Mindset is one of the hardest factors to deal with in any pursuit in life. Why? Because let’s face it, it has always been, and always will be, easier to quit and be average than try something new and be awesome. Action sports are no exception to this and most of the time the stakes are much higher because of the risk factor involved. I have written before about understanding risk vs reward but this goes beyond that.

Mindset is what separates the champions from the rest of the field, it is what separates elite athletes from every day folk and it is, what separates successful business people from those who slave away day after day never progressing.

Now before every one jumps down my throat, mindset is different from hard work. I know countless riders that practice their butts off but never progress or achieve the things their peers do, purely because they lack the appropriate mindset to achieve those goals. Instead, they just slave away day after day, week after week hoping that things will eventually change, become better, or an opportunity will be handed to them on a plate.

Sure, that does happen sometimes, but you need to be mentally ready and prepared to take on the new risk or challenge. Otherwise that opportunity will go as fast as it came and you will be in the same place you were before. Just waiting, wishing, hoping that someone will give you that golden opportunity, none the wiser that the ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity has come and gone several times already.

That’s the thing mind set isn’t black and white. There are many shades of grey, and this usually determines someone’s success in any particular pursuit. After all, I am the first to admit that I, in the past, have let fear and a lack of self-belief hold me back from achieving goals or taking opportunities that have come my way. Honestly, that is probably the single most important factor in a champions mindset, self belief.

Everyone has varying degrees of self-belief, some people have very little and their lives suffer as a result, often-letting fear of the unknown hold them back from truly enjoying their life. This could be cause by any number of factors including, but not limited to, traumatic experiences, lack of social support growing up or potentially even genetic factors. Most people call this a lack of self-confidence but really, it comes down to mindset.

So what separates someone like that from an elite professional, someone like Robbie Maddison, Matt Hoffman, or Tony Hawk? They are all normal people nothing particularly odd or eccentric about them but they have all pushed the limits of their chosen sports to new heights. The answer lies in self-belief and a desire to succeed; they all know that to succeed you must first fail.

Failure and mistakes are important in life, they teach us important lessons, letting us know how far we can push the limits but also just importantly it teaches us how not to do something. The importance of failure is evident throughout history in business, sport, science, and technology. All of our greatest achievements throughout humanity are preceded by a series of failures.

Evel Knievel once said, “A man can fall down many times in life, but he’s never a failure until he refuses to get back up”, those words have stuck with me since the first time I heard them. I have always known it is not just ok but important to fail, but you need to get back up and keep going.

Now what has all this got to do with training and performance you might ask? Well the gym isn’t just about the physical attributes. To my clients and I, the gym is also a mental training ground, where the champion mindset is built, reinforced, and cemented into place. You see, in the weights room years of mental training can be condensed into just a few weeks, day after day failing over and over again but with each step backward comes two steps forward. Each time reinforcing the belief that progress comes from reaching the limits and adapting to push beyond, regularly setting a new standard.

The magic piece of the puzzle is knowing that these mental skills, of being able to push to the limits, are transferable across all aspects of life. The physical actions might change but the skills of determination, perseverance, focus and self-belief are the same.

This information will empower you beyond your current belief, but it is really just scratching the surface of how I mentally prepare my athletes for their sports and life in general. To find out how you can be more and achieve more, head over to my contact page and send me a message, I’d love to hear from you.

Train hard and be safe.

Your strength coach

Cam