By: Sharae Townsend

Welcome to week one of The 2017 Welded Open! Within the next 5 weeks you guys will probably see multiple blogs about The Open, which is awesome because all of us coaches are very passionate about it. The Open is the beginning of the greatest testament of fitness, in my opinion. It shows you exactly where you stand with your level of fitness (I am most definitely not the most fit person in the gym so I will let someone else go off on that tangent).

Today I am here to talk about mindset! Mindset is one of the key components to how good or bad your day will be. I also believe this when doing a WOD. Here are 3 things to keep in “mind” when preparing for your unknown WOD:

• Think Positive: Go into The Open with an open mind and thinking positive. Yes, we all have our weaknesses, but we also all have our strengths! Some people say “I’m not good enough for The Open, maybe next year.” Well honestly, none of us really are. What is good enough anyway? Being the best? Or, getting off of our ass and just completing each workout? I’d say the latter because anyone who completes The Open workouts do better than the person sitting on their couch doing nothing! Just do it!
• Stick to the Plan: Each workout will require some different strategies. Go in knowing what you can realistically do. Set a goal, give yourself a number or a time and go for it! Literally stick to your plan! After you hear “3, 2, 1, GO!”, mentally that throws people off and gets the adrenaline going, just don’t blow out in the first 30 seconds.
• It’s OK to Argue with Yourself the Entire Time: If you are going as hard as you can, you are probably going to want to quit literally the entire workout. That is totally fine because you are giving it your all and these workouts are designed to make you struggle mentally. This is all part of the mindset and well-roundedness of fitness. You are allowed to think, “Ok I’m quitting after this rep” but then you must replace that thought immediately with “I’m going to finish this, I’m going to be proud of myself at the end of this, every second and every rep counts”; because when you do that “one extra rep or keep going for that one extra second”, that puts you in front of what could be 100s of people. After that, you really will be proud of yourself! 

Talk to me in 5 weeks when it’s all over and let me know how proud you are of yourself. Who knows maybe you will even accomplish some PRs or even create new goals for next year!

I can’t wait, guys! Good luck, have fun, think positive, and may the WODs be ever in your favor!