Fitness is a grind. Monitoring your nutrition and finding time to work out is not an easy task. It becomes far more difficult when you mix in the daily responsibilities and stressors of our home and work life. Embracing that grind and finding daily enjoyment in hard work is the key to long term success. Everyone reading this blog knows the feeling of accomplishing a PR. I would bet that following a PR, each one of you comes to the gym with a renewed dedication to run faster, jump higher, lift heavier, and work harder. It is that feeling and that mindset that will not only push us to long term success but will make every second in the gym the best part of our day.Start with saying “I get to” instead of “I have to”. As a coach, I hear a lot of athletes constantly saying, “I have run how far?!?!” or “I have to do that many thrusters?!?!”. No, you don’t. You GET to run that far. You GET to do that many thrusters. You GET to improve. An immediate change in our attitude from the onset of the workout will change the way we approach it and how successful we are. Appreciate what your body is capable of and how far you have progressed. Use every movement and workout as a chance to “get to” show that.Do not assess yourself with the whiteboard, it’s just a tool to help us. Everyone loves seeing constant upward movement on the whiteboard, but the whiteboard does not show a full picture. How much sleep did you get last night? This week? How has your diet been today? This week? What new stress has recently been added to your life? Assess yourself on effort. Putting forth a complete effort and improving movement patterns never shows up on the whiteboard.Look for a daily “PR”. If you regularly workout with me, I am sure that you have heard me say “That’s my win for the day”. After each workout or lift, I look for something I did well and something I learned. I never fail, I either win or learn. This attitude gives me a continuous loop of personal achievement and goal setting. You will only see what is in the forefront of your mind. Stop searching for defeats. Stop searching for things that you can’t do well. Stop searching for movements that “you don’t like”. You will only find failure. Take a step back. Search for your win of the day. Search for a goal that you want to accomplish. Search for a reason to come back every day. You will always find what you are looking for.-- Coach Danny
