It sucks doesn’t it?

The idea of having to walk into the gym yet another day, for yet another hour, to train something you just don’t seem to be getting better at.

Personally, I know that feeling all too well.

And worst of all, that feeling leads to other (useless) feelings such as: “maybe I’m not meant to do this,” “maybe I’m just not talented enough,” “maybe it’s a sign from above,” or “maybe it’s just karma because I laughed when that girl on that team busted her tuck.”

Nonsense.

I’m not sure if it’s because cheerleaders have been lead to believe that a tumbling skills can be acquired as quickly as stunting or jumping skills (newsflash: they can’t), or because ya’ll just have absurdly high expectations of yourselves, but somewhere along the line, someone forgot to tell you that 90% of success at tumbling (or anything at life) comes from adopting and embracing the grind. 

So What Is The Grind?

The best definition I’ve ever come across was from Charles Duhigg, in his book The Power Of Habit, and it goes as follows:

“…When researchers studied and incoming class of cadets at West Point, they measured their grade point averages, physical aptitudes, military abilities and self discipline. When they correlated those factors with whether students dropped out or graduated, however, they found that all of them mattered less than a factor researchers referred to as “grit”, which they defined as the tendency to work strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress.“

Obviously, the researches named it “grit” but right now in this day and age, I think the term “grind” is more appropriate and accurate. Either way, it means the same thing.

See, training your butt off and seeing no progress for a few weeks is nothing new – it’s called a plateau and it’s not unique to tumbling. Any athlete involved in any sport can tell you that at some point or another, they’ve faced the exact same problem.

So the fact that you can’t land your full or tuck consistently doesn’t make you a unique snowflake. And that’s good news – because the only realistic solution to breaking past the plateau is to adopt the grind.

If you’ve read my earlier work, then you know that I look at training as if they’re drops in a bucket. So everytime you show up to practice, it’s like you added another drop.

It’s hard to tell when the water level of a bucket is rising because a drop seems so insignificant, but give it enough time, and it will eventually become full.

That’s just a more visual way of looking at the grind, and it’s powerful for one main reason – belief.

You’re smart enough to know that if you keep pouring drops in a bucket, as tedious and boring as it might be, it will eventually fill up. Unless this bucket has a hole in it, is there any other logical outcome? Nope.

In the same way, you must believe that if you show up to practice, do what your coach tells you day in and day out, that you will eventually get to where you want to be.

I love the grind. Not while I’m in the gym – because training hard can suck sometimes. But I love it because it’s so damn predictable, and reliable.

In the past, people have failed me, drills have failed me, and even equipment has failed me. But the one thing that hasn’t, was the grind.

How to develop the motivation to grind it out

So now you know why the grind is so important – but like any tool, just knowing about it isn’t enough. You need to know to use it. Here’s a three step process I use which builds up my motivation to go grind it out.

Step 1: Get in the habit of showing up

Are you tired, sore or just not feeling well?

It doesn’t matter, just tell your mom or dad to get your butt to the gym, even if they have to drag you by your feet. That’s it. That’s all there is to step one.

I promise you that if you just get yourself to the gym even on your worst days, things will get better. (Tweet This)

Step 2: Know the outcome you want

Back when I was training full-time, I would find the best example of a skill I wanted to master on YouTube, then upload that video clip into my mp3 player (smartphones weren’t as sophisticated back then).

Once I got to the gym, I’d view it at least 3-5 times but with one key difference – instead of watching some random person perform the skill, I would visualize myself being the person in the video down to the very last detail. Things like my clothing, body position, facial expression etc., would all be visualized.

I highly suggest you should do the same. Just by convincing your brain that it could be you doing those skills one day, can be very motivating.

Step 3: Set up a reward

Now usually, the first two steps will get the ball rolling for you. And before you know it, you’ll be back in the groove and doing the work like you should.

But just incase the first two steps aren’t enough, you can make things foolproof by setting up a consistent reward that you can look forward to. Mine used to be BoosterJuice (for those that don’t know, it’s a healthy fruit smoothie made on the spot, with added protein). It was delicious enough to be a reward, and good for me at the same time so I knew I could use it consistently. That is the key.

You don’t want to use something like an iced frappuccino as your reward, since what is the point of training if you’re going to follow it up by consuming diabetes in a cup? You want a reward that will assist your recovery and fuel your body instead of  undoing all of your hard work.

And that’s it, just three simple steps. Before I sign off, I want you to remember one last important lesson:

“The plateau exists for a reason – it’s a test from the universe to see how badly you really want something… and it will never go away” (Tweet This)

You need to learn how to push yourself past them, because that is where the battle is won or lost. It separates the wanna-be cheerleaders from the determined ones, and the winners from the losers.

Embrace the grind. Love the grind. Reap the rewards.

If you enjoyed this article, please don’t forget to share it with your friends and teammates – it would mean a lot!