How to increase the minimum threshold
Today we want to talk about how to increase the minimum threshold. The best way to take advantage of the skills you didn’t know you had is to step out of the threshold, but not only that. Improving oneself does not only mean increasing performance at the moment of maximum effort, but also raising the minimum threshold in general. Let’s put it this way, you can’t improve the maximum if you don’t first improve the minimum.
1. Resistance
Hands up who hasn’t had resistance problems in the last two years of the pandemic. However, there are those who have managed to endure more and those who have been able to endure less. We all agree that, in general, those who were physically and mentally prepared had it easier. In short, those who had trained only the body suffered in those moments, unlike those who had also trained the mind, who were able to reinvent themselves.
Let’s take a look at some examples to understand it better.
There are people, accustomed to training only their muscles, who could not stand the confinement at home. They started to get nervous, to shout, to fight. And then there are those who were used to training their mind as well, who reacted by trying to adapt to the situation. They are those who, unable to run outdoors, started training on a treadmill. Or take advantage of that time to train other muscles from home, or train for days on the stairs at home, simulating a SkyRace.
Finally, there are those who have adapted and those who have not. Those who were creative, and those who were not. And we know that the race is not won by the strongest, but by the one who knows how to adapt best.
2. Creativity
For years we have been led to believe that creativity was the prerogative of artistic minds. On the contrary, it is a much broader attitude, which everyone has within themselves and can therefore be applied to different areas of life. It takes creativity to find a solution and adapt, even if we are solving a mathematical problem.
Think about when we are competing and something unthinkable happens, which alters the plans. what saves us? It is the mind that, by imagining, finds solutions to overcome the obstacle. Creativity is, in other words, the ability to react to a situation that we do not consider optimal or satisfactory.
3. The minimum threshold
You need a good foundation to build a great house, which is why the lower boundary is so important. The lower threshold is the foundation, and the higher we raise the upper threshold, the more consistent the foundation must be, to support an increasingly higher construction. Mental flexibility, curiosity, imagination: this is what we need to enhance more and more to become better athletes.
There are those who have been able to imagine an escape route and have adapted, and then there are those who have demanded to continue doing what they were already doing, with the consequent problems. The creative ones found the problem, changed their point of view and saw an opportunity. Which also became a novelty.
Stefano Francescutti