Get your mindset right this season
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 | | In today's edition, Joe shares: - The Kettlebell Story
- Tips for Your Breaking Point
- Mindset Shifts for Performance
| | | | Spartans,
If you've been around for a while, you might remember a man named Chris Davis, who weighed 696 pounds.
Chris was determined to lose weight and transform his health, so he moved to our farm.
I made a deal with him: for every pound Chris lost, I would carry an equivalent weight. Chris dropped his first 100 pounds…so I carried a 100-pound sandbag.
At some point in everyone's marriage one of the partners puts their foot down, and this time it was my wife. A 100-pound sandbag was not going to live with us. So we compromised and switched it to a 44-pound kettlebell.
I lugged kettlebells everywhere for approximately three years. Carried one at work, around the house, through airport security, and even to the top of Mount Fuji. | |  | | | By the end of it all, I went through 59 kettlebells (the airports lost a ton of them). Chris, by the way, went on to lose 260 pounds and become a symbol of extreme dedication to Spartans everywhere.
For me, the kettlebell was a reminder of commitment and allowed me to see that each day is easy once you drop the weight you are carrying.
But there was another incredible benefit that came from those three years.
Fitness was all day, every day.
Somewhere along the way, we started believing that as long as we squeezed in a 30-minute workout, we could spend the rest of the day sitting—and still call ourselves fit. That's a huge problem.
Look at how we live today: we sit at desks, in cars, on couches. We scroll endlessly, hunched over screens. We lounge, slouch, and move only when absolutely necessary. Then, for that one precious half-hour in the gym, we expect to undo the damage of 23+ hours of stillness.
It doesn't work that way.
A life punctuated by occasional, intense bursts of movement is not the same as an active life.
Think about the most resilient, athletic, and capable people throughout history: soldiers, farmers, warriors. They didn't schedule fitness. They lived it. They didn't do squats in a gym—they lifted heavy things all day. They didn't run on a treadmill—they ran for survival, for battle, for the hunt. Every day was leg day. Their fitness was woven into their existence.
We've forgotten that.
So let's fix it. I challenge you to adapt a 360-degree approach to movement to make movement part of your daily rhythm. Here are some ideas:
Move Every Hour: Set an alarm. Every 60 minutes, do something. 10 air squats. 10 push-ups. Walk for five minutes.
Make Idle Time Active Time: Waiting for coffee to brew? Squat. Stuck in a long meeting? Engage your core while sitting. Standing in line? Calf raises.
Turn Your Home Into a Mini Training Ground: Keep a kettlebell by the couch and do a few swings during commercial breaks. Or hang a pull-up bar in your doorway—do a rep every time you pass through.
Here's to the hard way,
Joe | | | Want to push past your breaking point? | There are moments in every athlete's training when they believe they can't push themselves any further. Marathon runners call it "hitting the wall." Think you're completely tapped out and can't do one more rep? Think again. Here are four strategies to overcome your mental hurdles.
1. Assess Before You Push
Pushing limits is part of the Spartan mindset, but first, ensure your body is ready. Ignoring recovery can lead to subpar performance and increased injury risk.
2. Focus on the Next Step
Don't get overwhelmed by the entire race—zero in on the next obstacle. Directing your attention to what's immediately ahead keeps you moving forward.
3. Visualize Your Race
Mental rehearsal prepares you for fatigue and unexpected challenges. Map out where you might start to feel tired, and imagine what you will do to overcome it.
4. Reframe Your Inner Dialogue
Swap negative self-talk for words of encouragement, just as you would for a friend. Positive self-instruction can push you through fatigue and doubt. | | | You Ask, Joe Answers | Q: Hey Joe, I've got a race coming up, and I always struggle with self-doubt at the starting line. How do I show up with confidence?
- Rachel M.
A: Hey Rachel, welcome to the club. Even the best athletes in the world deal with self-doubt. The trick isn't to avoid it—it's to control it before it controls you. My best tip is to stop predicting failure. Your brain is an overprotective alarm system. When you think, "I'm not ready," your body reacts as if it's true—even if it's not. Flip the script: "I'm prepared. I've put in the work. I'm here to prove it." Repeat it until you believe it.
Aroo!
Question for Joe? Want to tell him what you think of The Hard Way? Email him at thehardway@spartan.com. | | | | They Said It | | "Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." | | – C.S. Lewis | | | | | To keep receiving this newsletter, sign up here. | | | WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS NEWSLETTER? | | | | | |
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