How to Achieve Mental Toughness in Fitness & Athletics

What do all successful athletes have in common? I’ll give you a hint: It’s not the fact that they have access to the latest training equipment, nor is it their presumably good genes.

What helped them get to the top is mental toughness.

Determination and staying focused on your goals is what will ultimately help you achieve them. You see, having a strong mind will greatly benefit you both inside and outside the gym.

That’s why I want to share with you some tips that are going to help train not only your body but also your mind.

Step out of Your Comfort Zone

Inconvenience yourself. Make yourself work a little bit harder every single time you train and try to test your limits. Work out for a few extra minutes past the point when you feel like you can’t go any further. You need to progressively do more to get better.

Don’t like waking up early in the morning to go for a run? Push yourself to do just that for an entire week or month.

When something is hard, and you decide to push through it instead of abandoning the fight, that’s when you develop a healthy mind. Mental strength is all about finding that motivation within yourself to do the things that are not easy. You need to push yourself past your breaking point to improve.

Visualize

Take a few minutes to imagine your workout before you start doing any of the exercises. Picture things like:

The steps of your routine
How your body looks performing the movement
How you will feel after you’re done with the workout

It’s important to do this because it will help you get mentally prepared. It’s a technique many professional athletes and bodybuilders use before an important competition and practice.

Use Self-Talk to Motivate Yourself

All professional athletes who have reached a certain level of success have a coach who provides them with that extra bit of motivation.

Don’t worry; you don’t need to hire a coach to improve your mental toughness. You can be your own source of motivation and see excellent results. Use positive affirmations using second-person pronouns whenever you need that extra push.

Here’s an example of what you could say to yourself:

“With every exercise you do, you become stronger and stronger.”

”You are going to give it your best today and see amazing results.”

Now, this does take some getting used to, but it’s a method that will help you improve your results in the gym or on the field of play.

Now You Know Why You Need Mental Toughness

A powerful mind is what often makes the difference between those who fail and those who succeed. Your mind can be your best ally or your worst enemy.

Put in the time and effort to build a powerful mind, and your mind becomes your best friend you can always rely on to help you: