Calm in the Chaos

It is easy to get flustered. Get knocked off your game in a stressful situation.

At GORUCK and the 20X Challenge you will be hit hard with physical work in the first hour or so.

The goal of both of those events is to see what will happen when you get knocked on your butt and the $hit hits the fan.

Will you get back up? Will you stay calm in the when chaos is going on all around you?

We often see athletes get overwhelmed and looking around to see what hit them?

They are completely out of their game because they have not trained to go back to the basics.

To tie in with that —

I was recently reading the book Zero Dark Thirtyand was amazed at several points within the book.

One was how calm the DEVGRU guys were despite one of their choppers hitting a wall and becoming unusable.

They stayed calm in the chaos.

Imagine if they would have freaked out and went in the corner and panicked.

No – they had a mission to accomplish – they had a backup plan and continued to move forward.

As another Team Guy would say “temporary problem”.

He just minimized its importance and moved to plan B.

What do you do when things don’t go your way? When you hit a small obstruction?

Learning how to take the punch from an opponent and shake it off can be a trained habit.

Top athletes and Special Forces warriors all use deep breathing to slow down their pulse. The brain follows the breath just like a puppy dog follows his master. This is a proven fact that is indisputable.

If you slow down your breathing — your mind will slow down the game also.

If your mind begins to race – then fear will creep in.

Fear can either destroy you or be your friend (use it to your advantage).

There will always be obstacles so why not hurdle over them or move around them.

We talk about Fear being your friend in this SGPT audio. This is one of many exercises (just like lifting weights) that we go through in the new audio.

Check out the tips below

Tip #1
Breathe Deep
Bring air in through the nose
Inhale deep into the diaphragm and exhale slowly.
Tactical breathing will keep you calm in a firefight or an emergency in your home.

Tip #2
Swim Buddy
Always have a partner that you can be near for support and to help you when the going gets tough. You will do the same for them.

Tip #3
Focus
Listen to what is going on around you but don’t get tunnel vision. Take it all in and make your decisions based on that info. Make the game slow down to your pace.

Tip #4
Run your own race
Don’t worry about how fast everyone else is moving. Stay with the pack but make the race your own pace.
Yes; you should put out 100% but don’t worry about catching the fastest runner and work instead to finding your own inner pace.

Use these tips today to help better prepare you for the upcoming events that you are going to do. I guarantee that if you only use a portion of these tips you will see drastic improvement in your results.

Questions from our SGPT athletes.

Question: What is a good book to read to help me get up and going to improve my life?

Answer: Check out the book Unbeatable Mind (3rd Edition): Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level.

I have a copy of this book right by my bed and have read it twice.

Question: How can I learn more about becoming a Navy SEAL?

Answer: Check out the Navy’s website here.

Question: Coach; I want to train for a GORUCK light that is coming up in the spring. I am not in shape so how do I get started?

Answer: Good question. I would start by walking in your neighborhood and then slowly add a 10 lb weight vest. Check out this SGPT article: GORUCK Training Tips

Are you interested in training for the SEALFIT 20X event?

Do you have a big event on the horizon and you want to finish the drill?

Get individual coaching from SGPT Coach Brad McLeod (SEALFIT certified coach). Check out coaching here:

About the Author:
Brad McLeod knows first hand about mental toughness after being kicked out of a top tier Spec Ops training unit. He failed out of BUD/S the first time after failing a math test (made it through Hell Week and Dive Pool Comp). He came back a year later and graduated and served as an operator on the Navy SEAL Teams with a total of 6 years of military service.