When it comes to moving from scaled to RX, unfortunately, there is not a lightbulb-moment that tells you that you are ready for the next level. Deciding whether you want to tackle that RX weight, resist long resting intervals, or attempt double-unders for the whole workout is ultimately up to you. At Ardent, our coaches are there to motivate you and help prepare for those challenging workouts, and keep check on your technique to ensure you are performing safely, but it ultimately comes down to you pushing yourself once that clock starts. Mental toughness is one of the hardest things to incorporate into your training and there’s no secret or shortcut to becoming mentally tough.
There is a right time to scale back workouts and there is a wrong time. Scaling workouts is useful when you don’t quite have the technique down yet, have some physical limitation (injury, disability, etc.), or maybe you just quite literally are having an extremely stressful day.
When the workout on the whiteboard looks intimidating, it is more than okay to listen to your body and scale it back to what you feel capable of that day. What we do not want you to do is to walk in on a Monday morning and choose the scaled adjustment because you are tired and don’t feel like it. You are not the only one who “doesn’t feel like it” (myself included), we all walk through that gym door because we are tired of “not feeling like it”. This does not mean that I am saying every single person has to do RX workouts to succeed. What I am saying is that you should strive to make improvements no matter what. If you are not pursuing progress here then what are you pursuing?
Every time you push yourself when you didn’t want to is a step in the right direction and brings you so much closer to reaching your goals. It may not happen tomorrow, this week, this month, or even this year, but the longer you work on your mental toughness as well as your physical well-being the less time you will spend “not feeling like it”. The alternative to “not feeling like it” is feeling physically able and mentally capable of anything you choose to set your mind to. That may not be your number one goal with health and fitness but it will most likely be an end result if you continue to work hard in the gym and listen to your coach.
There is also endless opportunity to translate this mindset into your everyday life. Mental toughness can be applied to your hobbies, work, and anything else. Do things that you don’t want to do and eventually you won’t think twice about scaling back anything in life that isn’t within your means.
-Coach Jayson (still scaling workouts regularly but trying to push myself)
If you’re looking to up your mental toughness, let’s talk about how we can help!