A ruck sack is more than just a back pack with weights
How I use the language of sports as a coach
Sports are a universal language
Yesterday I wrote the most detailed guide to how I approach life coaching and mentoring with health and fitness coaching (read it HERE). Today I want to highlight the effectiveness of that approach with a story from a call I had with a client that brings it vividly to life
I’ve been working with a guy for a year to help him rediscover passion in training in order to tackle some big and difficult life decisions. He’s definitely found his enthusiasm for training again. This is a guy who was a high level athlete in his youth and a high performer in life, but struggles with some self confidence issues that have a tendency to cascade.
Now that he’s rediscovered that passion and enthusiasm in training, from following that same 7 step progression I discussed in detail yesterday (read it HERE), he’s experimenting with new gear; specifically a new ruck sack with fitted weight plates.
The Play by Play
Here’s a short breakdown of how our call went so you can see how important grounding self development in physical training is in giving you an honest experience to combat the tendencies of the mind to reach for excuses and shortcuts.
My Guy: I am SO pumped to have this rucksack finally, can’t wait to add it into all my workouts. I’m a bit nervous about doing something stupid and injuring myself!
Me: Brother, when you get excited your enthusiasm tends to get the better of you. Let’s put some boundaries on this new piece of gear. Tell me, what were you thinking of doing?
My Guy: Oh, you know, 8 mile trail run with the ruck sack!
Me: NO! DON’T! No running in the ruck sack for a minimum of 4 weeks dude! Hike for 2 hours this weekend with it, and if you feel the need to run at all, start doing walking lunges instead. Remember, you need to be training to keep a handle on the other parts of yourself, if you get injured, you’re in BIG TROUBLE.
My Guy: I know I know! Thank you, I definitely need to hear this message on restraint, I’ve probably been overdoing it a bit anyways. Good reminder to slow down and take things one step at a time.
Me: Good. For real though, don’t go running!
Later in our conversation we ended up talking about some difficulties he’s having reintegrating into a local community that holds a lot of meaning to him, but also stirs up some memories of some less than honorable actions that don’t reflect his true character and how he demands to live moving forward.
It gave me a perfect opportunity to move the discussion right back into the lessons of the ruck sack we started off our call evaluating.
My Guy: I’m just worried that taking the first small step to reintegrate will put all this pressure on me to fully reengage like I was before, and that makes me nervous and anxious about covering my responsibilities and living up to other people’s expectations of me.
Me: Didn’t we just have this conversation about the ruck sack brother? You have a tendency at times to move from step 1 to step 100 in an instant, letting that enthusiasm take over a bit. We are taking the pressure off rucking by putting boundaries on and being responsible with how we interact with something that has this enthusiastic energy bound up inside of it. So let’s do that same thing here.
My Guy: Holy S*** you are so right here. If I think about it like that, what I need to do is be honest with the leaders in the community about my intentions rather than assuming their reactions and opinions in my mind. I need to do my best to take the correct first step that gives me peace and ease, setting it up sustainably. Man, a ruck sack just isn’t a ruck sack is it!
Sport as metaphor
The reason the language of sports works so well as a language of self development is its relation to the truth of the outcomes and our effort. It’s obvious to my guy how he would injure himself physically by letting unbridled enthusiasm over take him. It’s a lot harder to recognize that same behaviour pattern outside of the physical arena. In this case, my guy substituted the external opinions of others in place for his own insecurity about making a difficult commitment and how that would create internal pressure and anxiety.
We’re able to use the truth of our bodily experiences to untangle the self imposed delusions our mind throws our way. The language of sports helps us bridge the divide and create a common frame to ‘know ourselves’
Given how much I poured into detailing my coaching philosophy in action, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to explain this incredible situation in detail to everyone here.
I encourage everyone to use the language of sports and their physical experiences as a truthful way to reframe the way your mind tricks you into shortcuts and familiar limiting thought patterns. Use the play by play of this conversation as a good reminder what that can look like. And if you want to incorporate this type of personal development through physical training into your life, send me a message using the button below and let’s get to work together.