Rhiannon Reynolds
Since the last competition, I was left with a sense of triumph. Not because I made weight, nor was it because of a PR. Don’t get me wrong, everyone loves hitting a PR, but I felt accomplished because I put so much work in and my mindset was different. I felt accomplished because I wasn’t preoccupied with missing my lifts; I was too excited to get out there and make them. I felt like I possessed new capabilities: I CAN drop a weight class and get stronger. I CAN work endless hours at my job AND perform on the platform. I CAN do anything and everything I put my mind to because I, and everyone else, have that power deep down within.
The mindset and focus I had training up until this past meet will be the same going forward to the 2014 American Open. I’ve already started my new training cycle, and have some upcoming and exciting plans for training that I will share in my next post. I still have a one track-mind: work as many hours as possible so I can cover every expense, including those that keep me healthy for weightlifting. I’ve packed my schedule so I can work a lot of hours, but still have adequate training and recovery time. It wasn’t easy; the last two months had to have been the most demanding on me physically and emotionally. But it pays off: I had a PR for everything last month – for the first time ever I hit a level 4 bonus at work. And I have far surpassed my annual bonus.
When I was little, my family and I lived in a town in Pennsylvania where the main source of work at the time was provided by the local coal mine. My father was hired as a welder, and he worked on the equipment that was needed to extract and transport the coal. He had brought me there a number of times to show me the monstrous equipment and how the mine worked. I remember passing one of the mine shafts with him; absolutely terrified of this black hole in the ground. I remember seeing the elevator that lowered the workers into the pit.
The mindset to succeed, I believe, can be compared to a mine. The surface is where everything is safe and comfortable. The vast majority of the work done on the surface is to prepare for the work done beneath the surface. The mine shaft, or tunnel, is cold, dark, uncomfortable, and intimidating. Yet it is completely necessary to reach the next step to make the function of the mine complete. The mine shaft requires risk: you can either make the decision to descend, or you can turn around and go home with regret, and no longer with a job. Once you make the final decision; the decision to make the descent, you’re in it for the long haul. You can’t see during the descent because you’re surrounded by four walls of earth. The tunnel eventually opens up to a whole new world – the destination where you are adequately prepared to put in the appropriate amount of work to bring back something to the surface.
When you’re post competition, or not evening training for one, you’re on the surface of the mine. This is when training is light and non-specific. But this is also the place where you decide to register for a competition, or decide upon a certain goal. You begin your preparation on the surface, making careful decisions and selecting proper protocols to take with you before you enter the pit. As you get more and more prepared you inch closer to the pit: the actual training and your mindset during is much like the mine shaft. It’s very specific, uncomfortable, and sometimes full of struggle, but all of what you’re focused on is at the end of the tunnel. It’s the part that no one wants to do because it takes the most work and feels the most restrictive. But you’re all geared up to reach your goal: you can’t wait to get there. The mine is the competition, where you take all of your tools and use them. It’s an endless cycle: the mine isn’t the final stop, just as one competition isn’t the end goal. You constantly go through this cycle of preparation, practice, and game time until you make the decision to retire. I went through the tunnel and reached the mine. I even took a piece of the mine home with me. But while I was down there I decided that there’s a lot more work and preparation to be done on the surface before I decide to venture back into the mine shaft again.
Happy training, everyone!