By: Jacob Wellock
The Open is upon us and there is probably a chance that you are stressed out. This may be your first, second, third, or even your 7th Open and there is most likely a little bit of stress, especially if you follow any Games athletes. If you are new and this whole Welded thing is new to you then you may not be as stressed as your gym peers are. Make no mistake, IT IS THERE AND AMONG US (insert dramatic drums). Here are some simple ways to avoid the stress:
Are you a Games athlete?
If your answer is yes, then you should send me an email and we can figure it out together. If you answered no, ask yourself, are you a Regionals level athlete? If you answered yes, are you training like a Regionals level athlete? Yes? Email me. No? Then you are not a Regionals level athlete. If you are not either one of those, then you are on Open athlete with the 99.98% rest of us! That is okay! That doesn’t mean you don’t work hard and do the best you can, that means that you don’t compare yourself to Rich Froning and other Games athletes, it means you just be YOU.
Are you competitive?
Good. Competition is healthy, but not when you place these unrealistic expecations on yourself (see above). That is one guaranteed way to burn yourself out.
Do you participate in daily MetCons?
Oh you do?! I have good news for you, these Open announcements are just like our daily MetCons with just a little more bells and whistles surrounding it. If you just come in and do the workout and tell yourself “Yeah this is going to hurt” you have already won half the battle. You can either let it destroy you, “This is going to hurt and I am going to lose everything in life and die!” OR “This is going to hurt and I will finish this workout the best that I can.” This all depends on your mindset.
Are you a human?
Chances are you have emotion and get upset sometimes, but more often than not, we have the power to control what we think. So if we are running in all of these negative thoughts about your performance and where you think you should be, I can GUARANTEE that you will do bad. If you are thinking positive thoughts, you will do better. Weird how that works. People tend to be pessimistic when things don’t go their way and only optimistic when things are going right. Why not try to be optimistic in unfortunate situations. Do you think optimism will build you higher than pessimism? Then why not be optimistic? With that said, learn to enjoy what you can do and don’t beat yourself up if you know you did your best!