The Freedom Project

Your mind and your body, as we’ve discussed plenty of times on the limitless athlete podcast, are intertwined. You cannot separate one from the other. Your body influences the feel of your mind, as much as your mind influences the feel of your body. That’s why your head drops and your shoulders round when you feel defeated in a workout. It’s why you stand up tall when you win. It’s why your breath changes with your mood and your heart beats faster at the mere thought of a workout. Your body assumes a posture - both physically and metaphorically - when you give it a repeated stimulus. If you think you’re defeated for twenty years, your body (your gut, your brain, your nervous system) assumes that to be the truth, and acts like it. If you’re going through extreme stress, your body recognises the emotional state you’re in and limits access to certain states. And, when your body is fried from overtraining, over-caffeinating, over-breathing, and under recovering, your thoughts and emotions will run amok. What this gives us is both a problem and an incredible opportunity. How do you break free of the two way conversation of the mind-body? Isn’t it interlocked and reinforcing the story you believe, the emotions you feel, the thoughts you have and therefore the way your body performs? Well, yes. But the two way conversation also gives us two potential openings to change: one - the more traditional in the world of sports - the psychological work; and two, by regulating our nervous system. In today’s show, Head Coach Rachel takes the lead and interviews Jessica Maguire, a vagus nerve master and physiotherapist. Expect to learn: How your vagus nerve influences your emotions and mood How to tone your vagal nerve for better performance The habits you can integrate into your life for better performance And much more Now I bring you, Coach Rachel, and Jessica Maguire.

How you are thought of by others - or rather, how you perceive how others think about you - is what you’re wired to care about. The most dangerous thing for humans until very recently, has been being kicked out of the tribe. That’s why you naturally care so much about what people think of you. But nowadays, your life isn’t on the line if a few gym members don’t like you - even if it feels like it. And really, no one even notices your mistakes. Yet fear of standing out - of being the tallest poppy - is often the very thing which holds you back. “What if I go full send on this workout and people think I’m a try hard?” “Will mum still love me if I am really successful?” “Will my friends still want to hang out with me if I don’t go to this event?” The pursuit of being an elite athlete is fraught with this perceived pressure. This is what Hannah Hardy, Team Games Athlete and 23rd place finisher in this years’ quarterfinals, had struggled with for so long. That is until she began working with Mindset Rx’d to train her mindset. You’re going to hear today how Hannah transformed her mindset. Think of it like a case study which you can listen to in order to extract your own mindset training process. In Hannah’s words “mindset is the gateway to unlocking your full potential.” If you listen to this show and think “I would like to know more about training my mindset,” then apply for a free Mindset Assessment with me. I open up a maximum of three mindset assessments per week which are completely free of charge. In this assessment, you and I will not only assess your strengths and weaknesses, but also devise a plan for how to train your mindset. If you want to chat about working together, we can do that, but the main objective is to give you a thorough insight into your own mindset and how to improve it. To apply for one of these spaces, head to our Instagram @MindsetRxd and click the link in our bio. Or check the show notes and click the link at the bottom. Now, I bring you, Hannah Hardy. https://mindsetrxd.lpages.co/free-mindset-assessment

“Moderation is for cowards”   What holds too many athletes back is the fear of committing to their next level.   What will I lose if I go all in?   What will that do to my relationships, my career, my time to serve others? If you really want to be great, those are the wrong questions to ask. What will I lose if I don’t take action on my dreams? That’s the real question to ask. You’ll lose the chance of being a true success, yes. But you’ll also lose the one chance you had to be the person you wish to be. You’ll miss out on satisfaction, on an adventure, on immeasurable growth. When you ask the dying about their biggest regrets in life, it’s not the things they did that they wish never happened. It’s what they didn’t do. The opportunities they shunned, the hot date they never built up the courage to ask out, the decision to hide away from their truest expression of themselves. You only get one go at this life, you don’t know how long it’s going to last.  -- Today I speak to Pat Sherwood of CrossFit Linchpin. Pat is a longstanding member of the community who has walked the balance of going all in and of seeking balance. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and it’s my pleasure to bring this to you in the hope it helps you decide if you want to go all in.

Today, I interview Danny Lehr of Caffeine & Kilos. We discuss a host of topics, but the main theme is how to incorporate more structure into your life so you can achieve your goals.

A few years back, we worked with an athlete called Kat. Kat was the partner of the gym owner; a good athlete, but who struggled with skill work. She also struggled with how she appeared to the rest of the community she led. Because of this, she held back from practising skills and pushing to her limits in front of others. Of course, this slowed her progress and growth. Over the following months, we taught her the power of vulnerability. She began feeling comfortable with messing up skills in front of others. She fell whilst practising handstand walking but learned to laugh about it. She pushed her limits and completely blew up in workouts but she learned not to feel judged. She signed up for the next level of competition and fully committed when she was there. She learned to go all in. Because of this, she not only reached her next level but felt more confident and secure in herself too. When we wrapped up our coaching time, she spoke words I’ll never forget “vulnerability is my superpower.” Today’s podcast embraces how to be vulnerable as an athlete. I speak to former Thunderbird pilot, Michelle “Mace” Curran, about how she overcame imposter syndrome and the fear of failure through embracing vulnerability in an authentic way. Michelle is a US Air Force Major, and was formerly the lead solo pilot in the Thunderbirds - the first female to fly that position. She’s now coaching others on how to embrace vulnerability for growth.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” - Aristotle “Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power” Lao Tzu Or simply “Know thyself” Socrates It doesn’t matter if you were born millenia ago like Aristotle, Lao Tzu, or Socrates, or born today like you. Knowing yourself is the first step you must take in order to fulfil your potential as an athlete and as a human. In this podcast, Phil Mansfield, Coach at Red Pill Training, frequently asks the question “do you push the piano, or play the piano?” What he’s getting at is something like “are you someone who thrives in grunt work, routine, and discipline, or are you someone who thrives in chaos and the unknown?” By knowing this, you know how to structure your training and recovery, and even how to think about your self-talk. But self-knowledge doesn’t stop there of course. What really drives you to be your best? What are your fears? What are your worst habits and best attributes? What do you spend undue time worrying over? What is the story at the heart of your performance challenges? Who do you believe you are? How has time and experience trained your nervous system’s default setting? What are you really imagining before a lift? If you don’t know these things, you will be a leaf in the wind; blown about by external circumstance; lacking any say in your outcome. At the end of the day, you can only control the controllable. The only controllable is you. So begin a kind of study. Part psychological, part philosophical, part sports performance, part anthropological. Make notes and question why you’re doing what you’re doing. Get to know who you really are from a different perspective. Become the observer, as someone once said to me. Phil is a true gem of a human and we cover some really fertile ground for athletes. It’s always fascinating to find someone who says similar things, but from a different perspective to yourself. This is what I found in this conversation.

You want to compete with confidence. That way when you turn up to the competition floor, you’ll back yourself. You’ll spend less time worrying about what others do. And hopefully, you’ll be able to execute your plan to your highest standard. An average plan executed with 100% confidence is better than a perfect plan executed with 50% confidence. Let’s view the goal of confidence through our RRP Method: Regulate, Rewire & Perform. A 2016 study showed that self-esteem may be associated with improved parasympathetic functioning. In other words, the more you are able to regulate your state, the more you back yourself. Without proper nervous system regulation, you are far more likely to doubt yourself, compare, and stress. Coach Rachel said to me in a conversation yesterday “all great truth is found in paradox”. When it comes to rewiring your stories, there couldn’t be a truer word spoken. Consider two opposing beliefs: “I am the best here, and I am certain to win” and “I don’t deserve to be here. I’m going to fail miserably.” Obviously both have their drawbacks, but also they have hidden benefits. The arrogant “I’m the best here” opinion may fill you with the kind of self-assuredness that helps you peak. Look at Conor McGregor in his early UFC days for an example. The “I don’t deserve to be here” mentality, may actually help you outwork many others in training. But the drawbacks of both are self-evident and extremely limiting. To perform at your best, you must be able to step outside of both of these narratives and believe only in truth. That is, what exists outside of the story you tell yourself. Only when you see the world truthfully can you perform at your best. Then from a Perform perspective, you can’t just hope to be confident. You need the strategies, tactics, and routine that reinforce confidence in your performance. A game plan without pre-lift routines, pre-competition routines, mental reset buttons, and a firm understanding of workout-specific self-talk will only undermine you. So, RRP: Regulate, Rewire, Perform. In today’s episode with CrossFit Games legend and entrepreneur, Jason Khalipa, you’re going to learn so much about confidence and how to deploy it into your life. Remember to subscribe to the show and leave a kind review, and also to follow us Mindset Rx’d on Instagram.

Us athletes like to identify as hard chargers. We’re tougher, more resilient, and more tenacious than regular Joe’s. As such we pride ourselves on how we can keep on pushing when others would stop. Like I’ve said before, this is an essential skill to develop for any athlete, and any human. If you gave up at the first sign of discomfort, you wouldn’t get very far in life. However, your body and your mind aren't made for endless grind. Speaking from an evolutionary perspective, we were built to work very very hard, and then rest completely and fully for a long, long time. Let’s dissect this a little bit. We can break this problem down into three components: rewire, regulate, and dominate. Rewiring is the process of changing the story. The story getting in the way of most athletes is the hustle and grind mentality. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, “I’ve gotta outwork the competition”, or maybe a fear trap of “oh my God, everyone’s working harder than me and I will fail if I let myself rest.” Regulate is the physical side of the equation. Too many athletes we speak to spend their days constantly switched on. Pushing, grinding, forcing their body into the ground. Which is fine if there’s ample recovery too. Even your down time isn’t really down time: the hours on your phone are not the rest you think they are. Your body and mind still perceive this as work. Finally, dominate. This is on the competition or gym floor. We’re grinding instead of flowing. Great performances don’t come from a place of constant grind, they come from putting yourself in a place of effortless effort. Without these three components, minds fill with negativity and bodies don’t perform. To perform at your best by harnessing your full mindset, rewire, regulate and dominate. In this conversation with Kelly Starrett, we discuss the value of putting the brakes on - enforced down time - in order to put yourself in a better place. We also discuss the value of having fun, changing up your warm ups, the greatest mindset challenge Kelly has ever faced and a tonne more besides. Enjoy this wide ranging conversation with the wonderful, Kelly Starrett

If only what worked for everyone else worked for you. The amount of times you hear “oh, I just started meditation, and that fixed all my mindset challenges.” “you know when I began journaling, that solved all my issues.” “it was a psychedelic trip that changed my mentality.” Well, great for that person. But what about for you? 99.9% of your DNA is genetically identical to mine. That doesn’t mean we should follow the same programming, even if we have identical goals. It doesn’t mean our coaches should speak to us in the same way, even if we go to the same gym. It doesn’t mean my mindset practise and yours should be identical. Mindset is one-size-fits-one. Are you driven by numbers and quantifiable data? Or is it the feeling that drives performance? Do you want to succeed because deep down you want to be loved, or do you want to succeed to prove yourself to the world? You are you; not only because of your parents' genetic data being passed down to you, but because of their parents’ DNA sequences being passed down to them. And so on and so forth since the first living entity on earth. That’s incredibly unique. Then, you have to consider the fact that every single experience you’ve ever had - every conversation, every reprimand, every pass you made in your school team, every particle of light entering your retina, has shaped you in one way or another. You - are unique; beautifully so. So you’ve got to find out what works for you. That means certain failure many times. That means stepping away from conformity and safety. That means being taken out by the unknown.  But if you really want to express the most brilliant version of you, you need an idiosyncratic approach - that is an approach that is shaped to your needs. In this interview with US Olympic swimmer, artist, and founder of RISE athletes, Caroline Burckle, the main theme is this one of finding what works for you, specifically are you a thinker or a feeler? Expect to also learn, how to find your one-size-fits-one approach how you can regulate your nervous system better, the warning signs you’re not regulated, when split times hurt performance and much more. If you enjoy the show, remember to subscribe to get more interviews with athletes and coaches to take you to your next level.

That moment you realise you’re actually good at CrossFit is a double edged sword. There was probably a moment where you looked round the gym and you realised that you were no longer the athlete you were when you started. Or maybe you won a comp and that changed your own perception. These watershed moments are a brilliant opportunity to rewrite your story. No longer are you an amateur, you are good at this. Be careful though, because if you’re not aware you’ll create expectations which will limit your performance. Let’s define expectations quickly. Expectations are visions of the future, not that you hope to happen, but you bank on happening. What’s the problem with that, you may ask? Well, firstly, where did these expectations come from? Was it what you consciously crafted for yourself? Or are you assuming that the people you surround yourself with - your coaches, fellow athletes, and family, now expect a level of performance from you? Implicit in this is the challenging idea “what if I let them down?” Or does this come from fear? Fear of going back to the struggle? As we’ve previously discussed on this show, fear generated beliefs are often limiting beliefs. Expectations are too unyielding to be helpful. When you expect something to go a certain way, your sense of security is attacked when the anticipated result fails to materialise. Expectations create unhelpful pressure too. Our best performances happen when we’re not overwhelmed by the amount of pressure we feel. So what’s the alternative? Aspirations. Firstly, there’s aspirations of outcome based goals. There’s nothing wrong with saying: “I aspire to get to the Semifinals. Then, we have aspirations of input based goals. “I will do everything within my control to go unbroken on the double unders.” “I will put full effort into planning my macros and recovery.” Have high standards by all means. Have hope for your future. Don’t, however, hold onto expectations which will limit your performance. Today’s guest, 7x CrossFit Games athlete Margaux Alvarez, speaks so eloquently about many things in the following show, but the theme running through this, and something she is clearly highly adept at, is observing and refocusing expectations. Alongside expectations, we also discuss: How the tragic passing of her sister changed the way she lived her life What Margaux would teach an athlete on the cusp of reaching their next level The biggest hurdle Margaux had to overcome in competition The balance of discipline and self-compassion