How to Have Grit When You’re Competing
Written by Conquer Athlete Coach Jason Leydon, CSCS
When the lights hit, the music spikes, and your heart rate is already sitting 15 beats above baseline before the clock even starts—grit is what keeps you together. Not talent. Not hype. Grit. The willingness to stay present, keep pushing with intent, and solve problems when your lungs, legs, and ego are screaming to bail.
This isn’t motivational fluff. Grit is a skill set: a cluster of behaviors and mindsets you train, rehearse, and execute under pressure. Here’s how to build it and call on it when it matters most.
Define “Grit”
Grit isn’t “never quitting” no matter what. It’s the ability to stay locked on the task, adapt your plan as reality changes, and do the hard, unsexy things that move the needle—even when nobody’s watching.
What does grit look like in your sport? Is it holding pace when your legs go numb? Sticking to your breathing plan instead of chasing the leader at minute two?
What does grit sound like in your head? Create a mantra or cue—“Next rep only,” “Calm is fast,” or “Breathe, anchor, execute.” You need language to return to when the storm hits.
Putting this on paper makes it real. When you start drifting mid-event, you’re not guessing what grit looks like, you already defined it.
Build Grit in Training
You don’t magically grow grit during heat three. You train it like any other quality:
Intention Reps: Pick one “discipline point” each session (e.g., perfect transitions, exact rest intervals, hitting every breath cue on the rower) and hold yourself to it. No compromises.
Controlled Chaos: Run pieces where variables change—unexpected rep schemes, equipment swaps, or time caps. Stay calm, reorient, execute.
Pain Practice: Hit threshold sets where the goal is to maintain pace/technique under rising discomfort. Not redline, but right up to it. Learn what your mind does there and rehearse correcting it.
Grit is decision density. Every “I’ll just…” moment in training is either a rep for or against it.
Pre-Competition: Script the Moments That Usually Break You
Don’t just visualize the perfect run-through, visualize things going sideways. Then script your response.
Identify your “break points.” Is it round three when the reps jump? After a no-rep? When your judge starts counting slower than molasses?
Write a “If X happens, I do Y” plan.
If I get no-repped, I take one breath, reset my standard, and move.
If my heart rate spikes early, I downshift to nasal breathing for 10 seconds, then re-enter pace.
If the leader sprints, I stay on my plan unless I’m within striking range on the last segment.
This is how you turn emotional chaos into tactical action.
During the Event: Run the G.R.I.T. Loop
When the clock starts, your brain loves to go external (crowd, competitors, judge…) or future (the last round). Here’s a simple loop I teach athletes to cycle through:
Ground Yourself
Quick breath cue. Feel your feet or grip. Get back into your body. Grounding is your reset button.
Reconnect to the Plan
What was the pace? The break-up scheme? You wrote it down. Re-anchor to it.
Identify the Next Micro-Task
Chunk it down. “These 5 thrusters.” “Next 10 calories.” “This transition.” Grit thrives on narrowing the lens.
Turn the Dial (if needed)
Are you behind? Can you afford to press? Is it time to cash out? Make a conscious choice, not a panic move.
Keep running that loop. Over and over. That’s how you stay tactical, not emotional.
Between Events: Recover and Re-Prime Like a Professional
Competitions are marathons in disguise. Grit isn’t just what you show inside a single workout; it’s the steadiness you maintain across the day.
Reset Physiology: Eat, drink, breathe. Drop your nervous system down with slow exhales, easy walking, quiet space.
Debrief, Don’t Dwell: Two minutes to review—what worked, what adjustments you’ll make. Then move on. Lingering in the last WOD steals bandwidth from the next one.
Reaffirm Your Identity: “I am the athlete who executes.” Remind yourself who you are, not just what happened.
If It Blows Up: Choose Response Over Reaction
Everyone eventually hits the wall, botches a lift, or gets a penalty. Grit is what you do next.
Micro-pause. Literally one breath. Blow it out.
Adjust the plan. Fewer reps per set, slower cadence, different transition.
Stay aggressive in attitude, conservative in panic. Compete hard, but do it from control, not chaos.
You’re not trying to avoid mistakes—you’re trying to own your response to them.
Train Your Self-Talk Like You Train Your Deadlift
The voice in your head will win or lose more reps than your lactate threshold ever will. Audit it.
Replace vague negativity with specific cues. “This hurts” becomes “Relax your grip, drop the shoulders.”
Use command phrases. Short, directive statements cut through the noise: “Hold pace.” “Breathe now.” “Move.”
Practice it daily. Before sets, during efforts, after sessions. The comp floor is not where you want to meet your inner critic for the first time.
Anchor in Purpose: Not Just Outcome
If your only fuel is “podium or bust,” you’ll fracture at the first sign that podium is slipping. Purpose extends beyond a medal:
Compete to express what you’ve built.
Compete to test your systems under real stress.
Compete to become the athlete (and human) you want to be.
Outcome goals are fine. Purpose goals are stabilizers.
Post-Competition: Extract the Lesson, Not the Emotion
Grit isn’t a one-day thing; it’s a career-long project. After the competition:
Run an honest audit. Preparation, execution, recovery. Where did grit show up? Where did it crack?
Translate findings into training targets. If your mind spiraled at minute eight, guess what you’re training next cycle?
Celebrate behaviors, not just results. Did you stick to your plan? Did you stay composed? Did you make tactical switches with intent? That’s the stuff that scales.
Grit isn’t a badge, it’s a behavior. It’s the choice to breathe, anchor, and execute when everything feels like it’s slipping. It’s the discipline to plan, the humility to adapt, and the courage to keep showing up for the next rep.
Control the controllables. Script your response. Train the mental reps like the physical ones. And when it’s go-time, remember: pressure doesn’t create cracks, it exposes where you haven’t built yet. Build there.
Reach out to the Conquer Athlete team at help@conquerathlete.com and let’s work your mindset and grit alongside your physical training.
