“Harden the f%^k up,” cannot be your mantra at the moment. “I got this,” would serve you well.
With gyms closed, it’s really levelled the playing field for millions and your ability to ‘think outside the square’ becomes tested. We may well want to squat, bench and deadlift, row and curl heavy but may not be able to.
Unfortunately, that alone will crush some spirits, while others with brave spirits will flourish and that alone is an interesting thing. Who will, who won’t? We all probably have some element of ‘scrambled egg’ brain right now with some tomato sauce thrown in to make the consistency really runny and not quite right.
Being badass will not be your flagship or your totem pole right now. That isn’t where you need to be hanging your cap or cloak or wonder woman outfit — whatever it is that you wear. You need to a warrior — a thinker, a hunter, a fighter. You need to find your hunting ground, and then you need to create it. Social judgement and comparison will carry on as always, but it may come in a different form. Who is more creative? Who shows their determination on other levels? How are friends and fitspo’s ‘doing’ fitness best?
Allow the athlete to come out in you now, more than ever I urge you.
Show yourself that you can stay focused under enormous pressure and uncertainty, whilst being hit with financial, health, ‘lock-down’ rules, isolation and the barrage that is ongoing on all forms of media.
Manage your internal battle with anxiety that has possibly increased tenfold over the past week or so as best you can. Stay determined too as a primary daily task, even with problems and questions pulling at your brain from all directions in harsh and terrifying manners.
Trainees and health/fitness lovers – right now read the pages from an athlete’s book, plagiarise their brain and enact it. What do athletes do? They are excellent at keeping perspective whatever the circumstances. They always leverage their attitude to make good choices no matter what. Right at this moment you need a completely different set of skills from your toolbox. Not John Wick skills. Athlete skills.
You can’t get your confidence from an internet meme right now; you must find it within you. If you don’t like leaving your comfort zone, well guess what? You are being forced to, so how is it going to roll? There is a great quote by Brian Griffin that is pertinent to this pandemic affecting our fitness vibe, mojo and arena: “I am not going to call an ambulance this time, because if I do you won’t learn anything.”
Boy, are we all about to learn! I will remain how I always have been to my community — vulnerable, yes; authentic, yes. But most of all, I will remain absolutely hell-bound intent on remaining positive and showing readers all the silver linings on each and every grey, thunderous, black, thick cloud around us right now.
If fitness is of great value to you, as in it’s right up there in your top five values, you need to jump the comfort zone fence and step on a different playing field. Welcome to your new showground.
If you can allow this current climate of uncertainty and fear to mature your athletic identity, man are you going to come out the other side of this well. Truth be told, some of you are going to do so well even if we do indeed go to full lockdown, because you DID stick a square peg in a round hole and you took your emotional plaster cast off. You are going to be amazingly energized, proud, standing taller than ever, even grateful. This will be a transformative experience, make no mistake.
The single best thing that you can do to cope with this outrageous difficulty, aside from maintaining self-confidence, is to focus on the things that CREATE great outcomes, not the outcome itself.
Maintain plenty of heart. You’ve got this!