A part of life
It’s a part of life, training and sport. Not every day is going to be good, eventually you will have a bad day or a string of bad days. Sometimes it spirals and feels like the harder you try the worse it gets.
Often you take it the hardest, from a spectator looking in they will look at you and think ” it’s not a big deal so and so will get over it and be fine”. But to you it’s personal. You can’t help but fill up with the worst negative thoughts and start mentally beating yourself up.
As a World level powerlifter, I have had a lot of bad days in my training blocks which I wish could have gone better. With more training and experience you learn to separate the bad days and realize they are a blimp in the full picture.
It is impossible to think that you will be able to perform at peak performance every single day year after year.
So, knowing that bad days are bound to happen, we have to learn how to react to bad days in-order to keep moving forward.
First you can’t let your emotions win. I have seen athletes at the first sign of a rainy day jump to conclusions they need to change a coach, their equipment, stance, sacrifice rest to train harder. Reactions without fully understanding how best to rectify the situation will do nothing but make things worse. Yes, sometimes one of the items on the list may be needed but it’s important to not react to hastily to your emotions.
A lot of times it may not be an external force, but a mental lapse. You have a few bad training sessions, weights that should be easy feel hard, have a scoring drought and start to freak out mentally.
This will cause you to lose control over some of the few things we can actually control unlike the unpredictable variables.
In the head of a GOAT
There was a time Michael Jordan was having a rough stretch and was constantly being harassed by reporters on how he planned to get over it. They asked him questions like—”Are you going to take 1,000 extra shots each practice? Are you going to see a hypnotist?”
You know what MJ’s answer was?
Nope, I’m just going to keep playing and just keep shooting.
That was it. Nothing changed. He just kept doing what he’d been doing, sticking with the same routine, habits and mindset that made him so successful in the first place.
As an athlete one of the hardest things is recognizing when you need to make change vs if you think you need change because you are reacting to your emotions
Do you need help getting to the next level? The right strength coach can help.
