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I have the utmost respect for certain people. These people make me step up my training BIG time. All I do is picture them in my head for a fraction of a second. The game changes, completely. These are the poeple who walk the walk and DO rather than talk.
It comes without saying when I think of these people. Navy SEALs, Greg Amundson, Spec Ops Military Personnel, Ultra Marathoners...... The list certainly goes on and I would be missing names no matter how many I listed.
These men have a different mindset then the norm, and let's face it, being normal sucks. Normal doesn't cut it nowadays if you want to be a Gladiator and dominate all obstacles that stand in your way.
Life brings obstacles, we wouldn't be alive without them. But, it's the mind that changes the game. This is why you often hear me laughing at the cry babies who complain about some of my workouts that have nothing to do with science, instead, I endure these "No Rules Workouts" to push my mind to the outer limits.
One of my Greatest Fears is losing my edge. In fact, this past Sunday, while mountain biking, my body REALLY began to feel like shit. My legs and lower back were fatigued BIG time, yet only a few days earlier I kicked ass going through the very same trails.
My mind started f**ing with me as my legs burned BIG time and my lower back cramped up on me.
Sunday night, While reading a book on a man who cranks ultra marathons, he spoke how at times he felt like shit, and deep down didn't want to give 100%, INSTEAD, he turned the tables on himself and pushed to give 120%.
That little sentence just changed the way I'll be viewing things next time I feel like s**t through a workout. In ALL seriousness, we're not supposed to feel good through every workout, rest when we're tired, etc. That is NOT the real world.
Heck, maybe it's the real world for you, but for me, every time I slip mentally I feel that my family is paying the price. I'm on a mission to become stronger, fitter and more mentally tough than I have ever been in my entire life.
Perhaps it's time to step up and train WITH the college wrestlers I train. Check out their upper body work below, and, this was an easy day as wrestle offs were right around the corner for them....
Today's workout is gonna be a hellish one, and, just when I think it's over, I'm gonna tack on some extra craziness.
Question for You: How do you organize your workouts to keep your mental edge? If you want, leave a specific workout you went through that took your mind to the next level.
In Strength,
--Z--
Recommended Resources:
The Underground Strength System
30 Day Trial to The Underground Inner Circle (Train With ME & Follow ALL my Workouts)
8 Responses
Thanks for this post Zach… I’ve been feeling the same lately and I needed to read something like this to put things in perspective. I’ll be following you down the road to insane training as well!
Just a few comments – I haven’t gone anywhere far in that direction yet.
1. It really helps when I manage mental training everyday for a few days, but I admit this is a weak spot – I haven’t been that steady
2. Confront frustration right there when it shows up. “I’m a failure: I failed the load I had planned for today”. -> I’m not a failure: either I committed a mistake on my periodization or a technical mistake. I try again and again, and if I keep failing, I try to analyse the factors AFTER eating and sleeping. Does that work all the time? not yet… Sometimes it does, though.
3. Try and not confuse confrontation with stubborness. Like “I never bow down to anything, I planned this and this is what I’ll do”. Well… once it was a hard week for my workout buddy and I had to re-schedule important items, putting too much over-max loads on the same workout. The result was fever, sickness and very close to ending up on the Emergency room. THAT IS STUPID. Life is as it is – I’m not a professional athlete and unfortunately we still have to adjust to outside demands.
4. There’s a very fine line between conquering your fears and limits and serious injury and harming your body
5. (this is the most important item): remember what I’m there for. Not for trophies, not for personal recognition, but because this is what I am, what I love and the only form of transcendence I know. When I look at the bar and remember this, it usually works.
As I said, I’m not there yet – I struggle with all of this, I guess like everybody else I know… I read a lot about qigong and those Shaolin monks, I guess there’s a lot to learn there in terms of mental toughness.
4 Rounds as fast as possible:
-400m sprint
-10@ Around the world with a Bulgarian Sandbag
-10x Burpees
In the final round, the 400m killed me…There was an inner battle between “Slow down, it´s ok, it´s a tough workout” and the burning flame inside…You could actually see the battle afterwards when I checked the record of my pulse monitor, my heartbeats going up,down,up,down,Up…
When I hit the 200m mark I thought “What if someones life was depending on my actions now? Would I slow down because my lungs burn, because my legs would barely let me move them, because I know it´s not real?” I teared up that border I had burdened myself with that day.
That´s how we grow.
Thx for the post, Zach!
Keep getting sronger!
I’m a huge fan of EDT. Having that deadline in every PR Zone and trying to beat the previous sessions rep count really fires me up! Couple that with managing fatigue so I always feel explosive and strong on every rep. LOVE IT!
This was a good one w/ Ultimate Sandbags & Stone
10min.PR Zone –
Alternate shouldering get up w/70# USB
20min. Zone –
A. Overhead Chop/Step back lunge w/100# USB
B. Stone Snatch & SLAM! w/80# stone
15min.Zone –
A. Cyclone w/70#USB
B. Weighted Divebombers w/35#sandpack
Zach – Awesome blog… Man, I fill the same way at times when I train and I hear it from my clients, yet as you describe and portray its a mental thing… I work during the day and in my mind, I be like I don’t want to get a workout in, yet I think about those that are working harder than me, I think about those persons athletes that will be my competition in life and I strive and struggle to out train them. I tell the clients the same thing… I say the training you do 90 percent of the area you live in aren’t doing the work… Its really something athletes have to want, if they don’t they will always be outworked both mentally and physically!
SO True Zach! I always tell people that 90% of the reason why I race my bike is for the mental training. No matter what I do in the gym it’s nothing compared to a long, cold, muddy, bloody bike race.
I feel everyone should have just one thing they do on a regular basis that makes the mind tough and everything else seems easier (therefor you can push harder) by comparison. Yes?
Z,that’s the kind of “sic” training I’d expect from you!
Great stuff!
Big Z,
there’s been so many training sessions where I thought I would die. Each and every one teaches you an important lesson about yourself…
They teach you about how much passion, dedication, drive, commitment, and GUTS you have!
The one I can specifically remember the best is this:
5 Rounds For Time:
1A) 250# sled drag and pull x 20 yards down and back
1B) 40# sandbag sprint 50 yards down and back
1C) 6 plyo push ups
1D) 1 Rope Climb (15 ft) – NO LEGS
By the 3rd round you start to ask yourself “WHY”
then you know you’re pushing hard….