Challenges Make Us Better

Challenges Make Us Better

The National Group was in a concentric phase for dryland. A lot of it was centered around moving fast and being explosive. One of the exercises we were doing was plyometric push-ups. Instead of doing normal clap push ups, instead we put forty-five pound plates on each side where they had to do a push up off the ground and land their hands on the plate. It started with just one plate on each side. As the session went on, I would look over and see them continuing to stack forty-five pound plates on top of each other to see how high they could do the plyometric push up. One would do four plates, then another would see that and then would do five plates, and then this would go on until a small group of them was able to do nine plates on each side. As this is going on they’re cheering for each other to try to see if they could hit the new mark that had been previously set.

This challenge came from them pushing each other to see what they could do instead of just doing what was asked of them. The workout didn't require them to do this. It came from within the group where one person would challenge themselves to do more and then another strived to do the same or more than that person. Only a select few might have been able to do the nine plates on each side but it inspired everyone to do more than what they initially thought they could do. This is an example of how challenges with the right perception can make you better and allow you to have some fun with it as well.

Everyone wants to be the best but everyone has different starting points for various things. For example, with the proper mechanics and the right type of training almost everyone can make a national cut. Some people might get there sooner than others but it doesn’t mean that the others can’t make it. It just might take longer. What makes it so these people don't make it is when they’re too discouraged to continue with their attempts. If all athletes became too discouraged to make an attempt because they didn't win the first time, then the winning athletes would just continue to win all the time. Instead, we need to view people achieving more than us as inspiration to do more than what we’re doing right now, just as with stacking the forty-five pound plates. Don’t view the person doing nine plates as, “I shouldn't try to do more than one because I definitely cant do nine,” Instead, put on one more plate on than you did last round and keep making progress. Practice is cumulative, so it’s important to keep putting in a little bit everyday.

There was someone talking to me about trying to lose weight. I told them in the book Atomic Habits, they told people to just start by working out two minutes a day. This person told me, “Working out for two minutes a day does nothing.” When asking them how many minutes they worked out currently they said, “Well, none.” I told them, “Just try it out and see how it goes.” Over the course of a month, they told me it worked and that they lost weight. What happens is those two minutes are very doable and not scary by any means; everyone has two minutes a day to workout. When they started and finished two minutes of working out they realized that they could do more. Two minutes would turn into ten minutes on some days and twenty minutes on some days. Even on days it was just two minutes, that was still progress from the zero minutes that they were doing previously. All of this starting by just committing to two minutes a day lead to this person living a healthier lifestyle.

Don’t let fear about what hasn’t happened yet keep you from starting. In this case, it was worrying about committing to too much with their work schedule but this directly applies to those who get scared by looking at a workout, competition, homework, etc. Such as worrying about how bad 7 minutes of burpees is going to hurt instead of just starting it. The key is to just start. We constantly prove to ourselves all the time that we can do more than we think but this doesn't happen without starting.

Some ways to embrace challenges:

• Have the right perception that challenges will make you better.
• See others accomplishments as inspiration and not discouragement. 
• Get started. 

Let’s keep improving everyday.

Tommy Cunningham