Category Archives: Mental Toughness

Preparation – Daily Challenge 5/21

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Preparation is the key to reaching peak performance.  To be prepared is to consistently have your thoughts, feelings, and bodily responses at the right state at the right time.  The consistency that is required to reach peak performance and compete day in and day out will never happen if practice and competition behaviors are left to chance.  By creating a systematic approach to how we think about, feel, and react to different situations we can reduce the fear of the unknown and the stress associated with it.  The goal of preparation is to create processes that we can employ daily, weekly, seasonally, yearly, in a warm-up, at practice, in a race, and after competition to improve our readiness to perform.

Daily Challenge 5/21:

Prepare for your post workout Nutrition this week!

Develop a plan or process that will remind you and help you have the proper fuel you need to recover and rebuild after your workouts.  Checkout this post on post workout nutrition and make sure you’re prepared.

Share your thoughts on preparing for solid nutrition post workout or throughout the day!

Life’s Crazy, Go For A Walk! – Daily Challenge 5/19

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Life can get crazy and schedules can fill up fast.  That doesn’t mean you should just give in to the pressure.  Sometimes taking 5 minutes to step outside and breath can be extremely refreshing.  Tomorrow looks gorgeous in the Boston area, but no matter where you are get outside and enjoy life for a few.  Find a river, go for a walk, enjoy the little things.

Daily Challenge 5/19:

Go for a 5 minute walk outside!  If you have a body of water nearby, go walk along it.  Sure it would be nice to go for a five-minute row, but even just walking along the water can be freeing.

Share your thoughts!

Mental Toughness – Daily Challenge 5/2

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Mental Toughness

Firsthand athletes are developed through competition when they harness the power of the mind.  Our thoughts affect our feelings and our feelings affect our actions.  Anyone can develop an ability to do work with regards to fitness and rowing, but when work capacity is combined with mental toughness athletes can control their actions and reach their goals.  Mental toughness is an athlete’s ability to commit to competition with a belief in oneself, to have a positive focus on the things they can control, and to embrace challenge as an opportunity for learning and self-improvement.

Daily Challenge 5/2:

Focus on your breathing for 3 minutes.

Sit relaxed with a good posture.  Set a timer or play a quiet song for about 3 minutes.  Focus on your breathing.  Think about your breath as it enters through your nose and mouth.  How does it fill your lungs?  Think about your breath as filling a jug of water from the bottom up.  Breathe through your belly and then up into your chest.  Exhale for a count of 4 and then inhale for a count of 4.  When your mind wanders bring it back to your breath.  In and out.  Really focus.

Focusing on your breath is a great tool to develop mental toughness.  Our breath is something that we can control.  Think about exhaling as a chance to breathe out all your stress and worries.  Then you can inhale energy, confidence, and strength.  Use your diaphragm and fill your belly first.

Share your thoughts on breathing!  

How do you breathe?  Through the chest or belly?  How often did your mind wander?  Were you able to focus on breathing and nothing else?