THEME OF THE WEEK: FIND THE FUN

Mindset Monday, April 27th 2020
Earlier this season, we had a few practices where I asked you guys (swimmers) what you struggled with and/or things you wanted me to talk about, and you guys wrote them down on little pieces of paper. Several of you wrote that you struggle with “staying motivated” or “motivation for swim”, so today’s Mindset Monday is about motivation and how to find motivation when you are definitely not motivated.

There are a couple different definitions for what motivation is, but the one we’ll use is “the general willingness or desire of someone to do something”. It’s that feeling you get that makes you want to do something. You might watch Cody Miller’s vlog and be motivated to swim, or you might be sitting around doing nothing and randomly become motivated to do something productive. These two examples show two different types of motivation: external motivation and internal motivation. There are actual definitions on what these are, but I’m gonna make up my own based on how I think of them.

External Motivation
To me, external motivation is anything outside of yourself that makes you want to do something. Cody Miller’s vlog is an example of external motivation because it makes you want to do something (swim) and it is outside of yourself (you are not Cody Miller, and he is not controlling your brain. Probably.). Another example of external motivation could be someone at practice who motivates you to work harder. It could be your friend that you are trying to beat, or someone who does something really well (has perfect dives etc) that makes you want to work on your own dives.

There are many other sources of external motivation! Some big ones for me are friends, movie characters, book characters, professional athletes, hardworking/caring people. A really big one for me is Rich Froning. He is arguably the fittest human ever. He has an incredible story and work ethic, and he likes to workout occasionally.

Internal Motivation
I think of internal motivation as motivation that you find within yourself. This can be thoughts, emotions, values, or goals. Values and goals can be extremely strong motivators, as they are more consistent than external sources of motivation. If you can’t find any external motivation, you can always fall back on your own personal values or goals. For me, sometimes I get down (depressed) and external motivation doesn’t work. When this happens, I rely on one of my main values: I’m highly competitive. I like to win, but I haaate losing. I pretend that if I stay depressed or sad, I lose and it wins. That immediately makes me smile and puts me in a better mood, because I’m definitely not going to lose. This might not work for everyone, but it works for me. You can also think about goals that you have and how bad you want it.

Another strategy that helps me stay internally motivated is to find the fun! I think a lot of you guys have probably picked up on this, but I like to keep things light and make lots of fantastic jokes. One of the examples I’ve used before was to imagine swim practice if myself and coach Emily never smiled or made jokes. Practice would probably not be very enjoyable! If you can find the fun in things and learn to enjoy them, it makes difficult or unpleasant tasks a little better. It takes practice, creativity, and a little bit of crazy, but it can get you some pretty tough situations.

SO, when you find yourself stuck and looking for motivation, remember that you can look both outside and inside yourself for motivation. Some people have a preference for one over the other, and sometimes one might not work for you but the other will. Keep an open mind and stay positive!

STICKER SHEETS
Sticker sheets for this week (Week 2) are out! You can find them attached to the bottom of this post. Print one out and keep track of your activities! Remember, do an activity for 6 days in a row and you get a duck! Start today! Get that duck!

WARMUP
Team dryland warm-up, about 10 each

• Calf stretch
• Knee hug
• Quad stretch
• Single leg RDL
• Frankensteins
• Open the gates
• Close the gates
• Lunge and reach
• Heel/toe stretch
• Arm circles
• Dynamic squat stretch
• Horizontal arm circles

STRENGTH
4×10 Single leg RDL

If you can do these controlled, you can increase the difficulty by holding a weight in your hand. Move slow and controlled, focus on your form. I would recommend building in weight across the sets, meaning you add a little bit more weight each set. If you get to a point where the exercise is too difficult to do while keeping good form, stop adding weight and focus on having good form.

CONDITIONING
Re-test!
3 rounds for time
20 forward lunges (1,2)
20 alt. v-ups (1,2)
20 reverse lunges (1,2)
20 sit-ups

This was the first workout I posted to the website a few weeks ago. If you did it and remember your time, try to beat it! If you haven’t done it yet, do your best!

Try to stay moving the whole time, don’t start out too fast but don’t save too much for the end. Find a pace that works for you and get the work done!

ACCESSORY
4×10 push-ups
Incline push-ups, regular push-ups, or explosive push-ups

If you are working towards doing regular push-ups on the ground, do incline push-ups (hands elevated on a chair or bed etc). You can lower the incline (hands closer to the ground) to make it more difficult. If you can do regular push-ups but are building endurance, do regular push-ups. If you are proficient at regular push-ups, try jumping push-ups. See video below for demonstration.

COOLDOWN
Stretch for 10 minutes

HELPFUL LINKS
Single Leg RDL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I3WJ2wGHcU

Forward/Reverse Lunges
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwGPWeMGAYA

Alternating V-Ups
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOI3r8VWMTM

Sit-Ups
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HghGGudXuGM

Incline Push-ups
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slkvBqMN1AM

Push-Ups
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l3ySVKYVJ8

Explosive Push-Ups
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuLCoUZRUeg