During the COVID-19 shutdown I have really noticed how the story in my head and the words I use matter. The more I said to myself I don’t want to do heavy dumbbell thrusters in the driveway in the cold, the more likely I would skip it. When I talked myself up I was much more likely to workout.

Before we had to close and I was neck and neck with someone the entire workout, after we were done I would tell them ‘I hate you…for making me push so hard’. It was in a joking matter but as we said what we tell ourselves matters. This enforces that pushing hard is something to not enjoy and can only be done when next to someone else.

While working out at home and not having that push I found myself missing it. This Monday I had the chance to be neck and neck with Krista and Amy and boy I forgot how much fun that was. After the workout the words ‘I hate you’ never even crossed my mind, instead all I thought was ‘THANK YOU.”

With that being said I find that one of the things I can work on is finding that intensity when not around people. It won’t be the same every time but having the mental toughness to go to that place is a skill that can and should be developed. The same can be said for music. Does music help, absolutely but it should not be required in order to workout and push yourself.

We need to build our mental toughness, our ability to focus, and push our threshold of doing things that make us uncomfortable.

What did you learn from this shutdown? I would love to hear about it, let me know. berek.bryan@equity.fitness

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Cheers,
Berek