Developing an Unbeatable Mind

Coach Ash with CMDR Mark Divine of SealFit

For over the last year and a half I've completed and participated in an online program called "Unbeatable Mind Academy". This program has been developed and led by Mark Divine, the founder of SealFit, a former US Navy SEAL who has gained a lot of success within the CrossFit and Special Operations community for his approach to developing mental toughness and cultivating the warrior spirit.



CrossFit has the ability to give and teach you many things about yourself. There is no better program for developing your personal physical fitness. Clean and jerks, muscle ups, deadlifting, double unders, box jumps...doing physical things you once thought were impossible. That's just the physical realm...the real break throughs occur mentally. That's also where all your personal failures occur as well....the mind.

It's impressive to watch someone string together multiple muscle ups, lifting massive amounts of weights, but to me the most impressive thing to watch is to witness someone make the decision they are going to do something. To watch them fail, fail, and fail again...becoming a victim of self doubt....of fear. Then something clicks...something made the connection mentally to believe..to commit..then it happens...victory. Imagine if we could harness that belief daily? That's where UMA comes into play. It teaches you the fundamentals of developing mental fitness and toughness.

"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."
-Sun Tzu

There are many tenets I've been fortunate enough to experience through this program. The military was my best teacher and I was blessed to have been taught by truly the "best of the best". As a young officer I was fortunate enough to have landed an assignment with the best and brightest minds the Army has to offer. Men forged with a physical tenacity only matched by their intelligence. Many of the lessons I was too young to fully appreciate and absorb. But through the UMA, CMDR Divine has been able to bring those lessons to the general populace.

The biggest lessons I try to utilize in my daily practice are
Developing breath control
Interdicting negative thought patterns (Fear Wolf/Courage Wolf)
Developing powerful positive visualizations
Focused Mediation

Here's a clip of those mental toughness practices in action during a 45 minute plank hold.



Here's another clip of CMDR Divine explaning the Unbeatable Mind Program:




If you'd like to learn more about the program, click HERE. If you don't want to enroll in the program, I highly encourage you to spend some time and get signed up for their free program.

Now here's what is in store for you this week. You'll have plenty of opportunities to harness mental toughness this week as we've picked some team WODs and some other tough ones where you'll have plenty of opportunities to really focus on being present and decide if you'll feed negative or positive energy to your mind and body. We will also be testing out your new maxes for the power clean and bench press. You've worked hard over the last 6 weeks, now it's time to let it show.

Monday:
10 minutes to establish 1RM Power Clean
Conditioning:
Teams of 4 (only one rowing/airdyning at a time)
300 cal AirDyne Race
*non-working teammates must hold barbell (135/95) overhead. Up to team to strategize. (15 minute cap)
rest 3 minutes
3000m Row Race
*non-working teammates must hold 4 x (53/35) KBs in Rack position. Up to team to strategize. (15 minute cap)

Tuesday:
10 minutes to Establish 1RM Thruster:
*olympic*
10 min to establish 1RM Squat Clean

Conditioning:
5 rounds
5 Deadlifts(275/155#)
10 lateral bar burpees


Wednesday:
Max Bench:
Conditioning:
“Minute to Win It”
60 seconds max calories on AirDyne
Rest 1:30
60 seconds max burpee pullups
Rest 1:30
60 seconds max Goblet Squats (70/53)
Rest 1:30
60 seconds max Double Unders
Rest 1:30
60 seconds max burpee box jumps


Thursday:
With a continuously running clock perform 1 strict pullup on mintue 1, 2 pullups on minute 2, etc until you cannot perform the pullups in the allotted minute (10 minute cap)
rest 2 minutes...
Then perform the same for STRICT HSPU
*Olympic*
10 minutes to work up to a heavy hang squat Snatch (during pull up portion), then follow same rep scheme on the minute as class strict HSPU section with 75% of the highest successful hang snatch (1 on minute 1, 2 on minute 2 etc.)

Conditioning:
Teams of 3 – “Frianabeth” from the Validus Games
Fran – 21-15-9 Thrusters (95/65) & Pullups
Diane – 21-15-9 Deadlifts (225/155) & HSPU
Elizabeth -  21-15-9 Power Cleans (135/95) & Ring Dips
(15 minute cap)
Only one athlete working at a time, must switch out every 30 seconds until all workouts are completed.


Friday:
Stoplight Run with 20lb med ball
20 kb swings (53/35)
7 kb thruster each arm
5 rounds