8 Secret Athletic Mindsets for Success in Fitness

Picture of track and field athletes jumping over hurdles with title of blog post

Hey guys,

Today’s blog post reveals the 8 secret athletic mindsets for success in fitness.

From how to develop grit, a resiliency mindset and emphasizing performance, this post will help you improve your success in fitness.

Today’s advice is taken from sports psychologists, Navy SEAL training and motivation/success experts.

What is a mindset?

Mindset is a set of attitudes held by someone. They include belief systems and perceptions held about ourselves or a situation. They are momentary and can be altered on a moment’s basis if one chooses to.

Simply, you can alter your attitude or beliefs on a moment by moment basis, it is in this way that having a positive mindset can be more productive during a situation than a pessimistic or defeatist mindset, for instance.

“A mindset isn’t something you’re born with, but something you cultivate.”

Athletes train themselves to perform on an elite level, they develop their character and inner game and move beyond just the physicality of their sport.

What are the types of traits that athletes develop?

Three non-negotiable traits:

You must have a growth mindset and be open to learning new skills/developing existing ones.

You have to believe in yourself.

You have to be disciplined in the pursuit of your goals.

Check out my post on 7 character traits one needs to have in order to be successful in fitness.

Other factors necessary in order to be a successful athlete are having a goal and plan, getting enough sleep, having a routine or ritual, deep breathing and the use of the 8 secrets on this list.

How do you plan your fitness goals?

Write out goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). For instance, your goal can be to improve your squat by 2-5kg every week.

You always need to have goals in order to be focused and less distracted from outside noise.

Secret #1: They visualize their success.

The first secret that elite athletes use as a mindset is they relentlessly visualize their success.

You will often hear about champions mentally rehearsing their performance right before they play their sport. This is exactly what they use a tool for their success.

In order to do this, you simple have to mentally rehearse and see yourself performing your sport at the level that you want to achieve.

You have to feel your way to the level you want to achieve so make sure to attach an emotion to your performance.

For instance, you are a sprinter who wants to perform the best during a sprint. You would take 5-10 minutes before you go out to perform to visualize the fastest and most effortless sprint.

You would feel the pride and satisfaction from that effortless performance, going into details about the maneuvers and technicalities.

Once it’s time to actually perform, you would simply feel the pride and satisfaction as if you have already accomplished your sprint, give your 100% and watch as your subconscious mind plays out your visualization!

According to sports psychologist Jim Afremow, “visualization is one of the most powerful weapons we have in our mental arsenal”…because “the brain does not always differentiate between real and vividly imagined experiences because the same systems in the brain are deployed for both types of experiences”

Here are two other visualization methods.

1) The Seal method (example of rehearsal visualization)

“Find a quiet place to prepare our mind. Dirt dive exceptional performance, dominating every evolution with a smile on our face as you help your teammates (sealfit,com,2017)

2) The Future me method (example of ideal state visualization)

“See yourself as a vibrant person, glowing from your efforts. You’re physically strong, mentally alert, energetic, grounded, and centered. The sun is shining. The sky is clear. You note the date and the time. You knew this day would come. You acknowledge all your massive action to transform this dream into reality by first creating it in your mind (sealfit,com,2017).”

Secret #2: They make it a game!

If you want to be successful at your sport, you can try treating it as a game. Studies indicate that survivors of disasters and trauma have a high likelihood of survival once their experience is treated as a game.

According to happiness expert Shawn Achor, viewing stress as a challenge instead of a threat is a more productive approach.

Finally, performance studies indicate that children do better in school once it’s treated like a game.

So try it! Next time you’re out there at the gym or doing your sport, put yourself in the mindset of levels or challenges being imbedded in this game you’re playing and you will perform better!

Secret #3: They focus on improvement over perfection

Navy SEALs take everything as a learning experience where they keep getting better. They don’t abide by the misguided belief that there are only winners or losers.

They do not view losing as being a loser and meaning you should quit. In that same token, they don’t view wins as indicative of being a winner because that’s a limited ceiling of success.

No one ever says “That’s good enough.” On almost every real world mission I was on – even the most successful ones – we spent 90% of our post-mission debrief focusing on what we did wrong or could have done better.

It’s the lesson and growth from a situation that they focus on, it is this mindset that allows them to succeed.

Not being satisfied with winning or discouraged when losing is what allows SEALs to keep pushing forward.

That’s one of the interesting things about the community: you never feel like you’ve got it all figured out. If you do feel like you figured it out, you probably aren’t doing it right.

It’s a culture of constant self-improvement and constant measurement of how you’re doing. That’s a theme I think that all SEALs would agree is critical.

This mindset is the most similar to a growth mindset which Carole Dweck talks about in her book Mindset: The Psychology of Success.

Secret #4: They prepare in advance

Navy SEALs for instance spend 75% of their time training and 25% deployed. Athletes are practicing all year for one or two games and bodybuilders prepare for one competition all year with their training and eating.

Research also indicates that survival rates are higher for people who are prepared for catastrophic events. This is because familiarity reduces uncertainty which reduces fear.

Repetition is your friend, make sure to be the most prepared athlete or person at whatever endeavor you choose to partake in. You will find yourself miles ahead of your competition this way!

Preparation also looks like goal setting, developing task focus, physical conditioning and improving mental focus. You can use attention training apps and tools to improve these skills before game day.

“According to Dan Coyle, before the Bin Laden mission SEALs built two full scale replicas of the building they’d be entering and practiced the raid for three weeks (bakadesuyo.com,2015).”

Secret #5: They engage in positive self talk

Having a positive self dialogue is a tool that elite athletes use to maximize performance. They are often reciting to themselves mantras such as the following:

“Feeling good, looking good, ought to be in Hollywood!”
“Day by day, in every way, I’m getting better and better.”
“Remember why you’re here.”
“Stay in the moment. Stay relaxed.”
“Feed your courage. You can do this. It’s easy.”
“Quit now and you’ll quit everything for the rest of your life.”
“I’m doing what I want and know what I’m doing.”
“Not dead, can’t quit.”

At SEALFIT camps, the trainees are often asked what dog they are feeding, the one who is afraid or the one that is brave?

The negative programming of fear comes from the news, TV, our family and friends and can often become our own inner dialogue.

Is it therefore our responsibility to unlearn the negative voices and replace our inner dialogues with a positive dialogue aimed at empowering us.

Secret #6: They assign purpose and meaning to their performance

Elite athletes and navy seals assign purpose and meaning to their performance. Having a strong sense of why often reinforces the most difficult of demands and tasks.

Why is purpose important? It acts as a compass that guides us through life’s challenges while offering clarity and direction in our pursuits and endeavors.

How do we cultivate purpose?

1) Reflect on what you want

2) Write out your values

3) Make choices based on what you truly want

4) Stay connected to your inner guide (listen to your inner voice, your heart, mind and spirit)

Secret #7: They celebrate small wins

Taking the time to celebrate the small things that went well leads to better motivation than focusing on the big wins.

Research on motivation indicates that allowing just the small wins to make us happy allows us to reach for bigger wins.

When it comes to how good you want to feel, focus on the little good things and allow them to improve your mood/outlook.

Woman wearing pink boxing gloves and ring

Secret #8: They set micro goals

The final secret that elite athletes use in order to improve their performance and achieve success is that they set micro goals.

By setting aside time during your week to write out your goals and then break them down into micro goals, you are more likely to achieve them!

If you want to run a marathon, for instance, focus on running for an hour a day as a micro goal to help you achieve your bigger one.

In conclusion, a mindset is a set of outlook and beliefs one adopts about themselves, their situation and/or their environment.

It can be altered on a moment’s basis and success calls for it to be positive and optimistic.

From goal setting to having a positive inner dialogue to celebrating small wins, elite athletes use these tools in order to accomplish their biggest goals.