Dodgeball is one of my all time favorite movies and the 5 D’s of Dodgeball are: .
- Dodge
- Duck
- Dip
- Dive
- Dodge
. What’s that got to do with this article?
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Nothing, but I bet the tag line got your attention. .
Today we are going to go over the Winning Mind, and the 7 C’s of the Winning Mind.
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The Winning Mind is a concept promoted by a Law Enforcement trainer, Charles Remsberg.
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I was first exposed to this in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s by a fellow Deputy I worked with, Mike Mazzio.
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Mike is the guy who was always training, researching and studying to be fitter, better, smarter and stronger. He has been a tremendous asset and friend for over 30 years. Mike gave me an audio cassette of a Street Survival seminar put on my Mr. Remsberg.
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And I just found the cassette in a box of old stuff in the attic. I immediately converted it to MP3 and listened to it again, and again.
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The Winning Mind was for Law Enforcement officers looking to get the best tactical edge and survive any incident by empowering themselves to never ever quit.
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Now, I’ve been drilled to never ever quit my whole life by my grandfather, my uncles and in my martial arts training.
But this cassette brought my level of commitment to an entirely new level. It changed my thinking. It made me realize that there is nothing that can break my will.
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You need to change your thinking too if you want to survive and thrive.
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This concept does not only apply to Law Enforcement, but to all of us.
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I’ve recently written about how I am going through the single most difficult period in my life and it is not over. Listening to this again has solidified in my mind that I cannot quit. I cannot stray from my path. . That I can survive anything that is thrown at me because I am mentally stronger than any opponent.
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You can’t beat a guy that won’t quit. I don’t quit.
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The Winning Mind may have been designed for Law Enforcement, but it is also incredibly applicable to training and competing.
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Let’s look at the 7 C’s of the Winning Mind
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Courage:
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Courage is so important to me that it is tattooed on my knuckles in Gaelic.
Courage is not the John Wayne swagger, or running into situations recklessly. It is mental toughness.
Toughness despite fear, critique, criticism. You must go ahead anyway and forge through.
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As Mikey Cap always says, the only way out is the way through. You must have the courage to go through.
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Confidence:
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You must believe that you are significant, that you matter. Not in a cocky or douchebaggy way that we see so much these days.
A quiet confidence is always best. The way you carry yourself speaks volumes to an opponent.
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False bravado is easily spotted and not respected. Believe me, I see it all the time and see it now in an adversary.
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You must master your skills.
Mastery of skills breeds confidence.
To the lifter this is paramount.
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If you think that you suck at the Deadlift, chances are you will. Master your skills.
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Do mental conditioning crisis rehearsal drills. Mentally visualize every possible scenario that could negatively affect you and then mentally visualize the path to the best outcome, to success. Do this over and over.
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Think about a multi ply squat.
A lot can go wrong, but if you visualize and know how to adapt, you can overcome.
Let’s say you are not at depth and you are at risk of bombing because you missed your first two; if you visualized this a thousand times and realize that you have to open up the knees and sit back more with patience until you are there, guess what: SUCCESS.
If you didn’t, you’ll probably run out of air and yell take it.
Which do you want to be?
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Control Stress:
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We are all constantly under stress.
Being under un-managed stress for long periods of time will kill you. Stress releases dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and cortisol. While all of these have positive benefits when released at the right time, having them run around willy nilly in your system is a killer.
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While there is almost no way to remove ourselves from stressful situations, and we do want to be placed in them sometimes (Think max effort or a third attempt), we’ve got to manage the stress afterwards.
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One of the best ways to mange this is by controlling your breathing as much as you can.
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Learn to breathe through your diaphragm.
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Possibly the simplest and easiest way to do this is to perform the RPR (Reflexive Performance Reset Wake Up Drills).
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RPR focuses heavily on proper breathing. I bet if Mr. Remsberg knew about RPR he would be drilling it down at each presentation.
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When we are under high levels of stress, or in the Red Zone as people say, we have:
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- Less stamina
- Less recovery
- A much lower ability to communicate and receive information
- Muscular failure
- Neurological inefficiency
- Higher blood pressure
- And we are inviting many long term health risks like heart attack, stroke and possibly cancer according to some research.
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Learn to breathe and control you stress. It will help in life, in the gym, and on the platform.
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Concentration:
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Having the ability to concentrate under stress is paramount to success.
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I’m a huge fan of the SIPDE concept which was taught to me in the Boston Police Motorcycle Academy.
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SIPDE is:
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- Scan
- Identify
- Predict
- Decide
- Execute
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If we are under uncontrolled stress we can’t do any of the things that require concentration. SIPDE.
Control the stress, control the situation.
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I am not talking about concentrating on a problem in a passive setting. I am talking about being able to identify and efficiently react to a dynamic situation. The concentration here is quick-think of the multi ply squat I mentioned earlier.
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Proper concentration allows us to remain flexible too while under stress.
Rigidity is not a good quality here.
Flexibility/fluidity and adaptation are.
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Learn to concentrate by practicing under stress. Then manage that stress after.
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Cohesion:
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For our purposes we are talking about you and your team, crew or whatever you call it.
Be cohesive with them. Work as a unit.
Lay aside your ego if you get tips or critique. Be willing to help first without being asked.
Teamwork makes the dream work as the old corny saying goes, but it is true.
A Cohesive unit is a successful unit. Get your team on board the plan.
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Commitment:
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This is the single most important C.
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Commitment is your inner strength, your motivation, your drive. It has to be 100%.
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As Clint Darden says, be ALL IN OR GET OUT.
Mr. Remsberg give an example geared towards Law Enforcement in the speech.
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He explained that we must commit 100% and tells us that in shootings, even in war, only 10% of the people who are shot die from it.
This is an amazing statistic.
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He goes on and tells us that even if we get shot, DO NOT QUIT, DO NOT GIVE UP.
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You have a high probability of survival.
Take this to heart and apply it to your life, your training, your kids, your relationships.
Be 100% committed to what you are doing and never give up.
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Take these 7 C’s and make them a part of you.
Never quit.
Even if you get shot.
I just did.
I'm still here.
And I am not quitting.
Neither should you.
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AND:
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On November 16th we are running the RPS Boston’s Strongest Push Pull at TPS. This show will benefit the Claddagh Fund (the Dropkick Murphy’s charitable organization) and the Everett Pop Warner Football organization.
Please support the event and come by and pay the $10 spectator fee on the 16th and watch some great lifting. I hope to see you on the platform or in the audience.
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Did you miss last week’s log?
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Oh, yeah, follow us on Instagram too.
@TPSMalden
@tpsmethod
DM ME QUESTIONS THERE TOO!
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
October 17, 2019 
