thinking errors
Apr 14 2020
How do my thoughts influence my performance?

In this blog, we’ve talked a whole lot about emotions and their influence on athletic performance. However, I feel the need to take a step back and look at the role that our thought patterns might be playing in all this. In this article, I’ll talk about thought patterns, thinking errors and we can fix those.

It all begins with perception

Two individuals won’t perceive a certain situation the same way (newsflash!). Although this may seem obvious, the truth is we usually overlook this fact when interacting with out environment. Why? Ah, because our brain is wise – maybe too wise – and, in efforts of saving us time and resources, it organizes our thoughts into patterns.

When I perceive a situation, I use language to provide appraisal; this appraisal includes an emotional component and a causal explanation. After prolonged exposure to certain situations, these thought patterns come into play to speed things up but they have their own percent error. Every situation has its own singularities and we can’t really depend on a general thought pattern to adapt to all of them.

This is where thinking errors (Ellis, 1973) crash the party. The thing is that sometimes the way I explain an event and the language I use to express the emotions derived from said event can cause unfavorable consequences: emotional disorders, interpersonal conflict, avoidance and passive coping strategies, and in relation to sports, a decrease in performance.

What are the most common thinking errors?

1. Focusing on a portion of the situation

Example:

You sign up for 6 p.m. class to join a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Today’s WOD is Nancy (5 rounds of 400 m & 15 overhead squats) and, although you love running, you’re not too confident in your overhead positioning. When you load the barbell, you manage 5 reps with excellent mechanics, breaking parallel (something you’ve never done before). 3,2,1, go… and on the initial run you settle into a great running pace you manage to hold for the entire workout. When fatigue kicks in, you’re having to break the squats into sets of 5. Your pace on the fun allows you to keep up with the leading pack even though you’re breaking up your squats. On the last round you’re on of the first to get to the barbell but you break 5 times. You miss the final rep two times in a row but you finally manage to complete the workout.

As we can see, there’s been ups and downs during class but when faced with an individual whose thought pattern usually focuses on the negative, they’ll probably say they did terrible, that they performed the worst overhead squats known to man and that they even failed the last rep twice. How’s that gonna feel? Neither satisfied with performance nor happy about the class. However, this athlete got to throwdown with a friend after a long while; their mobility work is starting to show on those squatting mechanics; and their running pace was one of the best in the class.

Careful now… these thinking errors also take into consideration an excess in positive thinking. The emotions derived from addressing negative events will notify me of a problem; if I disregard these emotions and leave these events unaddressed, I won’t work on finding solutions for them. Meaning, I won’t adapt to my circumstances.

How do I fix it?

Proper emotional balance necessarily implies trying to value both the good and the bad using the same measuring (Huete, 1997). Positive aspects will reinforce my self-esteem and perceived self-efficacy while the negative will help identify problems and find solutions to cope with them.

If you ever catch yourself looking at just a portion of your reality, focus on being as objective as possible. Look at everything that happened and put it on a scale. If somethings calls for action, implement problem-solving strategies; if something went well, focus on that too and celebrate that victory.

2. Magnification and minimization

In this case, we’re able to identify both the positive and the negative in a situation but we don’t value them with the same measure. Positive aspects receive minimal worth while the negative is “amplified”. Therefore, the resulting emotional state is mainly influenced by this negative evaluation.

This is one of thinking errors is mostly seen in perfectionists who concede more relevance to their mistakes and rarely value their success. That’s why they usually find themselves in a generalized state of dissatisfaction (Huete, 1997). In the most extreme cases, these individuals tend to abandon tasks if they feel they won’t reach their standard.

How do I fix it?

Again, we’ll have to consider both the positive and the negative using the same measure. It’d also be interesting to re-evaluate the nature of our perfection standard. If our perfectionism leads us to implementing effective solutions for my faults and weaknesses, it’ll be functional; meanwhile, if it brings frustration upon me to the point I feel like giving up, then I should reconsider the importance I’m giving to this standard.

3. Overexageration

We normally use adjectives to describe the emotional impact of a situation. Burpees are “horrible”, Murph is “insufferable”, and learning double-unders is “terrible”. This can become an issue if this thinking error becomes a habit and we cause an amplified emotional distress on our bodies for no good reason.

Frustration when learning double-unders comes in high doses not only because it requires highly-coordinated moving patterns but also because missing is painful. Literally. That whiplash that comes with every failed double-under adds a physical discomfort that leads to dreading the movement altogether.

If this is sustained for a long period of time, only reading “double-unders” in the WOD will elicit a negative emotional response. If its too intense, I might forever scale to single unders or I’ll just quit that class. Doesn’t seem too functional, right?

How do I fix it?

We should try to describe situations using a well-adjusted adjective that actually represents its emotional consequences. Yeah, double-unders are inconvenient but are they really “terrible” or “horrible”? Probably not.

Next time you’re trying to learn a new fancy movement, try it. When you miss the double-under several times and you hear that negative loophole in your (this sucks, I hate double unders), your body will respond with a heart rate increase because it senses a problem. This does not go well with coordination efforts and double-unders will only get worse.

However, if I’m able to consider these mistakes mere “inconveniences” or “mishaps”, without the added emotional load provided by curse words, my body will also sense a problem but it’ll manage it in a more controlled way. It’s not about tricking myself into thinking life’s amazing after getting smacked by the rope 20 times, but trying to keep emotions at a manageable intensity so they don’t interfere with coping tasks.

4. Overgeneralization

This is can easily be identified as the excessive use of words like “never”, “always”, “impossible”… and, ultimately, this impedes a correct identification of problematic situations. If I think I can’t learn double-unders because it’s impossible, facing that situation will be at an exaggerated emotional cost and, as a consequence, my efforts will be diminshed (Huete, 1997).

The message provided by that heightened emotional response is that, no matter how hard I try to reach the goal, I won’t make it. So, again, we’re faced with a non-functional response to an environmental task; if I never learn double-unders there’s a hole in my fitness. Luckily, this hole was generated by thinking errors that can be fixed.

How do I fix it?

Double-unders, just like any other physical task, takes time and practice. They’re not impossible. It’s not like some of us are gifted at birth and others just don’t have that gift. Find the actual reasons you’re not managing to learn the movement.

Change the time domain for your assessment of the situation. Trade the “I’m never going to do this” for “I can’t do it for now“. Sit down with your coach so they can help identifying mistakes and providing the right progression drills to correct them. It’ll happen sooner or later, it’s a matter of time and effort.

5. Musts and shoulds

thinking errors
Tim Paulson during the Two-Stroke pull event at the 2018 CrossFit Games. Source: Tim Paulson

In life we’re faced a series of professional, social and personal “obligations”. Problem is, that sometimes we look at those obligations as undesirable, unwarranted and unavoidable. It’s like we don’t enjoy any of these things.

“I should work on my pullups”. “I should sign up for the 6 AM class”. “I should stop binging on junk food”. The way these thoughts are phrased, suggest there will be a negative consequence if I don’t do these things (I won’t get my first strict pullup; I won’t be able to train because I have work later on; my performance will take a hit, etc.)

How do I fix it?

In a recent interview I did with Tim Paulson, he illustrated a perfect example of correcting thinking errors. He talked about weakness work on his legless rope climbs. He was doing them 3x a week and this could become frustrating since he’s not very good at them. So, it’s not the most enjoyable thing to be doing so often.

Nonetheless, when he thinks about why he’s doing it, he realizes it’s because in 2019 he was cut from the Games because he was bad at legless rope climbs. That generated such a negative emotional state that he decided he never wanted to feel like that again. That’s why he works on them 3 times a week and he does’t think of it as something dreadful but something that’ll help him improve as a professional athlete.

Analyze the why behind each and every one of your “musts” and “shoulds” and discover the pros and cons. If they actually provide you with benefits, then change the way you look at it by focusing on those; and if they’re not advantageous for you in any way, then just stop doing them.

6. Anticipatory thinking (emotions without situations)

The best example of this can be seen in competitive settings. Before going into a competition, we generate expectations. These are very useful because they provide us with valuable information but in the case of negative anticipation, we can run into a problem. There’s two kinds:

  • The “what ifs”, which express probability
  • The “gonnas”, which is considered an absolute truth

It can get even worse if these negative anticipations form a chain and it ends with a catastrophic conclusion (Ellis, 1973). For example: what if I miss my first snatch? They’re all gonna outlift me. What if I miss all my lifts? I’m gonna get cut from the competition. They’re gonna kick me out and this will all be a waste of time.

If it ends up happening (that you miss all your lifts and are cut from the competition) you’ll say “I knew it” and you’ll fall into the self-fulfilling prophecy. Many times, these situations are brought upon us precisely because of inadequate emotional management. There’s another reason to learn how to control our thought patterns.

How do I fix it?

We can’t censor expectations altogether because, as I’ve said, they’re useful when it comes to foreseeing possible setbacks and preparing to either prevent them from happening or fix it once it shows up. Identify those possible problems and answer two questions (following the previous example):

  • Is there any chance you might complete all 3 snatches and remain in the competition? Well, if we take into consideration the work you’ve probably put into the olympic lifts and strategizing, there’s a good chance.
  • If there’s a chance that I miss every snatch and get cut, how can I prevent it from happening? I could start off with a conservative lift to get something on the board and avoid getting cut.

PRACTICE EVERY DAY

Catching yourself making one of these thinking errors is just like learning double-unders… it takes time! Everyone has their own due to individual differences and they’re so ingrained in our thought processes that it takes a lot of effort to bring them into the light. Once you detect them, brace yourself with alternative arguments and try finding effective coping strategies.







“Mood depends on the situations that trigger them but more importantly on the perceptions we have about them.”

From the book “Aprender a pensar bien” (Huete, 1997)




- Ellis, A. (1973). Rational-emotive therapy (pp. 32-44). Big Sur Recordings.
- Huete, E. G., (1997). Aprender a pensar bien, España, Madrid: Aguilar.
Desiree Mejia-Naranjo 0 Comments
pain tolerance
Apr 7 2020
Can CrossFit improve our pain tolerance?

Pain tolerance is basically one’s ability to suffer. However, as a construct, it encompasses both a physical and psychological component. In sports, more specifically, the ability to tolerate pain is said to have more to do with mental endurance. Therefore, pain tolerance also considers the “affective–motivational aspect of pain” (in Geva & Defrin, 2013).

The whole point of this article is to further describe the concept of pain tolerance: where does it come from? Can it be improved? Is it true that the mind gives up before the body?

Conceptualizing pain tolerance

When we’re in pain, our brain receives sensorial information that determines the level of pain but it doesn’t stop there. Attentional resources, appraisal processing and coping strategies will be used to modulate this sensation; that’s what makes it such a “complex psychobiological phenomenon” (Bandura et. al, 1987).

In the physical realm, this is how it works: when we exercise, we’re applying a stressful stimulus to the body, so the ability to continue to perform while in pain will determine our ability to adapt to the stressor, allowing compensation mechanisms. But what happens when pain is intense and we’re forced to decide whether or not to continue?

This is when it gets interesting because pain appraisal is a subjective process in the sense that we perceive and judge pain based on our individual differences. Our pain threshold varies from one to the next, but it catches up to all of us in the end. Some seem to shy away from it and others just run towards it.

How can pain tolerance be influenced?

Given the physical and psychological components underlying pain tolerance as a construct, two bodies of investigation have tried to answer this question: one considers the effects of physical stress on the body and its adaptive capacity; and the other, looks into the relationship between pain tolerance and other psychological attributes.

From a physical standpoint, the literature suggests that pain during exercise could enhance adaptive capacity and performance (in Geva & Defrin, 2013). Also, if we consider habituation processes, athletes could adapt to the intensity, frequency and duration of intense physical exercise if there’s a prolonged exposure.

Your mind will give up a thousand times before your body does

Psychological attributes can push our threshold just a little bit further. Many authors have tried to explain the relationship between certain psychological variables and pain tolerance. Bandura et. al (1987) found that perceived self-efficacy was directly related to pain tolerance and that it could be trained using cognitive control strategies.

James & Hardardottir (2002) studied the mediating effects of attentional focus and trait anxiety on pain tolerance. Their explanation was that “trait anxiety increased attentiveness to possible environmental threats”, therefore focus was placed on painful stimuli. They found that low-anxiety individuals exhibited higher pain tolerance than high-anxiety individuals.

More recently, Geva & Defrin (2013) found decreased pain ratings, increased pain tolerance in triathletes an ironman athletes. But they also included an interesting variable: fear of pain, which was lower in these athletes.

What came first: the chicken or the egg?

pain tolerance
Jason Khalipa dragging the sled during the Burden Run at the 2013 CrossFit Games. Source: CrossFit

Geva & Defrin posed an honest question (2013) when investigating pain tolerance in triathletes: do they persist in their sport due to innate qualities or does their constant engagement in extreme physical and emotional efforts improve these qualities over time?

And I say it’s honest because when we look at CrossFit, it would seem that those who get hooked, already have a decent level of pain tolerance. It’s almost like CrossFit chooses us singlehandedly and by constantly being exposed to painful events (our lovely “workout of the day”), we push the limits an inch further every day.

Also, our ability to endure suffering seems to transcend the walls of the gym and permeate our perceived coping efficacy in general. It feels as if, surviving daily CrossFit metcons provides you with the mental tools to endure any situation.

In any case and to sum it all up, pain tolerance is related to:

  • lower trait anxiety
  • improved attentional control
  • high perceived self-efficacy
  • lower fear of pain

However, it can get better with cognitive control strategies and prolonged exposure to extreme physical exercise (does CrossFit ring a bell?); so, don’t shy away from pain, push against it!








- Bandura, A., O'Leary, A., Taylor, C. B., Gauthier, J., & Gossard, D. (1987). Perceived self-efficacy and pain control: opioid and nonopioid mechanisms. Journal of personality and social psychology, 53(3), 563.
- Geva, N., & Defrin, R. (2013). Enhanced pain modulation among triathletes: a possible explanation for their exceptional capabilities. PAIN®, 154(11), 2317-2323.
- James, J. E., & Hardardottir, D. (2002). Influence of attention focus and trait anxiety on tolerance of acute pain. British journal of health psychology, 7(2), 149-162.
- O’Leary, T. J., Collett, J., Howells, K., & Morris, M. G. (2017). High but not moderate-intensity endurance training increases pain tolerance: a randomised trial. European journal of applied physiology, 117(11), 2201-2210.
Desiree Mejia-Naranjo 0 Comments
pain tolerance
Apr 7 2020
¿Puede el CrossFit mejorar nuestra tolerancia al dolor?

La tolerancia al dolor no es más que nuestra habilidad para sufrir. Sin embargo, como constructo, entraña un componente tanto físico como psicológico. Suele decirse que la habilidad para tolerar el dolor tiene que ver con la fortaleza mental. De modo que la tolerancia al dolor incluye ese “aspecto afectivo-motivacional del dolor” (Geva y Defrin, 2013).

El objetivo de este artículo es profundizar en el concepto: ¿de dónde viene? ¿Puede mejorarse? ¿Es cierto que la mente se rinde antes que el cuerpo?

Conceptualizando la tolerancia al dolor

Cuando sentimos dolor, nuestro cerebro recibe información sensorial que determina el nivel de dolor; pero la cosa no acaba ahí. Se destinarán recursos atencionales, procesos de evaluación y estrategias de afrontamiento para modular la experiencia; por ello, se considera un “fenómeno psicobiológico complejo” (Bandura et. al, 1987).

En el mundo físico, así es como funciona: cuando hacemos ejercicio, sometemos al organismo a estrés, por lo que la capacidad para seguir rindiendo determinará nuestra habilidad para adaptarnos al estresor, permitiendo mecanismos de compensación. Pero, ¿qué pasa cuando el dolor se intensifica y queremos parar?

Ahí es cuando se pone interesante la cosa porque la apreciación del dolor es un proceso subjetivo en tanto que percibimos y juzgamos el dolor según nuestras diferencias individuales. Nuestro umbral de dolor varía de unos a otros, pero al final nos pilla a todos; unos parecen huir de él mientras que otros corren a su encuentro.

¿Cómo podemos influenciar la habilidad de tolerar dolor?

Dados los componentes físicos y psicológicos que subyacen al constructo, son dos las corrientes de investigación que han buscando la respuesta: una considera los efectos del estrés físico en el cuerpo y su capacidad de adaptación; y el otro, estudia en la relación entre la tolerancia al dolor y otros mecanismos psicológicos.

En cuanto a lo físico, la literatura sugiere que experimentar dolor durante el ejercicio puede incrementar la capacidad de adaptación y rendimiento (en Geva y Defrin, 2013). Además, si consideramos los procesos de habituación, los atletas pueden adaptarse al ejercicio físico intenso si hay una exposición prolongada y repetida.

Tu mente se rendirá mil veces antes de que lo haga tu cuerpo

Los atributos psicológicos pueden empujar ese umbral un poco más lejos. Muchos autores han intentado explicar la relación entre algunas variables psicológicas y la tolerancia al dolor. Bandura et. al (1987) encontró que la percepción de autoeficacia estaba directamente relacionada con la tolerancia al dolor y que, además, podía ser entrenada usando estrategias de control cognitivo.

James y Hardardottir (2002) estudiaron los efectos mediadores del foco atencional y la ansiedad-rasgo en la tolerancia al dolor. Encontraron que individuos con baja ansiedad-rasgo mostraban mejor tolerancia al dolor que individuos con una elevada ansiedad-rasgo. Lo achacaron a que “la ansiedad-rasgo incrementaba la focalización en posibles amenazas del entorno”, por lo tanto se fijaban más en el dolor.

Más recientemente, Geva y Defrin (2013) encontraron evaluaciones más bajas del dolor y una mayor tolerancia al dolor en triatletas y atletas de Ironman. Pero además incluyeron una variable interesante: el miedo al dolor, que demostró ser menor en este tipo de atletas.

¿Qué vino antes: la gallina o el huevo?

tolerancia al dolor
Jason Khalipa al final del Burden Run de los 2013 CrossFit Games. Fuente: CrossFit

Geva y Defrin plantearon una pregunta relevante (2013) en su estudio de la tolerancia al dolor en triatletas: ¿persisten en ese deporte por sus cualidades innatas o es su constante exposición a esfuerzos físicos y emocionales extremos lo que mejora esas cualidades con el tiempo?

Y es una pregunta necesaria porque cuando pienso en el CrossFit podría parecer que los que nos enganchamos, ya veníamos con una tolerancia al dolor elevada de serie; es como si el CrossFit nos escogiera a nosotros. Y encima, como nos exponemos a eventos dolorosos (nuestro querido WOD), hallamos un nuevo límite cada día.

Además, esa habilidad para resistir el sufrimiento parece trascender las paredes del gimnasio e influir también sobre nuestra percepción de eficacia de afrontamiento en general. Es como si, sobrevivir diariamente a entrenos de CrossFit te proporcionara los recursos necesarios para superar cualquier situación.

En cualquier caso y a modo de resumen, la tolerancia al dolor se relaciona con:

  • una ansiedad-rasgo baja
  • un control atencional mejorado
  • una elevada percepción de autoeficacia
  • menos tolerancia al dolor

Sin embargo, puede mejorar con el uso de estrategias de control cognitivo y una exposición prolongada y repetida a ejercicio físico intenso (¿os suena el CrossFit?); así que, no huyas del dolor, corre hacia él.











- Bandura, A., O'Leary, A., Taylor, C. B., Gauthier, J., & Gossard, D. (1987). Perceived self-efficacy and pain control: opioid and nonopioid mechanisms. Journal of personality and social psychology, 53(3), 563.
- Geva, N., & Defrin, R. (2013). Enhanced pain modulation among triathletes: a possible explanation for their exceptional capabilities. PAIN®, 154(11), 2317-2323.
- James, J. E., & Hardardottir, D. (2002). Influence of attention focus and trait anxiety on tolerance of acute pain. British journal of health psychology, 7(2), 149-162.
- O’Leary, T. J., Collett, J., Howells, K., & Morris, M. G. (2017). High but not moderate-intensity endurance training increases pain tolerance: a randomised trial. European journal of applied physiology, 117(11), 2201-2210.
Desiree Mejia-Naranjo 0 Comments