Dirk V

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@ben_damon @skyebnic Hi Ben, are they televising the boots fight?

[Funky 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 @Benaskren]

While people may point to a few very public losses that I took, the reality of the matter is I won, A LOT!  2 State Titles, 2 National Titles, 2 Hodge Trophies, Olympian, Bellator Champion, One FC Champion, and Co-Founded/Operate one of the most successful wrestling academies in America(@awawisconsin).  So how did I get here??? It has a lot to do with the way I think. 

This idea has been brewing in my head for many years, whenever I read other sports psychology books they want to make it seem so easy.  It's not.  The truth is thinking the right way can be challenging especially when certain concepts can contradict each other.  

So I partnered up with Sports Psych PHD David Sacks(@DrDSacks) and Spartan(@spartan) Founder Joe Desena(@realjoedesena) to create “Extreme Balance.”  Thinking the right way is NOT easy, there are many areas where thought processes can seem hypocritical.  We breakdown many of the common mental struggles people have, teach you how to find balance and use the right thought at the right time to have the ideal outcome

It will never be easy but I think “Extreme Balance” will give you a thorough guide in how to think like a champion.  So pumped to share this book with everyone, “Extreme Balance” will be release September 3.

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@NUCLRGOLF @stash_bradshaw

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@stash_bradshaw @ben_damon @MainEventTV Huge night for Australian boxing!

[Matt Lisle @CoachLisle]

Geno Auriemma was asked how every single player on his team is so enthusiastic.

He gave an answer that every young athlete should hear 👏

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@stash_bradshaw @ausboxing @Dirk @stash_bradshaw - wanna make a day of it (if not working)?

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

At both the 1988 & 1992 Olympics, speed skater Dan Jansen was the favorite to win the 500- & 1,000-meter races.

He didn't medal at either—the media was brutal:

“Jansen Chokes Again”

“Greatest Choke in Sports History”

“The Buffalo Bills of speed skating”

So his agent called the performance psychologist Dr. Jim Loehr, and said,

“Would you consider working with Dan Jansen?

It turned out: hours before the 500-meter race at the '88 Olympics, Jansen received a phone call and learned that his 27-year-old sister died unexpectedly.

“He's been struggling, mentally,” Jansen's agent told Loehr. “If we can get his head right, he'll be an Olympic champion. If we can’t, he'll go down as the greatest choker in sports history.”

“I know about Dan’s story,” Dr. Loehr replied. “I’d love to work with him.”

So Jansen started working with Loehr leading up to the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

During their first meeting, Loehr learned that Jansen hated the 1,000-meter event. “He felt like he was a fast muscle twitch kind of a guy,” Loehr explains. “He thought of himself as a sprinter. So he loved the 500 and hated the 1,000.”

Loehr started attending Jansen's training sessions, and after watching Dan skate over and over and over again, he became convinced that Dan's best shot at winning a gold medal was not in the 500, but in the 1,000.

“You need to change your mindset,” Loehr told Jansen. “You need to change the story you tell yourself about the 1,000. If you change that story, I believe it can change your life.”

Jansen kept a daily training log—“From now on,” Loehr told him, “on the top of your training log, I want you to write, ‘I love the 1,000.’”

“But,” Jansen said, “I hate the 1,000.”

“I know,” Loehr said. “But we’re going to recondition the way you think and feel about the 1,000.”

So for 2 years, at the top of his training log, Jansen wrote, “I love the 1,000.”

“And before Lillehammer,” Loehr said, “Dan came to me and said, ‘You know, I’m actually starting to like the 1,000. I think I might even like the 1,000 better than the 500.’”

At the games in Lillehammer, in the 500, Jansen slipped and finished 8th.

Before the 1,000 (four days later)—which Jansen knew would be the last time he ever skated competitively—“We created a mindset,” Loehr said. “and the mindset we created was—instead of a gold medal or a world record or anything else—think about what a gift the sport of speed skating has been to you. Think about the joy it's brought you.”

With that mindset, Jansen lined up for the 1,000-meter event at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

With that mindset, he not only won his first Olympic gold medal, he set a new world record time in the 1,000.

Takeaway 1:

There's a paradox known as “the backwards law.”

It comes from the philosopher Alan Watts, who writes in his book The Wisdom of Insecurity:

“I have always been fascinated by the law of reversed effort. Sometimes I call it the 'backwards law.' When you try to stay on the surface of the water, you sink; but when you try to sink, you float.”

With that mindset Dr. Loehr helped him create before the 1,000, Jansen said, “I stopped thinking so much about a gold medal.”

When Jansen stopped thinking so much about a gold medal, paradoxically, he won a gold medal.

Takeaway 2:

In his work with hundreds of world-class performers, Dr. Loehr spent many years listening to the stories people tell themselves. He would even have athletes wear microphones and articulate out loud everything that they said to themselves during competition.

“And I began to realize that what really matters, in a really significant way, is the tone and the content of the voice in your head,” he said.

“The power broker in your life is the voice that no one ever hears. How well you revisit the tone and content of that voice in your head is what determines the quality of your life. It is the master storyteller, and the stories we tell ourselves are our reality.”

Jansen changed the story he told himself about the 1,000, and, as Loehr told him it would, it changed his life.

- - -

“The mind is a funny thing.” — Dan Jansen

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@el_pollo_loco Will this card be televised?

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@SteveSpevack Brilliant lmaoooo

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@swandane @stash

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@el_pollo_loco Keith Thurman

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@el_pollo_loco @Grantlee_Kieza Nice! Where can one purchase a copy?

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@theRealEnzoMac LMAO!!!!!

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@BuzzConway_ @gradecricketer @stas

[Andrew D. Huberman, Ph.D. @hubermanlab]

The mighty @DrAndyGalpin & the HLP provide a zero-cost-to-access “Chart of Exercise Adaptations” showing which complement one another & which interfere, so you can build the most effective exercise/training program for you. Download as PDF here: https://t.co/wHpEFNsCi6

[Squat University @SquatUniversity]

He had shoulder pain for 3 YEARS!🤯

Until this…

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@georgekambosos @ProBoxingFans LOL!!!

[Dirk V @DirkVandergert]

@MikeCoppinger @sta

[Squat University @SquatUniversity]

Need help with deadlift technique? This video has some 🔥 tips to help!👇🏼

[Squat University @SquatUniversity]

Need shoulder help? Here’s a 🔥 exercise to work a common weak link for many people featuring Olympian @mirabai_chanu