Did You Get Better?
When you are pursuing your athletic goals/dreams, there are many questions you will ask yourself. “Why did I do that?” “Where should I go to school?” “Did coach see me make that play?”. There is one question that I believe is more important than the rest that I want to focus on in this article. That simple question is:
“Did I get better?”
We have all had rough days. Days where the bar felt extra heavy in the weight room, our legs were tired on the pitch, we had a bad sleep, we missed breakfast, or some other reason that just put us in a hole before a training session. However, being the hard-working athlete you are, you still go through the session, grinding it out, or maybe you take the easy-way out, mail it in and just count the day as a loss.
My tip for you is that when things get tough, ask yourself the question:
“Did I get better?”
Now better doesn’t always mean hitting a PR in the weight room or a PB on the track. Getting better might be increasing mental toughness by doing the hard exercise (ie. Bulgarian Split Squats/Chin-ups) when you really wanted to skip it. Maybe it was having a solid lunch after your breakfast was sub-par (or non-existent). Or maybe it was going to bed earlier when your lack of sleep the night before ruined your day.
We all want to be perfect. We want to get stronger, faster, bigger, fitter, and healthier every single day. But life doesn’t work like that. Your body doesn’t work like that (sorry to burst your bubble). My advice? Save yourself the mental pressure of having to be the best in everything all the time like you see on social media, and just make sure you get better at something each day. The removal of this pressure will do wonders for your mental health. It is okay to make mistakes. As long as we learn from them and continue to try and correct them. That is the key.
Now, this also doesn’t mean you only apply yourself to one thing and let everything else slide. The point is to still do your best, but recognize that some things will be a struggle somedays, and that is okay. Just make sure that every day, when you lie your head down on your pillow to go to sleep, and you ask yourself the question, “Did I get better?”, you can confidently say “Yes” because you made the choice to make an improvement in some area of your life.
For example, a couple weeks ago I had a tough training session. Legs didn’t feel great, energy was low, and I had to grind it out- one of those kinds of sessions. After reviewing my videos (I film pretty much every set of my workouts) I realized that while the speed of the bar wasn’t great, my technique in my lifts was more consistent than it had been before, even under fatigue. “Did I get better?” Yep. Maybe not by hitting heavier weights (which is what I wanted), but by reinforcing good technique when it was tough, which will allow me to hit heavy weights with better technique later, thus making more gains down the line.
So get ready. The bad days are going to come. Just make sure you do your best to make improvements, no matter how small, and no matter what area. They all add up and will help turn you into the athletic machine you’ve been chasing. Just keep on keepin’ on!
Peace.Gains.
– Cole Hergott
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
MOST POPULAR
Did You Get Better?
When you are pursuing your athletic goals/dreams, there are many questions you will ask yourself. “Why did I do that?” “Where should I go to school?” “Did coach see me make that play?”. There is one question that I believe is more important than the rest that I want to focus on in this article. That simple question is:
“Did I get better?”
We have all had rough days. Days where the bar felt extra heavy in the weight room, our legs were tired on the pitch, we had a bad sleep, we missed breakfast, or some other reason that just put us in a hole before a training session. However, being the hard-working athlete you are, you still go through the session, grinding it out, or maybe you take the easy-way out, mail it in and just count the day as a loss.
My tip for you is that when things get tough, ask yourself the question:
“Did I get better?”
Now better doesn’t always mean hitting a PR in the weight room or a PB on the track. Getting better might be increasing mental toughness by doing the hard exercise (ie. Bulgarian Split Squats/Chin-ups) when you really wanted to skip it. Maybe it was having a solid lunch after your breakfast was sub-par (or non-existent). Or maybe it was going to bed earlier when your lack of sleep the night before ruined your day.
We all want to be perfect. We want to get stronger, faster, bigger, fitter, and healthier every single day. But life doesn’t work like that. Your body doesn’t work like that (sorry to burst your bubble). My advice? Save yourself the mental pressure of having to be the best in everything all the time like you see on social media, and just make sure you get better at something each day. The removal of this pressure will do wonders for your mental health. It is okay to make mistakes. As long as we learn from them and continue to try and correct them. That is the key.
Now, this also doesn’t mean you only apply yourself to one thing and let everything else slide. The point is to still do your best, but recognize that some things will be a struggle somedays, and that is okay. Just make sure that every day, when you lie your head down on your pillow to go to sleep, and you ask yourself the question, “Did I get better?”, you can confidently say “Yes” because you made the choice to make an improvement in some area of your life.
For example, a couple weeks ago I had a tough training session. Legs didn’t feel great, energy was low, and I had to grind it out- one of those kinds of sessions. After reviewing my videos (I film pretty much every set of my workouts) I realized that while the speed of the bar wasn’t great, my technique in my lifts was more consistent than it had been before, even under fatigue. “Did I get better?” Yep. Maybe not by hitting heavier weights (which is what I wanted), but by reinforcing good technique when it was tough, which will allow me to hit heavy weights with better technique later, thus making more gains down the line.
So get ready. The bad days are going to come. Just make sure you do your best to make improvements, no matter how small, and no matter what area. They all add up and will help turn you into the athletic machine you’ve been chasing. Just keep on keepin’ on!
Peace.Gains.
– Cole Hergott