But what if I live in a cave, Jake?

With that tagline in mind, this article is going to provide you with a more realistic and effective spin on the concept. Thanks to a bit of imagination, I’ve discovered that if you’ve got the outdoors, you’ve gotta gym! Read on for a guide on setting up your own outdoor gym along with a workout to try.

Where Is the Best Place for an Outdoor Gym?

Practically anywhere! Although it depends on what you want to do and your access to the outdoors. I am currently based in Australia’s capital city, Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). One of the best and most unique things about Canberra is the abundance of open outdoor space and closeness to bushland. For example, my training partner, ACT Fire Brigade Officer Dave Bremers, and I discovered Mount Ainslie is a mere ten minute’s jogging distance from us and has an abundance of natural objects and trails we can utilize. What’s near you?

A kangaroo training partner is optional.

What Objects Work Well in an Outdoor Gym?

Any natural objects that you can lift, carry, climb, or pull yourself up from. Try for a variety of different sized rocks or log to lift or carry and low tree branches for pulling exercises or climbing. In addition, look for trails, paths, and hills for weighted carries.

How Do I Program for Outdoor Gym Sessions?

While you are only limited by your imagination and what objects you have access to, I recommend keeping it simple and focusing on full-body style workouts. I have found the following template works well:

• Lower body movement (quad dominant) – Log or rock squat variations
• Upper body pulling movement – Tree chin up or pull up, or tree inverted rows
• Lower body movement (hip dominant) – Log or rock deadlift variations
• Upper body pushing movement – Push ups, Log or rock bench-style presses
• Whole body explosive and/or whole body grind – Rock or log carries and/or rock or log throws
• Core work – Plank or back extension variations

The RKC plank is an excellent way to develop core strength and full-body tension.

Exercise-wise, you are only limited by your imagination and the objects around you. If your outdoor setting doesn’t have rocks, logs, or other objects for loaded exercises, simply focus on bodyweight movements with increased difficulty and/or more repetitions. Be prepared to be flexible and adapt your workout to best suit your surroundings and to ensure you have fun.

What Are the Benefits of an Outdoor Gym?

Training outdoors is an enjoyable and fun change to being in the often sterile and artificial environment of a gym. Lifting and playing with randomly sized and weighted outdoor objects is a fantastic challenge to grip strength and endurance, while their offset loads and holds help improve coordination and strengthen often-neglected stabilizer muscles.

“While you are only limited by your imagination and what objects you have access to, I recommend keeping it simple and focusing on full-body style workouts.”

I hate to use that word “functional,” but getting better at picking up and moving large awkward objects like logs and rocks is pretty functional training for everyday life. Getting to train in the outdoors, particularly in my country of Australia, also means getting a good dose of sunshine and the associated vitamin D benefits. There is also just something cool about having kangaroos and other Australian wildlife in your “gym” watching your form!

Your Outdoor Workout: “Bremers”

Here is my current go-to outdoor gym workout that you can get started with. It’s 45 to 60 minutes of full-body training that works great as a solo session or when done with a partner.

“Bremers”

1. Rock squat thruster – ascending ladder, up only – max 10 reps
2. Tree chin up (alternating grip) – ascending ladder, up and down
3. Rock sumo style deadlift – ascending ladder, up only – max 10 reps
4. Push ups – ascending ladder, up only – max 10 reps
5. Rock carry – 2 x 3 minutes, maximum efforts for distance
6. RKC plank – 3 x maximum efforts for time

No loud music, no waiting for equipment – just me, the outdoors, and a fun workout.

Notes:

• Ascending ladder, up only: Do 1 rep, rest 15 seconds, do 2 reps, rest, do 3 reps etc. Continue in this fashion until you fail a set and/or until you complete the 10-rep set.
• Ascending ladder, up and down: Do 1 rep, rest 15 seconds, do 2 reps, rest, do 3 reps etc. Continue in this fashion until you struggle to complete a set and then return back to 1 rep. You then continue going up until you are 1 rep short of where you stopped previously, then you return to 1 rep. Said another way: if on your first effort you get 1, 2, 3, 4, and then 5 reps. Then the next round you start back at 1 rep and work up to 4. After completing 4 reps, you start back at 1 rep and work up to 3. Continue up the ladder, going one rung less each time until you are too fatigued to even complete 1 rep.

Give it a try and let me know how you go. Remember, you got the outdoors, you gotta gym!

Check out these related articles:

• How to Create a Better Workout Training Plan Than Anyone Else
• How and Why to Run Hill Sprint Intervals
• Primal Fitness – What It is and Why It is Important
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

The post How to Make Nature Your Gym (Australia Style) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

That’s me doing a forward sled drag.

Sled Training Origins

While relatively new within the mainstream fitness industry, sled training has been around for quite some time. Drawing its inspiration from Scandinavian loggers who developed powerful legs and lower backs from dragging downed trees out of forests all day, the first commercial sleds starting appearing around 2005.

The most ubiquitous of these, the Prowler, was initially designed to enhance the sport-specific conditioning of American football linemen. Soon after, the Prowler and its variations began appearing in gyms around the world. These days, you will find sleds being utilized for interval training, speed training, strongman training, fat-loss conditioning, and general cardiovascular conditioning.

“The versatility of the sled allows you to program a number of different workouts to target specific muscular benefits, energy system development, or general conditioning.”

There are a variety of different sled models, but they all have the same general commonality: they can be dragged, pushed, or pulled and have the ability to add weights to provide extra resistance. Some models (e.g. the Prowler) have vertical posts on which weights can be loaded that also allow the sled to be pushed, while all models feature attachment points for towing straps. The versatility of the sled allows you to program a number of different workouts to target specific muscular benefits, energy system development, or general conditioning.

Sled Training Key Benefits

1. No Eccentric Loading

Without a doubt, the key benefit of using a sled is the lack of eccentric loading. As you probably know, eccentric loading (the negative part of a movement) generates large amounts of muscular tension, causing muscular damage and soreness.

Sled training won’t give you the same muscular and hormonal beatdown that traditional strength training does, allowing you to program it on a regular basis without interfering with other training elements. Be warned, though, even without the eccentric element, sled training still provides a brutally difficult workout.

2. Improves Acceleration

Acceleration is crucial to many sports. Sled training allows you to load traditional sprint-style work without interfering too much with the sprint mechanics. Loaded sprinting forces the body to work harder and recruit more musculature, leading to notable power and speed improvements. There is some good research demonstrating the benefit of sled training on sprinting times compared to just sprinting alone.

3. Functional Strength and Conditioning

When I say functional, I’m referring to the ability to manipulate sled training to deliver many different muscular or energy system training effects. Try some light sled drags or sprints to build acceleration and speed, heavy maximal sled pulls for lower-body strength boosts, or heavy sled pulls for time for muscular and cardiovascular strength-endurance benefits. As most sports or fitness activities require you to overcome resistance during movement (e.g. bodyweight or external resistance), sled training has useful transfer to sport

Backward sled drag

4. Reduced Joint and Muscle Loading

The heavy nature of the sled will limit you to low-speed and/or low-duration efforts. This by nature reduces the loading on the joints and muscles. This is of particular interest to distance runners and other endurance athletes as it provides a means of conditioning without beating your body down or requiring huge periods of recovery.

5. Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation

The lack of eccentrics and joint loading that comes from sled training make it ideal for injury prevention or rehabilitation training for lower-body focused athletes. I have personally used it as my primary form of running-specific training and conditioning when coming back from knee surgery three years ago. I highly recommend the same for anyone coming back from knee, ankle, or hip injuries.

6. Variety and Fun

Whether you’re an athlete or a weekend warrior, sled training offers something different from normal training methods. While challenging, it also adds a truly unique element of fun and variety to your training.

How to Use a Sled

As mentioned earlier, you can push, pull or drag a sled. As a point of reference, forward drags and pushes are useful for speed work (e.g. sprinting) and primarily target the posterior chain, while backward sled drags or pulls are brutal on the quadriceps. Sleds also provide the ability for lateral drags or pulls, which are fantastic for targeting the often-underutilized key muscles of the hip musculature.

In terms of harnesses, I recommend using a vest-based system for all forward drags and pulls and a TRX or something similar for all backward or lateral drags and pulls.

How Heavy Should My Sled Be?

There is no set rule on this and the research is still evolving, so it depends on your programming goals. Generally, the lighter the sled, the more you will focus on acceleration and speed-based benefits. Heavier sleds will focus you on maximum strength and/or strength-endurance benefits. As a rule of thumb, aim for 10-15% sled weight for acceleration work and up to 40-45% sled weight for more strength-based outcomes.

Lateral sled drag

Sled Training and Endurance Athletes

For endurance athletes, particularly runners, a strength/power session blended with some lactate tolerance work makes for a great running session substitution. I particularly recommend it early in the season or during a base phase instead of long run or slow-paced run to get in some quality strength and cardiovascular work.

Kyle’s Everyman Sled Protocol

Here’s my go-to sled workout to get you started. It starts with some strength/power alactic-based protocols that gradually morph into focusing on lactate tolerance as the session progresses and finishes. It also incorporates multi-planar movement for strengthening running gait in all directions.

Load sled to 40-45% of bodyweight.

Repeat A1-A4 for four rounds in total:

• A1. Forward drag 15-seconds maximum effort, 2min rest
• A2. Backward drag 15-seconds maximum effort, 2min rest
• A3. Lateral left drag 15-seconds maximum effort, 2min rest
• A4. Lateral right drag 15-seconds maximum effort, 2mins rest

Unload Sled for B + C

• B. Forward drag 60 seconds maximum effort with unloaded sled, 2min, rest
• C. Backward drag 60 seconds maximum effort with unloaded sled

Try this workout and report back, as well as suggesting any other effective protocols you’ve tried in the comments below.

Further Reading:

• Weighted Sled Tows Improve Sprint Performance Over Sprinting Alone
• Chris Duffin Video: Sled Pull-Through
• Science Investigates Optimal Loads for Sled Pulls
• What’s New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. Lockie, Robert G. et al. “The Effects of Different Speed Training Protocols on Sprint Acceleration Kinematics and Muscle Strength and Power in Field Sport Athletes“; Journal of Strength and Conditoning Research; June 2012.

The post Sled Training Basics, Plus a Go-To Sled Workout appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But, as I have discovered over the past twelve months, everyone has the capacity to run an ultra marathon. In this article, I am going to share eight key principles you need to incorporate when developing a training program to run long.

Proof Is in the Pudding: My Experience

I used this approach to go from zero running to successfully completing a fifty-mile (82-kilometer) ultra marathon across Australia’s highest mountain range within a twelve-month period. I am no super athlete, nor am I am a great runner. I am in the master’s athlete age category and I’m of above-average fitness (at best). Prior to adopting this approach, I could not run for more than twenty minutes without pain.

RELATED: The Best Ultra-Marathon Runners Are 35+ Years Old 

Me on a fifty-mile ultra marathon across Australia’s highest mountain range

1. Build Volume Patiently and Steadily Progress

If you are starting from zero or a minimal running base, it is essential you increase your running volume in a patient and progressive way. Failure to do so is a surefire path to soft-tissue injuries (e.g. plantar fasciitis, calf adhesions/trigger points, Achilles tendonitis). This is particularly true for anyone over the age of 35.

To get started, I recommend the Breaking Muscle article and program designed by Australian RKC coach and Ironman athlete Andrew Read. It is one of the best I have seen. Your initial goal will be to progress to running continuously for sixty minutes, three times per week, without injury. Once achieved, you then progressively build the duration of one long run, while incorporating some higher intensity running (see below).

2. Run 3 to 4 Times per Week

For aging athletes or anyone starting running with no base, I recommend only running three to four times per week. This means you will run every second or third day, while avoiding running on back-to-back days.

“If you are starting from zero or a minimal running base, it is essential you increase your running volume in a patient and progressive way.”

Three or four runs will allow for building of sufficient training volume, while still allowing enough time in between for soft-tissue recovery. It also allows for completion of other key training components including training for strength and movement/mobility issues.

3. Apply the 80/20 Rule to Your Run Training

Unless you are a professional athlete, the real-life commitments of work and family will limit your available training time. With that in mind, maximize your fitness by applying the 80/20 rule to the time you do have: Complete 80% of your training at low intensity, with the other 20% at high intensity. 

In terms of setting intensity, you can’t go past using heart rate zones. I’d recommend completing a thirty-minute lactate threshold run test and then using those results to set your heart rate zones. Aim to spend 80% of your training in Zone 2 and 20% in Zone 4 or higher.

4. Lower-Body Strength Training 2 to 3 Times per Week

Strength training is a critical, yet often-overlooked aspect of any runner’s training program. Strength training has effective transfer to running, leading to noticeable improvements in running economy and lactate threshold. It is also incredibly helpful in improving and restoring movement, as well as buffering the negative hormonal beat-down that comes from running long all the time. It will also improve your muscular recovery from tough fast runs or sessions incorporating a lot of eccentric work (e.g. stairs, down-hills).

“Strength training has effective transfer to running, leading to noticeable improvements in running economy and lactate threshold.”

5. Focus on Quality Time, Not on Weekly Distance

One of the biggest traps you can fall into when preparing for a long distance event is focusing on weekly distance. While being able to run a lot of distance does help a lot in terms of building a massive aerobic engine, unless you’re a professional athlete with unlimited time to train, this approach simply is not realistic and will dramatically increases your likelihood of getting injured.

It’s better to run less, focus on quality, and complement your running by improving your movement quality and whole-body strength.

6. Address Mobility, Soft-Tissue, and Movement Daily

Thanks to genius of Kelly Starrett and his daily Mobility WOD, more and more athletes are learning the benefits of addressing their tissue quality and movement restrictions. I cannot recommend enough taking ten to fifteen minutes daily to work on your problem areas.

RELATED: “Ready to Run” (Book Review)

For most runners, I’d recommend the focus be on the joints and soft-tissue areas of the ankles, hips, and thoracic region. If you’re not sure where to start, I recommend Kelly’s latest book Ready To Run. For me, I have had a lot of problems with calf knots and adhesions. It took me a good three to four months of daily work to fix this. The beauty of your fascial system is it’s ability to remodel, but it requires a daily time investment.

Me during the A21 Ultra marathon adventure across Australia’s Snowy Mountains

7. Train Consistently: Don’t Leave Your Best Run in Training

From my experience, the key to training success is being consistent. Your end result on game day is never the product of one training session where you set a personal best or absolutely smashed yourself. Your game day result is the sum of the consistent, patient efforts over the days, weeks, and months in the lead-up. In contrast, smashing a session to set a personal record nearly always ends up leaving you sore for days and being forced to skip other sessions.

RELATED: Everything to Know About Ultra-Marathons

8. Be Realistic: Give Yourself Time to Progress

Running long requires steadily building volume. Along with consistent training, give yourself a realistic amount of time to progress. If you attempt to build volume too quickly, you increase your chances of soft-tissue injury. 

“Running long requires steadily building volume. Along with consistent training, give yourself a realistic amount of time to progress.”

Similarly, if you try to crash-train for eight to twelve weeks with no previous running base, then you are likely to leave yourself woefully unprepared. In my situation, it took twelve months to build from zero running volume to running an 82-kilometer ultra successfully and safely. Could I have done it in less time? Quite possibly, but the risk of injury would have been much greater.

Take-Home Plan

As I have learned, everyone has the capacity to run long. Follow these principles – and add in a healthy dose of patience, discipline, and focus – and I guarantee you can successfully go from zero to ultra within twelve months.

The post From Zero To Ultra in 12 Months: How I Did It appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

While the evolution of running shoes to minimal drop models is a massive positive for improving the way we run, it has also resulted in a big negative: an increase in running overuse injuries associated with the transition to minimalism.

In this article, I will give you the lowdown on the pros and cons of minimalism, as well as a step-by-step running plan to transition you to minimal shoes safely and without injury.

RELATED: What Forefoot Running Actually Means

Minimal Shoes Explained

For the uninitiated, minimalism is a catchall term referring to the redesign of shoes to create a more natural running experience. This is primarily done by reducing a shoe’s heel-toe drop (also called the heel-toe offset or heel-toe differential).

New Balance Minimus Hi-REZ zero drop shoe 

The heel-toe drop is the difference between the midsole heel height (rear of the shoe) and the midsole forefoot height (front of the shoe). Thus, a 4mm drop shoe means when your foot is in the shoe, your heel will sit 4mm higher off the ground than your forefoot. A minimal drop shoe is generally classed as anything between 0-8mm.

RELATED: What You Need to Know About Buying Running Shoes

Pros of Running in Minimal Shoes

1. Noticeable Improvements in Biomechanics and Gait

The closer you are to zero drop, the closer you are to aligning your biomechanics and gait to the way nature intended for you to run. In particular, this tends to shift you into a more mid-foot or forefoot foot strike (as opposed to a heel strike), which can significantly reduce impact forces (read: likelihood of injury) and improve your running efficiency (see also point number four).

2. Less Restriction in the Ankles and Lower-Leg Tissues

The higher your heel-toe drop, the more you restrict range of motion in your ankles and lower-leg muscles. As running by nature involves thousands upon thousands of repetitions, your ankles and body will quickly adapt to this restricted range. Tight ankles and heel cords dramatically increase your likelihood of soft-tissue overuse injuries (e.g. Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis).

“The higher your heel-toe drop, the more you restrict range of motion in your ankles and lower-leg muscles.”

3. Functional Strengthening of Lower-Leg and Foot Muscles

This is closely aligned with point number two. Running in minimal drop shoes forces the lower-leg and foot musculature to work harder by moving through a greater range of motion. The end result, if you transition to minimal shoes properly, is huge functional strength improvements in the lower-leg and foot muscles. This significantly reduces your injury risk, as well.

4. Improvements in Power and Economy

From my own experience, I have found the lightweight and more natural feel of minimal drop shoes noticeably improves my running power by reducing my ground contact time. It also improves my running economy by making it easier to maintain a higher cadence. For me, both of these variables noticeably degrade when I run in shoes with higher drops.

RELATED: The Pros and Cons of Barefoot Running

5. Better Ground Feel and Subjective Enjoyment

Nearly everyone who runs in minimal drop shoes will tell you they feel awesome on your feet and give you better ground feel. They make for a much more enjoyable running experience that makes it very hard to go back to a bulky higher-drop shoes.

Cons of Running in Minimal Shoes

The biggest con of running in minimal shoes is the significantly increased likelihood of injury if you don’t transition correctly. As highlighted earlier, running in minimal drop shoes forces your lower-leg and feet musculature to work harder by moving through a greater range of motion.

“The biggest con of running in minimal shoes is the significantly increased likelihood of injury if you don’t transition correctly.”

For those coming from a higher-drop shoe or who haven’t run before, this increased range of motion places huge stress on your feet and calves. This increased stress will lead to pain and injury unless you patiently add minimal drop loading and ensure you body has adapted before progressing.

The 12-Step Minimal Shoe Transition Plan (12MSTP)

What follows is a twelve-step running program I put together that will allow you transition smoothly into a more minimal shoe and/or barefoot running. Better still, it also works extremely well as a starting program for new runners or for those returning to running after a long lay-off.

As you will see, it incorporates the progressive use of run/walk efforts. While some running purists may consider that conservative, trust me when I tell you that transitioning to minimal drop shoes/barefoot is brutal on your lower limbs and you will be rewarded by adopting a patient approach.

RELATED: 2 Rules For Beginning Barefoot Running (And Avoiding Injury)

The Program

1. 10mins (Run 1/Walk 1) x 5
2. 15mins (Run 2/Walk 1) x 5
3. 20mins (Run 3/Walk 1) x 5
4. 25mins (Run 4/Walk 1) x 5
5. 30mins (Run 8/Walk 2) x 3
6. 35mins (Run 10/Walk 1:40) x 3
7. 40mins (Run 12/Walk 1:20) x 3
8. 45mins (Run 14/Walk 1) x 3
9. 50mins (Run 15/Walk 1:40) x 3
10. 55mins (Run 17/Walk 1:20) x 3
11. 60mins (Run 19/Walk 1) x 3
12. Run 60mins

The Rules

1. You can either perform these sessions barefoot on the beach/soft grass or perform these sessions on the road/track in your preferred minimal shoe.
2. Concentrate on practicing good running form during these sessions, with a particular focus on maintaining a leg cadence of 180-185 steps per minute.
3. Only progress to the next run stage if you do not have any lower leg soreness in the 24-48 hours following the previous session. If you experience soreness, then you repeat the same stage the next time you run.
4. If these are your only running sessions, do no more than three of these runs per week. If you are currently running three or more times per week, than substitute one of these sessions for every second run you do (e.g. Sunday transition session, Tuesday regular run in normal shoes, Thursday transition session, Saturday regular run)
5. Don’t run on back-to-back days; always have at least one day between runs.
6. Perform any non-transition runs in your regular non-minimal shoes.
7. Either spend 10-15 minutes daily and/or at the end of every minimalist run working on the mobility of your ankle joint and the tissue quality/flexibility of your lower leg muscles (read gastrocnemius/soleus/tibialis anterior/plantar fascia).
8. When choosing which minimal drop shoe to transition to, I recommend dropping no more than 4mm from your current shoe. So, if you currently run in 12mm drop shoes, transition to a 8mm drop. Once you have transitioned to your new minimal shoes, you can follow this program again to transition even lower.
9. At the completion of the plan, you should be able to run in a more minimal shoe and/or barefoot for at least 60 minutes without soreness or injury. If you want to progress beyond 60 minutes in any one session, add cautious progression (10% per week). If you want to progress beyond 60 minutes for multiple sessions, I recommend you adopt this transition for each session you want to go minimal in.

RELATED: How to Reach Freak Level Fitness

Focus on the Long Game

At the minimum, this program will take four weeks to complete. For most, it will take between six to eight weeks. It will also require a fair degree of patience and humility. Remember, you have to focus on the long game. Going minimal is a means of improving your body’s natural function and your enjoyment of running for the rest of your life – not a quick-fix panacea to jump on a mainstream fitness trend.

Enjoy the process and let me know how you go. Please share your experiences with this program or any questions you have in the comments below.

Photo 1 “Gear of the Year 2013_Dr_naturalHealthStoreUS” by Carmen Rodriguez. Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

Photos 2 & 3 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post A 12-Step Plan for Transitioning to Minimalist Running Shoes appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Each lesson features the message broken down and explained, but also includes videos taken from the various Rocky films that will be sure to get you hungry to get back in the gym and kicking arse.

A Quick Primer on All Things Rocky Balboa

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for most of your life, I’m sure you are familiar with the name Rocky Balboa. Played by Hollywood action legend Sylvester Stallone, Rocky was the title character of six boxing drama films that chronicled his rise from an unknown battler to the heavyweight champion of the world.

DO YOU HAVE HEART? READ: The True Meaning of Having Heart

In each successive film, Rocky was confronted with various life crises, ever-stronger opponents, and his own aging body. Throughout the series, Rocky came to define the perennial underdog, continually drawing strength from the struggles he faced to overcome the odds and succeed. Here are the four lessons I believe to be most valuable to us all:

“Going that one more round when you don’t think you can – that’s what makes all the difference in your life.”

1. Get the Work Done

Whatever your ambition or goal, you will never succeed unless you get the work done. You can’t biohack your way around it, nor positive mindset your way through it. You simply have to train and train hard.

In Rocky II, this lesson was eloquently spelled out by Rocky’s trainer, Mickey:

For a 45-minute fight, you gotta train hard for 45,000 minutes. 45,000! That’s ten weeks, that’s ten hours a day, ya listenin’? And you ain’t even trained one!

As well as getting the work done, sometimes you have to be willing to do more. Sometimes you’re going to need push harder and hurt more than you realize to achieve success. In Rocky IV, Rocky faced his toughest opponent in the undefeated Russian Ivan Drago. To prepare for the fight, Rocky was forced to train on his own in the middle a Russian winter. To win the fight, Rocky and his support team knew he would need to train harder and push himself beyond what he had done before:

Duke (Rocky’s trainer):

You’re gonna have to go through hell, worse than any nightmare you’ve ever dreamed. But when it’s over, I know you’ll be the one standing. You know what you have to do. Do it. Do it!

If that didn’t fire up your training juices, then check out this epic training montage built from all the Rocky films:

2. Never Quit

Rocky himself said, “Going that one more round when you don’t think you can – that’s what makes all the difference in your life.”

What Rocky highlighted in this scene is the concept of never quitting. Getting the work done will get you to the start line of your chosen challenge, but during tough events you will require something more. When you are being pushed to your limits, there will come a moment when you consider stopping, giving up, or quitting.

READ: Heart Matters: 5 Boxing (and Life) Lessons From Rocky Balboa

The ability to keep going – to never quit – in such situations is something forged within. It comes from deep within your heart and your mind and needs to be developed during training. To witness this kind of never-quit attitude, watch this clip from the first Rocky film where even Rocky’s trainer tells him to quit (stay down).

Something worth remembering in life: It’s pretty hard to beat someone like Rocky who never quits.

3. Going the Distance Is More Important Than Winning or Losing

In this scene, Rocky highlighted something far more important than winning or losing – going the distance:

I was nobody. But that don’t matter either, you know? ‘Cause I was thinkin’, it really don’t matter if I lose this fight. It really don’t matter if this guy opens my head, either. ‘Cause all I wanna do is go the distance.

Nobody’s ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I’m still standin’, I’m gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren’t just another bum from the neighborhood.

Many of us have become creatures of instant gratification. We want results immediately and often balk at the time it takes to achieve something. Or worse still, we forget that sometimes training or competing is much more about the journey it takes you on, rather than the end result.

Is what you’re fighting or training for that important that you’re willing to go the distance regardless of the result? If you aren’t, then you are on the wrong path.

“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”

4. Persistence

In perhaps the most inspirational scene from whole Rocky series, Rocky highlighted the most powerful lesson of all – persistence. The ability to just keep moving always.

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.

You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!

As I’ve said before, this personal trait more than anything else can make all the difference between success and failure in your life.

We’re All Underdogs

While these lessons are drawn from a fictional character, they truly are powerful motivational moments that will work for anyone. In the end, just like Rocky, we’re all underdogs.

RELATED: How Coaching the Underdog Has Brought Me Joy

Everyone at some point has experienced a life, training, or competition moment where they were the underdog. Where the odds were stacked against you, where you had to fight through never-ending struggle, or where you were expected to be beaten and quit. Our individual battles may be different, but collectively we are all fighting the same underdog fight, just like Rocky.

Whether you’re struggling for motivation, training for your next fitness event, or just dealing with tough times, I challenge you to apply Rocky’s motivational lessons to your own life. As Rocky said, “That’s how winning is done!”

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post 4 Motivational Lessons Rocky Balboa Can Teach You appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Mindset Is Everything

Mindset. Is. Everything. Burn that statement into your brain. Mindset should be considered the intangible X-factor that can strongly determine your competitive success or failure.

The reality you perceive is always the end product of your mindset. But a nigh overlooked aspect of mindset is this: your mindset is but a true reflection of who you are as a person. In other words, the personal qualities you possess and represent fully imbue your mental outlook.

With that in mind, determining the best mindset for your game day is really about honing these key personal qualities. While everyone has a different personality, I have found there are five key mindset qualities common with nearly all successful athletes:

1. Persistence
2. Positive Realism
3. Humility
4. Vulnerability
5. Lack of Regrets

Mindset Qualities

1. Persistence

Persistence is simply the quality of always continuing to move forward. To continue regardless of setbacks. To endure until the end.

One of the best examples I ever seen that illustrates true persistence comes from the boxing film Rocky II. In one truly memorable scene, Duke, the trainer of Rocky’s opponent Apollo Creed, tells Apollo why they shouldn’t fight Rocky again:

He’s all wrong for us, baby. I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man kept coming after you. Now we don’t need that kinda man in our life.

In terms of persistence, that’s exactly the kind of man/woman you want to be. To just keep going after your objective even when you’re absolutely beaten down.

2. Positive Realism

Being positive is an integral and intrinsic aspect of having the right mindset. But, it’s important to temper your positivity with some realism. As we discussed in my article on how to deal with negative thoughts, no one is positive 100% of the time.

RELATED: How to Turn Negative Thoughts into Positive Actions

Not every situation you encounter in your competitive realm will be positive. Trying to adopt an overinflated positive-towards-everything mindset is going to set you up to fail because our brains just aren’t wired that way. For every positive, there has to be a negative. So, positive realism is about trying to make the best of a bad situation or challenge, but tempering that with realistic assessment and action based on your circumstances.

“[Y]our mindset is but a true reflection of who you are as a person. In other words, the personal qualities you possess and represent fully imbue your mental outlook.”

For example, in a fitness environment, this usually manifests itself in athletes not listening to the bad signs when their body is in pain. Instead they ignore these feelings because they see acknowledging them as form of negativity. They continue on exercising and then wonder why they end up hurting themselves. In these type of situations, by being realistic and knowing when to back off, you may lose today’s battle, but the end result is positive. There’s nothing positive about winning today at the cost of injuring yourself for the long term.

RELATED: When Enough Is Enough: Knowing When To Quit

3. Humility

Humility is about remaining hungry to keep improving. A humble person is one who is quietly confident in his or her mindset, yet is always realistic in assessing his or her strengths and weaknesses. A humble person does not under- or overestimate abilities.

If you practice humility, you will become an internally motivated person. You will seek to achieve and improve yourself not for external validation, but to satisfy your own desire to keep growing as an athlete and a person. That is the essence of competitive fire right there. That’s the kind of motivation that will keep you training rain, hail, or shine.

4. Vulnerability

Being vulnerable is not a quality that most would associate with having a bulletproof mindset. A vulnerable person is one who is not afraid of failing or sharing those failures with others. Vulnerable people realize they learn more from times of failure than success. They are not afraid of adopting an open-minded approach to training or trying new ideas. They recognize the need to change and evolve as they age or as their goals broaden, and they are willing to seek help to get the best out of themselves.

RELATED: The Science and Psychology of Motivation for Athletes

While vulnerability is often seen as a sign of weakness, it is actually the opposite. Being vulnerable allows you to strengthen your resolve because we cannot grow truly strong until we acknowledge the areas where we are weak. Exposing your vulnerability will ensure you never get overconfident or hubristic, and it will always remind you of where you came from and how hard you had to work to get where you are. Nothing builds a steely and determined mindset more than that.

5. No Regrets

How many times have you competed in an event and wished you’d done more training? Or finished an event and wished you had pushed yourself harder? For most athletes, this is a regular occurrence. It is also a mindset that leads straight to Regret City, population #you. Regret is a powerful and destructive human emotion.

“A vulnerable person is one who is not afraid of failing or sharing those failures with others. Vulnerable people realize they learn more from times of failure than success.”

When you are preparing and competing, you need to have the courage to honestly answer this question, “Am I satisfied that I did everything I was willing to do to achieve my goal?”

Just like life, game days are not infinite and they’re certainly not warm ups. Make every opportunity count. Control the controllables. That is, do everything you are willing to do to achieve your goal right now. Don’t lament what could have been later on. If you practice the four qualities discussed above, then living a life of no regrets should become second nature.

Create Your Own Warrior Mindset Step-By-Step

1. Go back and complete the take-home lessons in my articles on motivational themes and not fearing the negative.
2. Reflect on the five mindset qualities outlined in this article, considering how you can best integrate them into your own mindset. Write a short mission sentence on each quality and how it integrates with you. Write your mission sentence on a document along with your motivational themes. Put this document somewhere prominent where you can see it and read it everyday.
3. For the next 28 days, live and breathe your mindset and motivational themes document. Read it in the morning and before bed, talk about it with your confidants, and practice them during your training.

A Final Word On Getting Your Mind Right On Game Day

In this series, I have laid out a set of practical tools and concepts for you to get your mind right on game day. These techniques have worked extremely effectively for me and nearly all of the athletes I have coached.

Will they work for you? I’m confident they will, but also humble enough to acknowledge the best way to get your mind right is to find what works best for you and to practice it religiously. So, in relation to my thoughts, I suggest you apply the advice of the great martial artist Bruce Lee: “Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.”

See you on game day! (And let me know how it goes!)

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The 5 Key Mindset Qualities of Successful Athletes appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I recently had a conversation with a friend about motivation that went something like this: “It must be easy for you to overcome adventure challenges and adversity because you have such a positive mindset all the time. I could never push myself like that because I have too many negative thoughts.”

This comment inspired me to write this piece because it highlights an important motivational lesson. No one is 100% positive all the time. The key to success lies not in avoiding negative thoughts, but in what action you take in those negative moments.

Everyone Experiences Negative Thoughts

No matter who you are, whether you’re an elite-level athlete or a weekend warrior, everyone experiences negative thoughts. Watch someone in the heat of competition and while his or her external appearance may give the impression that everything is under control, more often than not the internal reality is far different.

In 1995, one of the greatest-ever triathletes, Mark Allen (pictured below), produced a remarkable performance to win a record-equaling sixth Hawaii Ironman at age 37 after overcoming a thirteen-minute deficit on the marathon leg.

Despite his epic victory, Allen described his race as one fraught with “a thousand moments” of negativity and mentally the worst of his life.¹ If you watch the video of that race, I guarantee you there is little in Allen’s external disposition during the marathon that reveals the depths of the negative mind battle he was fighting. And somehow, he found a way through those negative moments to win the race.

Allen’s revelations about his battle with negativity are quite astonishing when you consider he was known as The Zen Master for most of his Kona career, due to his seemingly impregnable mental mindset. What this clearly illustrates is that everyone experiences negative thoughts. 

My Personal Struggle

My insights about the realities of positive and negative mindset were borne out of my own battles. In 2013, I undertook an epic hiking challenge called the A2K – hiking 130 kilometers nonstop through Australian Alps while climbing the 26 mountain peaks over 2,000 meters (6,561 feet).

It took me three attempts to succeed at this challenge and throughout the journey, I had an ongoing struggle with sustaining a positive mindset. I’m a pretty positive person by nature, but during my first two attempts when things got difficult, I had frequent barrages of negative thoughts e.g. “This is too hard,” “The conditions are too tough,” “You can’t finish this because you’ve never hiked this far before.”

When I had these negative thoughts, I really didn’t know how to deal with them. I thought the only way I could succeed was by having a positive mindset 100% of the time and avoiding any negative thoughts. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, I thought if I started having negative thoughts, then it was going to set me up to fail. And thus in my mind, my failures on my first two attempts became testament to this.

Me, pausing for a moment of reflection during the A2K.

My Epiphany: Negativity Is Part Of The Experience

Then, one day while in training for my third attempt, something finally clicked. At the time, I was caught hiking in the middle of a snap snowstorm with gale force winds, getting blown off the side of a remote mountain deep in the Australian Alps. I was being blinded by snow while suffering the effects of frostbite and hypothermia.

Mentally, I felt beaten. My brain was a flood of negative thoughts – “It’s too dangerous to continue” and “You don’t need to do this to yourself” – and I was close to quitting on this challenge right there and then. Somehow though, I found a way to keep moving forward and I made it through that internal battle, safely finishing that hike and eventually the full challenge. It was during that relentless internal battle that I had my real epiphany.

No one is 100% positive all the time and the key to success lies not in avoiding negative thoughts, but in what action you take in those negative moments. 

Reflecting on that experience, I realized that positive and negative thoughts are like yin and yang. Each side exists by virtue of the other. In other words, you can’t have the ups without having the downs. Having negative thoughts when you’re under stress or in the midst of a challenge is part of the experience. It’s part of being human. Negative moments should not be feared because they are the moments that have to occur for you to be truly tested. It’s these down moments that provide you with the opportunity to take action to reach a new high. As Mark Allen noted, “The best experiences in life are rarely easy.”² 

The First Action: Do Your ABCs

When you experience negative moments in your chosen competition or adventure, I recommend you take two actions. The first action to follow is what I call the ABCs: accept, breathe, concentrate.

The Second Action: Keep Moving Forward

The second action to take, and I what I believe is the most powerful action of all, is to just keep moving forward – always. Forward momentum is an incredibly powerful thing. While the forward steps you take may be small, they steadily add up to a sum much greater than their parts.

Me, getting beat down by a snow blizzard.

Whether you’re caught in an epic snow blizzard or being pushed to your limits in a CrossFit qualifier, sometimes all you can do is just keep putting one foot in front of the other. While it might not seem like much, continuing to move forward, no matter how fast or slow, can make all the difference in your life. Remember, the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.

The Take-Home Lessons

• Don’t fear the negative moments.
• When the negative moments do occur, follow the ABCs: accept, breathe, concentrate.
• No matter how negative the moment, just keep moving forward – always.

References:

1. Munting, N. “Mark Allen: A Grip Like No Other.” Ironman.com. Last accessed 8 September 2014.

2. Buckley, A. “Mark Allen vs Kona – Lessons Learned Part 2.” Lava Magazine. Last accessed 8 September 2014.

Photo 1 “Record setter Mark Allen #1 Kona Hawaii Ironman 1994” Attribution-NonCommercial License.

The post How to Turn Negative Thoughts into Positive Actions appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

One of the biggest failings for most competitors is not getting their mind right on game day. While physically you can be dialed in, not having the mind right too often leads to sub-par performances and disappointment. To put it bluntly as the Gym Jones guys say, “The mind is primary.”

The challenge I often encounter when training myself and my athletes is finding effective practical strategies to get the mind right. Unfortunately, sport and performance psychology can be a rather complex field full of methods that don’t translate well into practice and the reality is if it doesn’t help you perform, you’re wasting your time.

In this first part of a three-part series on how to get your mind right on game day, we’re going to talk about arguably the most practical tool in your mind training arsenal: motivational themes.

The Limited Lifespan of Hardcore Style Motivation

Over the last ten years, I have seen a real transition in the general motivation mindset of the fitness industry. More than ever, we are embracing a hardcore, tough-love style motivation mindset in our training. Likely fueled by the explosion of intense exercise as a training methodology (read: CrossFit), you need only to look at the infinite fitspo motivators all over the internet with their harden up, go hard or go home, and quit when you’re dead style mantras to confirm this change.

Let me just say at the outset, there is nothing inherently wrong with using this style of motivation. Hell, I spent five years in the Army as a physical trainer and we used to dish out this style of motivation daily. However, I have found hardcore/tough-love style motivation has a limited lifespan even for the most dedicated competitors because it is far too generic and rigid to be individualized to the unique needs of every competitor.

For example, what do you do when this style of motivation doesn’t work or stops working for you? If you subscribe to the hardcore/tough-love mindset, then the answer is likely to be to just toughen up and go even harder. Trying to fix your motivation to go hard by attempting to go even harder is a long-term recipe for injury or burnout. I call it motivational insanity, i.e. doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

The only true way to solve motivational problems is to understand the practical how behind effective motivation. Motivational words, positive encouragement, and tough-love phrases are actually not motivational in themselves. In fact, the words alone are essentially meaningless. The key for words and phrases to be motivational derives from the meaning or resonance they have for each individual.

In other words, things can only become motivational if they actually mean something to you. In fact, they take on an even greater sense of meaning if they were inspired from within your own mind.

Create Your Own Motivational Theme

So, now you know the how behind motivation. How then do you actually put this into practice? Create a motivational theme. They are the most powerful practical means I have found to help get your mind right on game day.

A motivational theme is simply a word or phrase that defines who you are and what you’re about, describes the standards or goals you hold yourself to, and details exactly how you go about doing that. Your motivational theme should encompass not just the fitness side of things, but your whole life. Remember though, no matter what your motivational themes are, they will only be motivational if they come from within your own mind and resonate with you.

Why Motivational Themes Build a Game Day Mind

Motivational themes are such a powerful tool in building a game-day mind because they will allow you to perform at your best and push through struggle when pushed to your breaking points and beyond – either physically, mentally, or both.

Anyone who has been pushed to his or her (perceived) breaking point or beyond will tell you that it is an incredibly humbling experience. It strips you back to your absolute core essence. You feel naked and exposed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In these situations, your body will do everything in its power to convince you to stop because we are hardwired to avoid pain, suffering, and fatigue. In fact, in these situations you often lose control of your conscious brain. Your brain simply does not have the resources to power everything due to stress or exhaustion, so it sensibly switches to auto-pilot mode, where it controls everything subconsciously and instinctively with your body merely along for the ride.

I know intimately how this feels because I have lived it. In November 2013, I set a world record by becoming the first person to climb all of Australia’s 2,000-meter (6,560-foot) mountains nonstop. The A2K, as it is known, requires climbing 26 mountain peaks of 2000 meters or higher, hiking 130 kilometers across Australia’s Snowy Mountains through vast amounts of off-trail snow terrain, gaining nearly 6,000 meters of elevation, enduring 48 hours of no sleep, and surviving extreme alpine weather conditions.

Me, in auto-pilot mode, 41 hours into my epic A2K adventure.

This adventure was by far the hardest game day I have ever undertaken. At times, it pushed me to depths of pain and fatigue that left me feeling all but broken physically and mentally. But, in the end, I still achieved my game-day goal and a key factor behind that was my use of motivational themes.

At the start of my training for this adventure, I created three motivational themes that resonated with me, but were also unique to myself and the adventure:

• Intent with every step
• Enduring until the end.
• Leading with heart and ambition.

My motivational themes.

During every single day of my preparation, I referred back to my motivational themes. I spoke about them with my coach and friends, wrote about them in my training journal, and thought about them frequently while I trained. During the adventure, I had them written on my hand so I would constantly refer to them and repeat them in my head when things got tough. By virtue of this process of living and breathing my motivational themes, they essentially became ingrained in my DNA.

And therein lies the lesson. By championing your own theme, resonating with it, and having it define who you are, it will become an instinctual part of you. Once it becomes instinctual, it will then become the auto-pilot mode that your brain defaults to in challenging situations. This will allow you to perform on game day and push through struggle.

The Take-Home Lessons

1. Take fifteen minutes of quiet time and reflect on what words/phrases best define who you are and what you’re about, describe the standards or goals you hold yourself to, and detail exactly how you go about doing that doing that as a person, as a competitor, and in your everyday life.
2. Develop these into two or three motivational themes and write them in your training diary and on your wall. Make them the background screen of your smart phone.
3. Consciously focus and refer to your motivational themes throughout your training in preparation for your game day until they become instinctual.

To paraphrase from the great samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi – who said, “Make your combat stance your everyday stance” – I’m saying to you, “Make your motivational theme your everyday theme.” It could make all the difference between success and failure not only on game day, but throughout your entire life.

What’s your motivational theme? Please share in the comments below.

Photos 1 & 2 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post A Powerful Mental Strategy for Success on Game Day appeared first on Breaking Muscle.