Don't Let it Get the Best of You

For the most part my first run of posts here have had to do with technique, what exercises I like or to do and even a rant or two. Today's flavor is going to be a little more about mind set, mentality and attidude both towards training and life. I'm no expert on either subject, but I've been around for a few years, 26, so I think I've got a few experiences that I can comment to the subject.

The other day it started out not seeming like my day. Went to get gas, no debt card, couldn't find it anywhere. Got to the facility, crap forgot my shorts to workout in. Went to workout, no headphones, stuck with the music from the sound system here. Went to training for Rugby, no mouthpiece in my bag, damn no full-on contact for me. All of these little things could have absolutely derailed my day...if I had let it do so. In all honesty as short as a few years ago I would have thought this to be an absolute terrible day and wanted to just call it a wash. With the right attitude and thought process, glass half full rather than half empty, things worked out. First called my bank and the place I left my card at called and canceled the card for me when they found it, just need to pick up a new one. For the shorts issue, just dashed home and grabbed a pair, easy. Still forgot the headphones, but the tunes weren't too bad for the duration of the workout, just didn't let it mess with my head. For the mouthpiece issue, practice didn't involve a lot of hitting drills, I stayed out of the ones that did for the most part because I'm not playing this weekend due to a wedding of an old client, solved.

Some of you are sitting there and saying what in the holy green hell does this have to do with training? Like the title says, don't let it get the best of you. When you are training, if you can't finish a lift for reasons D, E, F or G (yeah went with a bit more obscure letters), you can do 2 things, you can say I got it next time, focus on the next workout and move forward. The other option is you can let it fester, let it ruin your day and kill your mood. Seriously if you let the little things get to you it can kill your training. Think about it, how many times have you missed a lift, then tried to make it up and do far more than you are use to, then you feel like you are an inch from throwing yourself off the Prudential building and fall off the training wagon.

Now if you have missed the simple message I have been trying to convey it is this. When the small things start to go wrong, don't sweat it. You miss a rep, move on, it's done and over. Just keep moving forward with your training and you will get results. Even if you are like myself and compete against yourself in your workouts, you have to get it through to your ego that dwelling on it can kill the rest of your training for the day, and that can just snow ball into a week, month, or months, even a year...NOT GOOD. Just keep the eyes forward and focus on getting better then next day.