Emotional Content

Growing up I had many heroes I aspired to be like. Being the son of a martial arts instructor most of these heroes were themselves prominent martial arts figures. the most influential of all being the great Bruce Lee. I used to watch his movies repeatedly and try to mimic all of his moves. As I grew older I started to read his literature and realised that this man was a visionary and pioneer of what we know today as Mixed Martial Arts. As ground breaking as Bruce’s understanding of the movements of the human body were, it was really his understanding of the human mind that astonished me.

Bruce often talked about a thing called “emotional content”. His vision summarised to this: focus on the task at hand, do not let outside factors like ego, fear of success or failure, influence your current state. In my early years of training I though I understood this concept; but really come to think of it, until I found CrossFit twelve months ago, I still had no idea. I was used to going to a regular gym with the idea that I would do my basic split routine with a little cardio here and there and was happy to see some improvement in my lifts. I would often use the workouts as social events with some lifting breaks in-between the chatting. I never had my mind truly set on the task at hand while I was training.

I know today, thanks to CrossFit and some great coaches, that if you walk in the door of your CrossFit gym and you don’t bring this “emotional content” you will never see your full potential. I hear people in my classes all the time say things like, “Wow, I just dead-lifted 130kg, the best I have ever got at the gym is 60kg”. The difference is simple - proper coaching, supportive environment and “emotional content”.

Emotional content for me starts about 2 minutes before the workout after I have got all my talking and socialising out of the way. I attempt to put my mind in the right place. I visualise how I will attack the workout, I worry little on my perceived weaknesses but instead look for what I know are my strengths. I say things like, “I will try my hardest on the cleans, but I know I will make up lost time on my ring dips”. I try to stay positive the whole way though the workout and never think of quitting. I think more along the lines of “I will finish this if it takes me all day”.

My focus is, and always should be, that I will do each and every rep to the best form of my ability and that I will do it better than yesterday. I work at getting all of my exercises as clean and efficient as possible then the speed and strength will follow. Form follows function.

Next time you begin a workout, bear this emotional content in mind. Leave your ego at the door, set your goals from the outset and don’t make excuses about why you might not achieve them. Allow your mind to be focused solely on the task at hand and you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.