CrossFit Athlete Kelsea Hellyar On The Mental Aspect Of Performance - Exclusive

As a professional CrossFit athlete, Kelsea Hellyar is pretty familiar with what her body needs to perform at its best. She eats to fuel her body for the intense workouts she does throughout the week, focuses on staying hydrated throughout her workouts and all day long, and makes sure to get enough sleep so that her body can recover and build muscle. 

All this diligence pays off every time Hellyar does a WOD (CrossFit lingo for Workout of the Day). When she's given her body what it needs, she can slay the WOD. But if her nutrition, hydration, and rest aren't on point, Hellyar feels it, and she struggles.

However, Hellyar says that the most important factor in her athletic performance isn't physical at all. In an exclusive interview with Health Digest, she revealed how her "mental game" impacts the way her body performs and shared the daily routines she implements to get and keep her in the right mindset.

Even when her body is at its absolute best, Kelsea Hellyar said that her mindset has the ability to derail all her hard work. When she's trying to nail a lift or a WOD during a CrossFit competition, success often comes down to what she's thinking about herself and what her body can do.

"The biggest thing that hurts my performance is doubt," Hellyar admitted. "When I start to doubt my abilities or what I'm capable of, my performance suffers."

She said that she always performs best when she can keep her cool and channel the confidence that CrossFit taught her. "CrossFit allowed me to develop a trust and confidence in my body that I never knew existed," Hellyar said. "I tried a lot of workout programs before CrossFit, and I never tapped into the confidence that I have built with CrossFit."

When she can tap into that instead of the doubt, Hellyar knows that her body can do all sorts of hard things and that she's going to perform at her highest level.

Kelsea Hellyar explained that the best way for her to beat the self-doubt is by "keeping stress levels fairly low and maintaining a playful, positive attitude" during her workouts and in the rest of her life. 

She has a few habits that help her foster this easygoing, upbeat perspective. Meditation, stretching, and getting enough rest are daily musts for Hellyar. She also focuses on creating balance in her life. Though she spends a lot of time in the gym and working as the Chief Brand Officer of Constantly Varied Gear – her family's fitness gear brand — Hellyar's life is far from all work and no play.

"I make time with my family and friends a priority," she said.

Spending time in nature on a regular basis is important to Hellyar as well. Whenever she can fit it in, she'll go for a hike, grab her snowboard and hit the mountain, or head to the beach for a workout and a swim. Like her work in the gym and her diligence about taking care of her body, Hellyar's work on her "mental game" pays off every time she tackles a WOD or competes.

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