What is Strength?: Part 1 - April 4, 2007

by Mike Gill

Static, explosive, and endurance are the types of muscular strength we commonly deal with when talking about athletics. As strongmen, we need all three of those types to be at their upper-most levels when peaking for a contest. If you can't lift the weight at all, your static strength is too low. If it takes you too long, you need to become more explosive. And if you can't do it enough times, you don't have the proper endurance. Each of those strength types are limited, however, by a type of strength that we rarely discuss and very few people spend time training: mental strength.

Your mind is the body's governor. It places limits on what you can do. It's an evolutionary safety mechanism that helps keep us alive. You want to listen to it because it provides comfort and stops pain. But on the athletic field it can restrain you and keep you from greatness.

Without proper mental toughness you will never achieve your best. I've seen plenty of athletes not realize their full potential because they mentally quit before they reached their physical limits. Some competitors like Rick Hoyt and Mark Zupan aren't exactly household names, but have a mental strength that few can comprehend. Both men have overcome adversity to achieve things once thought impossible. In the top ranks of pro sports, Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong have both displayed such superior mental strength that they are regarded by many as the best ever in their respective sports. It's not just their physical skills that have made them great, but their mind's ability to continue on when many would accept or even welcome failure.

Yes, I said that right, welcome failure. When they body begins to give negative feedback and threatens to quit the mind can always push a little further. More times then you would think, in all levels of competition, people lose because they gave in and decided not to push a little bit further. They tell themselves "The hill is just too high, I haven't trained for this incline" and they lower their RPMs. "No, I can't lift this weight overhead it just feels too heavy", and they drop it. "Holy shit that D-back hit me hard, I'll never make the end zone" and he gets run down by a safety. Then strangely there is a sense of relief. The body thinks it's safe and the mind has an excuse to stop.

But for someone with top mental strength, that isn't how they think. They process pain differently. Some are naturals at it and some have trained themselves for it. I am willing to bet that Lance Armstrong's inner monologue goes more like this: "This hill is a bastard, my lungs are on fire. The guy behind me must be dying. Lets see if he is really ready to pay the price." and he cranks it up a notch. Like his competitor behind him, he has prepared himself physically to go the distance. More importantly, though, he has prepared himself mentally in a way the guy behind him can't even fathom. In order to be the best you have to do the same thing. If you are saying to yourself right now that you already do this, then I suspect one of two things: you either are already the top of your field, or you have poor self-assessment skills.

How do we change this mind set? How do we learn to use physical pain to our advantage and make the other guy quit before us? Well, it's not easy, but I have a plan. I have a plan that I follow and that my athletes follow as well. I'm going to break it down for you in a two part series over the next two weeks. After you implement just a few of these techniques you will be amazed at how you do in any athletic contest. You will see immediate feedback in your performance, and it wall also help to change the way you think in general.

Posted by Mike Gill at 10:08 AM

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Comments

Got an extra plan for world domination lying around by any chance?

I look forwards to implementing this on the battleground that is the soccer field.

Posted by: HalfNelson at April 4, 2007 12:01 PM

You know, i completely agree with this, i recently tested for my black belt in tae kwon do, and the testing itself is extremely difficult, four hours of non stop conditioning with four instructors breathing down your throat, telling you everything you are doing sucks, and i believe that there is a place the mind can go that surpasses its ability to govern the body and listen to pain, the point where you no longer care about being tired, no longer care about hurting, and most importantly, all you fixate on is the possibility of sucess, you believe that while the odds are against you, there is nothing that can stop you anymore, because you have overcome it, thats how i felt at about hour three, and i am happy to say that i now have my black belt, and an ability to push myself beyond any limit i thought i had, thanks for bringing such a cool topic up.

Posted by: Sean at April 5, 2007 05:19 AM

I whole heartedly agree with you. It's this fact that gives martial artists such power. Often at times I find myself physically drained, but my mind helps give me that extra push to help me continue my training. After all, once you've conquered your mind and heart the body will automatically fall in line. However, mental strength also helps with every facet of your life, not just physical poweress. Meh, that's my take on the philosophy of the mind.

Posted by: Tony at April 6, 2007 02:00 PM

This strikes a major chord with me, as I guess it will with most people; "poor self-assessment" is surely an understatement for any average person who doesn't realize they have this problem, at least once it's pointed out. For me, although I have a lot of physical conditioning to do, I can tell that getting on top of my mental game would be a huge leap. And if you have some advice that will really help with it, easy or not, it sounds almost too good to be true. I'll definitely be watching.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 6, 2007 02:49 PM

Thats a bold statement Mike... I'll be interested to hear it

Posted by: corkhead32 at April 6, 2007 07:36 PM

I am interested to hear what your plan is. I compete in IronMan events. And the mental toughness that is required is truly unique in that as soon as you become competative, your whole world comes tumbling down. (at least for me, since it take me about 11 hours to finish.)

You have keep telling yourself, I'll catch that bastard in the last 5 miles, just pace yourself until then. Then when that last 5 miles comes around, you feel like such crap that you stop caring and just want to finish.

I did a half Ironman (1 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13 mile run) about 5 month after my first IM. I wanted to show my buddies how strong I had become and went out pretty hard. Even though I was in better shape than when I did my full-IM, I barely finished. I had to walk the entire 13 miles. It took close to 8 hours (5 being may PR)

Pushing your limits come in many forms. For me, and many endurance athletes out there, it comes down to this.

It is easy to be hard, its hard to be smart.

Posted by: -Testify! at April 9, 2007 09:57 AM