Performance Psychology: Taming the Inner Voice

111109

"Dirty Thrity"

For time:

30 Box jump, 24 inch box

30 Renegade Rows

30 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood

Walking Lunge, 50 steps

30 Knees to elbows

30 Dips

30 Deadlifts

30 Wall ball shots, 12/20lb ball

30 Burpees

30 Double unders

Performance Psychology: Taming the Inner Voice

by Wendy Swift

Your inner monologue can be a source of strength or a cause of weakness. Wendy Swift explains how you can fill your head with positive thoughts that will result in PRs and high performance.


If everything that passed through your head was said out loud to another CrossFitter, would you be considered a good coach or a bad coach, a motivating coach or a demoralizing coach?

I’m talking about that little voice inside your head that runs commentary throughout your day. Some people call it their “inner voice”; psychologists call it “self-talk.” Whether we are aware of it or not, we cannot assume that our inner voice is always doing us good. Sometimes our inner voice tells us things that make us weak, or it causes us to make bad decisions.

Taming your inner voice is like everything else: it gets better with work. Way before your performance deteriorates, a whole range of poor-quality thinking occurs. You’re the only one who knows about it, and it causes you to back off just a little bit. Sometimes it is delaying tactics, and sometimes it is taking a softer option, but you know that in an honest assessment of your performance, it was not the best you could have done.

So to access a better performance, you need to work on your inner voice. You need to make your self-talk consistent and constructive. You need to take responsibility for what you allow yourself to think.

Click HERE to read further, courtesy of CrossFit Inc.