“Ninety percent of this game is half-mental.” – Yogi Berra
Ok, so the quote is kind of funny if you sit back and do the math – however you interpret it, the argument could be made that the word “game” could easily be replaced with “life.” At least that’s been pretty close to my experience. Having grown up in a household with a psychologist Dad and educator Mom, I’ve always known about the power of attitude, mental state, and emotions. Finally taking a psychology 101 class for extra credit hours in college, I realized how much of it I had already knew either from personal experience (ask me about B.F. Skinner), or simply from dinner table conversations over the years. Some of my very first science fair projects even had a psychological focus, and I can still remember many of the ways which we were taught critical thinking skills in elementary school.
Within the past few years, all of this has really come in handy in switching up careers, creating a mindset more suited to draw success, and building more confidence. Mindset is so incredibly essential to all forms of success, personal growth, and in some cases even survival itself. In fact, please let me know if you can think of an area of life, vocation or any endeavor which could somehow NOT be positively effected by an optimized mindset? Please note we’re not talking about saccharine “positive thinking against all rational arguments” stuff here. It’s of course helpful to have a positive outlook and vision, but as I’ve heard so many times from very respected mentors, “hope is not a strategy.”
Before more yabbering here’s a quick kettlebell workout combo based on the RKC Six (with get up removed – the ground was icky and we didn’t have our mats last night)
Joint Mobility warm up then…..
(goal is to not stop or put the kettlebell down until the sequence is completed with both hands. We chose kettlebells we could comfortably—at least at first—press for 5-8 reps per side – so for us girls that meant choosing a 12kg, 14kg, 16kg etc.)
3-5 rounds of:
- 5 1 hand kettlebell swings right
- 5 kettlebell clean and presses (reclean between each!) right
- 5 kettlebell front squats – right
- 5 kettlebell snatches – right
- switch hands with a swing
- 5 1 hand kettlebell swings left
- 5 kettlebell clean and presses (reclean between each!) left
- 5 kettlebell front squats – left
- 5 kettlebell snatches – left
- Rest if necessary
After that we talked about 1 leg deadlifts with and without kettlebell, and did a short “on your own time” combo three times through:
5 very strict form push ups, 20 Russian twists (with kettlebell), 5/side 1 leg deadlifts without weight but with total concentration
We ended with a combination of more mobility drills and some of our favorite Primal Move drills as well. Then… rock stacking! (more on that later)
I’m a big Robert Greene fan – and am so far very pleased with the new book, Mastery—and not just because it seems to be justifying some of the hard lessons of business and life from the past 12+ years (jokingly, I have started to refer to some parts of that time as “the hardest, crappiest, unaccredited business ‘school’ program evahhhh”). Having thoroughly enjoyed reading 48 Laws of Power and 33 Strategies of War, I can already tell you that this book does not disappoint – AND it has the usual blend of dense content delivered in an entertaining way that always inspires “evil genius hand poses” (those are fun and especially good for those of us who do a lot of grip training). I’m about 1/3 through it, so I don’t want to make a lot of judgements just yet – but I can recommend what I’ve read so far – especially the parts where you find out the real back-story of some of history’s most respected geniuses… they didn’t really have it easy.
So, combining some of the cool words from the previous paragraphs, you can’t be far from the conclusion that I’m REALLY looking forward to checking out the new Mental Mastery Workshop from Mike Gillette and Dragon Door early next year. Many times in my kettlebell small group, or with individual clients, we’ve found that just changing our perspective or strategy towards an exercise or approach to healthy eating will make all the difference in the world. (Read the interview I did with Mike Gillette here in case you missed it – talk about a super interesting person!)
Are you on Instagram? If so, follow me and I’ll happily follow you back – it’s a fun format, and I’ve been a little more flamboyant on there than the usual social media channels, so if you like goofy and occasionally over the top stuff (weird textures, exotic cars, gratuitous photos of baristas) along with workout and food related themes, then make contact!
I spent some time talking with Al Kavadlo this past weekend – and finally got to see ALL of the new Raising the Bar DVD. If you’re at all interested in bar calisthenics, please check it out – it’s not your usual “fitness industry” video either – it’s infused with real personality, Al’s signature NYC style—including original music throughout.
There’s some serious how-to on all the intermediate to advanced drill in there too. (An interview with Al Kavadlo) I’ve you’ve made some progress on your Convict Conditioning drills and are looking for a little spice or new cues/hits, then absolutely check this out right now. A full review is upcoming of course.
Here’s a video from the book signing party for the accompanying book, Raising the Bar:
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