Mental Skills Relationship to CrossFit’s 10 Physical Skills
CrossFit Games Athletes displaying both mental and physical skills.
In 2002, CrossFit.com saw an article posted called “What is Fitness?” In part 1, it details 10 general physical skills that were thought to be most important in athletics and life. These skills are built on in CrossFit programming to try and get the best general training for athletes and recreational fitnessers for life.
This article is all about how mental skills are related to those 10 physical skills and how CrossFit doesn’t just build the physical skills, but the mental competencies as well.
This is how CrossFit.com defines the 10 physical skills:
“Cardiovascular/Respiratory Endurance - The ability of the body’s systems to gather, process and deliver oxygen.”
“Stamina - The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store and utilize energy.”
“Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.”
“Flexibility - the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.”
“Power - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.”
“Speed - The ability to minimize cycle time of a repeated movement”
“Coordination - The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement”
“Agility - The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.”
“Balance - The ability to control the placement of the body’s center of gravity in relation to its support base”
“Accuracy - The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a give intensity”
Two really important things the article also states is that:
“You are as fit as you are competent in each of these 10 skills.”
“Improvements in endurance, stamina, strength, and flexibility come about through training. Training refers to activity that improves performance through a measurable organic change in the body. Improvements in coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy come through practice. Practice refers to activity that improves performance through changes in the nervous system.”
All of these can be related to the competencies that mental skills can build with training and practice. You don’t improve in them by just thinking or talking about them, you change your mind and your body by putting in the work and practicing the skills.
Mental Skills In Relation to CrossFit’s 10 General Physical Skills:
This is my attempt at connecting mental components to physical components.
Brain Endurance - the brain’s ability to gather and utilize oxygen and nutrients for improved cognitive and therefore physical performance.
Cognitive Stamina - how your brain and mind observe, understand and navigate stress (eu- and distress) over some period of time.
Mental Strength - an athlete’s ability to persist in the face of challenges, mistakes and failures (or perceived of any of the above). This may be synonymous with mental toughness and how an athlete utilizes confidence, control, commitment and views challenges in a performance setting.
Cognitive Flexibility - the ability to maximize your brain’s range of thoughts and feelings while accepting both unwanted and wanted emotions/thoughts and continue to progress towards values and goals.
Brain Power - the brain’s ability utilize as much capacity of the brain as possible to produce force upon the body for a certain period of time.
Mental Speed - aka reaction time; how quickly your brain/mind can process internal and external inputs and respond appropriately and effectively.
Coordination - synchronized action of the brain and body working together - processing multiple inputs - to produce the peak outcome
Mental Agility - the ability to adapt and overcome challenges and take advantage of opportunities. Adapt to changing situations and think creatively.
Balance - being completely mindful and focused within your athletic setting, while still having a life and identity outside of sport. An athlete’s ability to be completely present in whatever setting they are in.
Accuracy - lack of/as little as possible error or bias in a measure or observation (ie extremely important in an athletes perception of themselves and their performance.
Those extra important points
You are only as mentally fit as you are competent in each of these 10 skills.
There are skills that one must practice and train with to improve upon each of these ten components. You can’t just think about them, you must actually put them to use.
If you put these components together you will become more mentally resilient and mentally tougher. These things are a combinations of the components, competencies and skills that make up each.
Skills in motion - putting them to use in high pressure/performance situations. You don’t rise to the level of competition, you fall to the level of your training. If you train these skills within your training sessions, they will show up for you in competition, but you can’t expect them to show up for you in high pressure moments if you don’t ever practice them.
“Your best bet is to barrel forward. I like going into those dark moments and learning from them. You don’t get to summon those whenever you want. You’re doing something really difficult, and that’s how you grow your capacity to endure. ”
Reflection
Even if you know all the competencies and even if you know all the skills that build the competencies, you only really ever know how they are working when you put yourself in hard, difficult situations. You must force yourself outside of your comfort zone, into your learning zone and learn to endure using the skills you’ve practiced. However, you must also reflect in an unbiased way to actually learn, adapt and grow as an athlete.
Next steps
Start becoming more aware of where you are now with your mental skills and the components listed above. Recruit others to help you take an unbiased opinion.
If you are not sure where you’re at or want to improve on these components, join Resilience Rx - Your resilience prescription, my monthly mental skills online workshop. Here you will learn one skill a month, what components/competencies it builds and how to apply it to your training and everyday life. You will also have access to a members only site with extra resources and community!
Resilience Rx
You’re resilience prescription
