You walk in to your box, exchange hellos and trash talk with those arriving, put your things in your spot, then you walk over to the whiteboard and that’s when the outcome of your workout changes.  You look at the scores for the day and you zoom in on a few people that have the fastest times or the heaviest lifts. At that moment, your assessment of your own performance starts spiraling.  

You decide, at that moment, that you are not fast enough or strong enough and, in your mind, that’s an automatic failure.  Some people see other athletes’ scores and it lights a friendly fire for competition while the rest look at the same one or two athletes and decide that they will not match up.  Then there are some of you who know a few scores are padded to look better and let the lack of someone else’s integrity destroy your happy hour, so you spend the rest of the day boiling over how that score is “winning” but it’s only because they cheated.

If you truly want to grow, get faster, get stronger, get more BADASS, then you must stop staring at the whiteboard in comparison and you must keep your focus on the lift or the workout directly in front of you. Stop seeing others’ PR’s as your failure. They may have been working specifically on that lift or technique behind the scenes.

They may not have the same physiological or physical boundaries that you are trying to work through. They may get a full night’s sleep or recover better. Maybe they have a kick ass pre-workout. Who knows what else? What it boils down to is what you have power over and you only have power over yourself. So, use that power instead of wilting away when you are near other athletes.

As a coach, I can assure you we know who is doing their best and doing EVERY rep and we know who is cutting corners to look best. Let go of your anxiety and anger and let those people deal with their own half attempts.  They are not getting the benefit of the full workout or building their mental and physical fortitude because they choose to cheat instead of fight to the end… and they are not gaining respect.

If you struggle with intrinsic motivation, team up with a friend you trust, who you feel can push you, but leave it at that! Don’t compare their strength to yours. Instead, take the anxiety or the self-doubt and flip it right around in to fuel to become what you know YOU can be. It’s an injustice to yourself every time you say you want to be better but show up and give up because of what someone else is doing or claiming to do.

FIX YOUR ARMOR, WARRIOR. THERE’S WORK TO DO.

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