The 2010 CrossFit Games

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The ultimate proving grounds of the world’s fittest athletes.

July 16-18, 2010 • Carson, CA

The Home Depot Center Sports Complex

Select a 2010 CrossFit Games event

Rogue Vs AF Tahoe Throwdown

The 2010 Games free webcast: watch the archives and relive the event at live.crossfit.com.

Mikko Salo

Rogue Vs AF Tahoe Throwdown

Roundtable in Tahoe: the Psychological Component

CrossFit's Elite Discuss the Mental Aspect of Fitness

With some of CrossFit’s top athletes in Lake Tahoe, Calif., for the Rogue vs. Again Faster Throwdown, it was a great opportunity to throw the athletes into a room and get them talking with the cameras rolling.

In this installment, the athletes discuss the mental side of CrossFit. James Hobart asks the stoic Mikko Salo, “What is it that you do or what is it that goes on in your head that keeps you so psychologically determined and psychologically put together?”

Salo says his strength is in his confidence. He explains that he always gives his best effort, and he says, “If it’s not enough for the win, so be it.” This mental fortitude comes from many years of training “more than most of the other athletes,” and a regimented pattern of training.

For Chris Spealler, he pushes himself, and his hardest critic stares right back at him in the mirror. The athletes agreed that it is tough not to hinge your self-worth on your performance.

“Your performance and your identity are two totally different things,” Spealler says. “You have to walk that line of being vulnerable and allowing yourself to believe you can win, but if you don’t, it doesn’t matter.”

Has CrossFit put the fire in them or is CrossFit just the outlet for that passion? Watch this animated discussion about mental challenges and different ways to overcome them.

See the entire video in the CrossFit Journal.