Being raised with a growth mindset immensely helped the Exercise Specialist and founder of Barefoot Fitness, Craig Weller.

A former US Navy SWCC, Craig volunteered for a Navy special operations unit, despite not knowing how to swim and knowing that most of the people who actually do know how to swim tend to fail the selection.

But through resilience, grit, and mental toughness, Craig eventually became a Special Warfare Combatant Crewman and Worldwide Personal Protective Service Security Specialist.

Today, Craig is a prolific writer, the co-author of Building the Elite: The Complete Guide to Building Resilient Special Operators, and serves as Precision Nutrition’s Curriculum Writer.

Craig joins me today to discuss how bench-pressing 60 lbs as a skinny kid led him to getting started in the world of physical preparation.

He illustrates the power of coaching and explains how a swim coach significantly impacted his development by making small but powerful tweaks and adjustments in training.

He defines what “goal fixedness” means and illustrates the role of mental feedback loops in skill development.

And last but not least, he shares his advice to young people who want to join the US Navy and discusses what it takes to succeed in the special operations world.

Mental toughness means goal fixedness, where you pick an objective, and you say you’re not going to stop until you hit it. – Craig Weller

This week on the Physical Preparation Podcast:

What led Craig to the world of physical preparation and why he joined the US Navy
What the US Navy’s selection program looks like
Craig’s experience training other special operators and how he learned to make people stronger
Starting Barefoot Fitness and branching out to Precision Nutrition
Physical and mental tools and skills to successfully navigate a special operations program
The power of having a growth mindset
Differentiating high and low-quality physical preparation programs for special operations
The depiction of special operations programs in media and how it’s different from real life
What “exploit and explore” means and why the constant display of strength makes poor physical preparation
How the best powerlifters in the world only test their strength once or twice a year
Finding the balance between getting enough volume without destroying an athlete
Craig’s ‘development over display’ philosophy and the importance of establishing quality
Preventing the breakdown of quality performance under stress
The value of seeking coaches in preparation for the Special Forces selection
Craig’s definition of mental toughness for an athlete
Why telling athletes to “try harder” isn’t enough and what coaches should do instead
Taking the lessons from the special operations world and applying it to athletic development
Craig’s advice for young people who want to get into the special operations world
The most significant lessons Craig learned from opening Barefoot Fitness

Connect with Craig:

Make 2021 Your Best Year Yet!

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Annual Training Group Program:

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In this program, we’ll focus on the four phases of physical training, which include:

Building the Engine
Leaning Season
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and getting Strong(er)

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To sign up for the Annual Training Group Program, visit: RobertsonTrainingSystems.com/Annual

Let’s make 2021 your best fitness year yet!

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