The IBBC Monthly Challenge
You will never fulfill even a fraction of your potential by sticking to the safe and comfortable. Why? Because the safe and comfortable will never force you to rise to the occasion or the challenge. It never offers the resistance that strengthens muscles or the mental toughness you didn’t know you had.
You don’t need to make your entire work outs a challenge (though sometimes that’s a necessary part of progressing to the next level). But at the very least, try to always have something going that stretches you. Something that makes you wonder if you’re actually going to be able to do it. Maybe it’s that spin test for a personal record (PR) time with the next heavier bag, a heavy set of squats with 95% 1RM. Maybe it’s learning a new skill or movement and applying it to your workouts to add variety to your training protocol. Whatever it is, it should give you a chance to engage in a way that the safe and comfortable doesn’t.
“If you want to make the most out of your self and in this case your physical ability and prowess, weave these two words into the fabric of your approach to life: Challenge yourself!”
The purpose of our monthly challenges are to do the just that. We want you to go somewhere that is uncomfortable, ugly and threatening. A challenge that makes your heart pound; beads of sweat form on your forehead just thinking about it, let alone doing it! Questions run through your head, “Can I do this”? “Am I really bag fit?”
Ok, so you ask what is being Bag Fit? Check out the post, What does it mean when we say, “Get Bag Fit.” All of the monthly challenges will contain some component of strength, power, muscle endurance, balance and agility, and mobility and flexibility. Of course, they will also always all have some aspect of Mental Toughness.
Obviously there’s a difference between taking on a challenge that lets you test your training and abilities and one that is a recipe for disaster. If you’ve been on auto-pilot for a while, you might want to train yourself so you can thrive in a challenging environment. Start small and work your way up. Take something on that makes you feel a twinge of uncertainty, but still feels doable. When you successfully accomplish that, turn your attention to something else. If it felt too easy, ratchet up the intensity!
The more you challenge yourself and succeed, the greater your confidence in your ability to do it again next time. Challenge doesn’t just help you grow your skills and knowledge; it helps you grow your belief that you can. This is my quote, “You must believe that goal attainment is possible. As long as you truly believe that you can reach your goals and objectives, you will. That belief in yourself and abilities is real. Tangible. It’s that belief that creates the passion that will drive you to willingly pay the price for your success.”