. Yet. My focus is singular and laser focused. I have this task and just this task. When I finish this task I will move to the next task. The moment I move to the next task, I am done with the one finished. I don’t replay it in my mind, rehash the strategy, nothing. It is over and done. I am focused on the job at hand.

The time for judgment and replays and all of that is when you finish everything. Until you are done, though, there is only that thing.

Next week…nattering nabobs!

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Right

Not fast.

The other day I was talking to someone about pushups. How to do them correctly, why to do them correctly, what the full range of motion looks like, and how to scale them when fatigue sets in. We want to do them right not fast. That being said, we also want to do them right fast. Once we understand what “right” looks like we can concentrate on fast.

This is a microcosm for the rest of your life. Take your nutrition…are you opting for fast instead of right? Are you eating “good enough” or enough good? It takes too much time to measure the food? Are you guessing your portion sizes? Fast food is rarely right food.

What about your relationships? Are you doing “drive-by” check-ins? Are you allowing your loved ones to be superficial? Are you listening deeply and carefully? You can’t love fast, you need to love right.

John Wooden once said, “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.” You don’t become the best you can become fast. You become the best you can become by doing things right.

Do it right not fast.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Nutritionally speaking

We often use a pyramid to illustrate your progression to better fitness. At the bottom of that pyramid is nutrition. Nutrition, AKA the food you eat, lies at the base of your health and fitness. It is that simple. You cannot out exercise a bad diet. There is no number of burpees that will compensate for eating crap (Calorie-Rich-And-Pathetic).

If you want to look better, feel better, and be healthier then you must eat better. It starts with a commitment to eat real food, prepared well, in a healthy environment. Then you must eat the right things. Then you must eat the right things in the correct amounts. None of this is terribly complex; it is, as I often say, simple but not easy.

We start with food quality and move to the correct macronutrient and calorie levels. Food timing and supplements are last on the list. The food we start with is lean meats and fish, next vegetables, followed by fruits and a limited amount of nuts and healthy fats and oils. At the top of the list are the grains and complex foods like bread and pasta. Those foods are calorically dense and, often, nutritionally weak so we really need to watch our intake on those.

We are about to launch a new nutritional support program. It will have several levels of support to help guide you to success. It will also include a measuring system called an In-Body that will give us a way to track your progress. Stay tuned for more details very soon.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey@gmail.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…More pie

Some of us live in a finite world, a zero sum game. If I win, you lose. If you get more, I get less. There are only so many pieces of the pie and the winner is the one who has the most pieces at the end. This is a great model for determining who wins the championship. There’s only 1 trophy, 1 title and whoever wins it, wins it. 1 winner and everyone else isn’t the winner.

This mindset doesn’t necessarily work in the rest of the world. It’s fine for an athletic competition but, really, to get truly big things done I need cooperation. I need people who can build a bigger pie or make more pies. If the pie is bigger we can all get more pie. This is a simple concept…a bigger pie equals more for everyone.

What if I concentrated on making a bigger pie instead of trying to make sure I got the piece I thought I deserved? What if I gave up on getting what’s mine and made sure everyone got theirs? How much bigger could I make things? How much more abundant would my life appear if I took the view that there was always going to be enough?

Some things are finite. There will only be one Super Bowl winner this year. Ideas are infinite. Hoarding them won’t create more but giving them away might make room for more.

A candle is not diminished when it lights another candle. Abundance is a mindset as much as it is a reality. Make a bigger pie, get more pieces.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412