Throughout my professional life as a tactical athlete and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), a keen adherence to mental preparation during tactical strength training has always been paramount both for myself and the tactical athletes I serve.
Mental preparation is essential in the tactical athlete field of work when called upon at times of physical, mental, and emotional duress in which we can rely upon our training of both physical and mental modalities. Mental preparation can be relied upon when we need to be resilient or mentally tough.
How to become resilient or mentally tough and what is the difference?
Resiliency and mental toughness are relative concepts however you can illustrate both and also you can exemplify one and not the other. Resiliency is what an individual does to mentally overcome a stressful or isolated individual event. It is what the tactical athlete does while under duress to overcome a sudden obstacle either on the job or in their personal life, like anyone in the general population. When encountered with a stressful period of life it is those key factors that were employed to alleviate and subside that particular event. We can be aware of and recover from that event and proactively change for the new circumstance. It has been referred to as “bouncing back,” however in reality it is more than that. Resiliency is the ability to adapt, change and improve for the better after that isolated event or moment of adversity. Therefore, when we encounter said event, we must essentially change our trajectory of where we are headed for a successful outcome.