What can training do to help with negative thoughts?
Often in training we talk about mental toughness and grit. Sticking to it when it is tough is hard and no matter how experienced or fit you are, you will hit that sticking point. It happens in a 1000m sprint row or in a marathon run. Highly professional athletes struggle with facing that sticking point because it hurts so much but most of all they are scared they might fail.
Often the anticipation of failure is what stops most people to even try. It is ironic because failure is just a way to learn the unexplored and to grow out of old habits. Failing is always an option and if you already know this you are more open to explore.
The best way however to handle negative thoughts before or during a workout can be used outside the training to by following the following steps:
Acknowledge
Accept
Activate
Acknowledging that negative thoughts are coming up is the first step so you are aware of your thoughts. Because at the end they are only emotions inside your head they don’t exist anywhere else and nothing in universe knows they exist.
As soon as you accept they are there you don’t need to push them away, because you already know they were coming. It is like planning a trip to the rainforest, where you know it will rain. No surprise.
Now, accept and acknowledging the situation you can activate your already thought out response. It might be a tactical step by step process or simply to embrace the situation as something positive you are now learning.
Training is not so much to build strong backs and legs but also to build strong minds and just like with physical training everyone starts from where they are at today to take a small steps forward by regularly practicing.
The mind might not lose that training the same way our bodies do when we get old.