Using Positive Self-Talk to Help Your Training

Mastering the “little voice” is one of the keys to maintaining discipline, and increasing your level.

Everyone has an inner monologue. The little voice that talks to them and says things like, “I’ll just grab a cup of coffee before I go in” or, “I think this top looks good with these jeans.”

It is, regrettably, also the voice that says, “I’ll just skip tonight and go tomorrow”, and “I’m exhausted, I’ll just take a rest for a while”. Or worse. "You're terrible at this, everyone else is cruising". "Why are you even here?" "You'll never be as good as those guys."

Luckily, this is trainable. In the same way that you can train a muscle to be stronger, you can train your inner voice to say the right thing at the right time. Like an actor who forgot a line, your inner voice can offer you a helping hand by prompting you.

But it takes time and effort. I can give you some of the textbook examples which would be things like saying to yourself “I am capable of more”, or “I will rest later”. These are good examples, but in the real world of combat sports, the prompts tend to be a little less, how can I put this delicately? Polite?

I had a buddy who used to say “Weak piece of sh1t” if he did something he thought was poor, like quitting in a scramble, or sitting off a hard round. Myself, I had a mantra for conditioning sessions that demanded the most out of me. I would say “Bring the hate” over and over during the worst times. It was a reminder to dig deep and find something to rally myself. That I had something to fight with when the normal reserves were spent.

Most people don’t need to dig that deep. For you, it’s probably just a reminder to yourself to maintain your schedule no matter what, to keep up good habits, or to say something positive to yourself to replace a negative thought. Sort of overwriting the previous programming. It really works. Here’s how to do it.

Here’s a common thing people say- “I’m exhausted”. Now on the face of it, that’s pretty benign, but the word exhausted means that there is literally nothing left. Rest is the only option. You gave your all, and now you can’t offer any more. But the way that we use it is pretty loose. “Oh I’m exhausted after that last drill”, or “I had a long day in work, I’m exhausted”.

But you’re usually not exhausted in the literal sense, you’re just a bit tired.

So let’s say that word is the thing you use when you feel tired after work, when you’re about to go training. “I’m exhausted”. Instead of that, you could replace it with “I’m a little tired”. The former is a definitive term. Exhausted, finished, Kaput. The latter is more easily overcome. A little tired? I can get over a little.

Negative self-talk is something we can all do with less of. The inner critic is stronger than the inner cheerleader, so it’s important to consciously drown it out sometimes. It can help your Jiu Jitsu, I almost guarantee.

See you on the mat,

Barry