2013 was high times for me.  I was in hot pursuit of the woman whom I would later marry.  I was working as an apprentice trainer on the coaching team for a UFC fighter.  But looming largest in my mind (at the time) was securing my starting position on the Belmont Shore 2nd XV (it’s a rugby thing) as we ramped up into national playoffs that spring. 

I’m not completely clear on when our head coach, Ray Egan, made the statement.  It could have been before or after a grueling 80 minute match in the sweltering Texas sun.  It could have been during a cold, rainy Thursday night practice as we ground out our skills on our pitiful home practice field in Long Beach.  But wherever or whenever he said it apparently it stuck with me.     

Ah, wouldn’t everything be better if we were all just a little more aware? 

The classic 5 color codes of mental awareness is a great place to start.  The basic idea is that, on a spectrum of white to black (stopping by yellow, orange, and red) you can calibrate your level of mental engagement to the needs of the situation to get optimum performance. 

Spoiler alert: it turns out that yellow is the best mental place to be for the majority of your waking hours.  Being in yellow means: that you are observant and aware of your surroundings, not particularly keyed up or tee’d off about anything, and capable of taking in information. 
 
Now let’s talk about my gym.  Near the entrance there is a simple white dry-erase board. 

On that board is a lot of GOOD information! 

There is an outline of 1 or more workout plans with personalized modifications.  It usually even specifies lift-specific warm-ups.  There are key dates and events and reminders.  There is even a section devoted to Speech of the Week! 

You know what happens WAY too often? 
Someone will say something like: “are we having a workout on Memorial Day?”
or “Is there a group session the day after thanksgiving?”
​or “How many reps did so and so get at the kettlebell competition?”  

Well.  You guessed it.  The answers are almost always up on the board.  “Teach a man to fish……”
So get out there (in here?) and practice some board awareness today!  You just might find out something useful.   
​
P.S.  For some things, like May Madness or post-match reports, we have to create special scoreboards or spreadsheets.  They can be found on the wall.  Same concept.  

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Ever been outside at night, maybe camping, and you hear some rustling nearby?  If you’re anything like me, you whip out your high-powered flashlight and shine it in that direction because you want to see what it is!  Maybe it’s a bat and you’ll chase it away.  Maybe it’s a raccoon and it will just stare at you belligerently then you’ll have to chase it off with various debris.  (Last summer during a field exercise I was speaking late at night with one of my officers and one of our Sergeants charged over with a red face and a wild glint in his eye “pardon me gentlemen, there’s a raccoon getting away with an MRE!” then just as quickly charged off after it.)

Unwanted behaviors, on the other hand, are sneakier and definitely more damaging than wild animals. 

And they're definitely out there sneaking around and stealing and sabotaging your precious health, progress, and overall ability.  In fact, they could be completely crippling you.  

If you’re human, you’ve most likely tried and failed to change before.  So here’s one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal: Catch Yourself in the Act!  

It starts with an open-mind.  Your current state is your result.  Only YOU are responsible for where you are.  So something needs to be adjusted and it might not be what you think it is.  It might even be way outside of what your currently established ruleset is.  

(Believe it or not, there are people out there, morbidly obese, dreadfully out of shape, who think that they’re doing everything correctly.  Everything except the result.  So it’s no surprise that skinny-fat or just average-average people can fall into this mental trap too). 

Chances are there are sneaky small behaviors and mentalities that you’re barely aware of. 

If you can accept that then you’re ready to… 
Be on the lookout.  Yeah it might take some training and some talking to a solid coach to figure out what to look out for.  What we’re interested in are poor choices that happen when you’re tired, stressed, frustrated, depressed, in transition times.  

• You just got home from a long day at work: what snack are you reaching for?  
• You pushed past that initial sleepiness and it’s between 10:30pm-1am.  What are you browsing for in the kitchen?
• You just had an aggravating conversation.  How are you dealing with it? 
• You’re around a group of people that make you feel like……how does that impact what you eat? 
• You’re traveling for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th time this month.  Who are you eating out with and what are you choosing?  

Catching yourself “in the act” is a lightbulb moment that is almost magical.

When it happens all of a sudden you realize that “this just happened and I’m doing this and this is why.”  You realize is an amazing tool.  Sometimes it’s strong enough to stop a behavior in it’s tracks because you see what’s happening, everything is clear, and you know how to avoid it.  “The trap is laid in vain for the bird that is watching”.  

Sometimes it’s not that easy.  But when the light gets shined on the problem at least you know what you’re up against.   

Next time, you’ll be presented with a conscious choice: “this is about to happen, I clearly see it.  I can choose to do x, y, z, and feel like crap, or I can avoid it and build strength in a new habit.   

While the light bulb moment is amazing, if needed, we can dig deeper and “farm/mine/forensic analysis our way into awareness.  This involves journaling.  This doesn’t have to be overkill and it could take a few different forms.  The important thing is to take quick action and get the relevant notes down immediately.  The #1 goal of journaling in this case is awareness.  (The #2 goal is reference data which is completely bonus status and not required so we’re not going to get hung-up on that now). 

In this case, after “getting off”, ask yourself a few questions. 
    -Who was I with? 
    -What were we doing?
    -How was I feeling? 
    -What was I thinking?
  
This method is like setting an “awareness trap” for the next situation.  You’ll begin to recognize the same pattern taking shape (with a predictable result) and you’ll have the opportunity to divert the situation or at least insulate yourself from the worst effects.  

So you’re in the middle of the struggle.

You can see that you’re not in as bad shape as you were before, but you’re not the model of the athlete that you want to be.

Your meals are anywhere from ok to “pretty good”.

You’re making 70% or so of your workout plan.

Let’s say that you even know to avoid the all-or-nothing trap and you’re not getting down on yourself for not being “perfect”.

But it’s a struggle. What do you do?

​A little better, a little more.

Find 1 small thing and do it a little better, on purpose. It can be objective like adding repetitions or sets or resistance or duration. It can also be subjective like applying yourself better, activating more muscle fibers, moving with more ease and control.

Typically this is your priority for applying the criteria. If you can do #1, move on to #2.
​Do the objective points first, then look for subjective points.

Objective Priorities:
1. Increase resistance. Everything else being equal, if you can go heavier you’ll get stronger.
2. Increase reps. If you can do 12 reps correctly with the same weight instead of 7, you’re
stronger. Simple.
3. Increase Time under tension. Make the set last longer. Slowing down proves that you have
control, or else exposes a lack of control.
4. Decrease rest between sets.
5. Add sets (this is best to integrate on a periodized basis)

Subjective Priorities:
1. Mentally engage yourself
2. Move easier and with less pain.
3. Feel more “in control”
4. Engage more muscle fibre per movement (this technically could be objective but there’s no
practical way to measure it).
5. Observe when you feel “fresher” and less fatigued by the same amount of work.

Application: Don’t try to do all of this at once! A little better, a little more is it’s own mindset skill that you’ll have to practice adopting (hmmm, that’s almost like a picture within a picture within a picture).  Seek to apply 1-2 of the above points in any given workout and as your skill improves, seek to apply the relevant points to each individual exercise. Consciously strive to use objective and subjective criteria as benchmarks to observe your progress. Your body will respond.

Oh yeah, and “a little better, a little more” works for improving your nutrition too.

NOTE: A big reason why I chose to use Truecoach as a tool to program all my clients’ workouts is because when good notes are taken, you know exactly what to do to “beat” your previous performance and you don’t spend time wandering around in circles never making progress because you forgot.