What is an Ironmind Crucible?
IronMind Crucibles are long duration, extreme physical & mental challenges where participants will undergo one of the most demanding experiences on the planet, while being taught powerful mental strategies, tools and processes to control their mind in the chaos of the crucible and persevere to achieve something extraordinary.
Set between our indoor training centre and the mountains, beaches and seas of North Connemara, the IronMind Crucibles will be a reflection of the savagely beautiful landscape they take place in. Harsh yet enlightening, rugged yet caring, stoic yet flourishing. Over, non-stop, 12, 24 or 48 hour events, participants will be guided to drive beyond their perceived limits, destroying disempowering beliefs, creating paradigm shifting experiences & leaving with a profound sense of fulfillment having endured through the extraordinarily difficult.
‘’The path to one’s own heaven always leads through the voluptuousness of one’s own hell’’
– Friedrisch Nietzsche
Ironmind Crucible Training Program
Each SISU athlete will receive an Ironmind Crucible training program to prepare them for their Crucible experience. The programs range in durations of 17, 15, 13 and 10 weeks and are designed to prepare the athlete to the highest possible physical & mental capacities to take on the demands of their SISU Crucible. The length of program an athlete receives is dependent on when they sign up to his or her Ironmind Crucible experience.
Note: The duration of your program will be based on the date you commit to your Crucible.
17 WEEKS
- Ready to Train Program
- Training Cycle 1 - 36 Days
- Intra Cycle Rest - 6 Days
- Training Cycle 2 - 36 Days
- Intra Cycle Rest - 6 Days
- Training Cycle 3 - 27 Days
15 WEEKS
- Ready to Train Program
- Training Cycle 1 - 32 Days
- Intra Cycle Rest - 5 Days
- Training Cycle 2 - 32 Days
- Intra Cycle Rest - 5 Days
- Training Cycle 3 - 32 Days
13 WEEKS
- Ready to Train Program
- Training Cycle 1 - 24 Days
- Intra Cycle Rest - 4 Days
- Training Cycle 2 - 24 Days
- Intra Cycle Rest - 4 Days
- Training Cycle 3 - 24 Days
10 WEEKS
- Ready to Train Program
- Training Cycle 1 - 18 Days
- Intra Cycle Rest - 4 Days
- Training Cycle 2 - 18 Days
- Intra Cycle Rest - 4 Days
- Training Cycle 3 - 18 Days
The Ironmind Crucible Process
No Pressure, No Diamonds.
You have no idea what you are capable of. The reality is you have unfathomable depths of strength & resilience inside you and that is what the Ironmind Crucible experience is designed to uncover. The mission of The Ironmind Institute is to create transformational experiences for our Crucible athletes that elicit a sense of freedom and opens up the athlete’s mind to their extraordinary potential. However, word of warning, these beautiful rewards do not come easy.
Our strategy for creating them is achieved through our Body First Method. You can find out more about The Body First Method here. It can be described simply as; self imposing stressful states on the body, therefore eliciting negative effects on the mind & training yourself to positively negotiate mentally through the effects of that lived experience. The centrepiece of this method is a subtly crafted targeting strategy that places our athletes in the necessary pressurised state to perform.
“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials”
– Seneca
3 Strikes and You Are Out.
Each Crucible athlete will have their own individual targets throughout our unique “Loops” structure of the experience that they must attain. These targets will be measured off the athlete’s training program metrics and are fundamental to creating the state we need all our athletes to experience to build the neural association between the action (mental strength method) and reward (the feeling of overcoming overwhelming states of negativity). If an athlete does not attain their respective target, they will receive a strike through a box on the back of their t-shirt. If an athlete obtains three strikes over the course of a Crucible, they will have failed the experience and will be immediately excluded from continuing.
Objective Targets & Subjective Standards
Each athlete will have on their t-shirt (supplied) 6 boxes printed. 3 vertical and 3 horizontal. The horizontal boxes are for the athletes objective targets. Metrics they must attain within the Crucible (i.e – time trials) and the vertical boxes are for subjective standards. These are the Ironmind Institute behavioural standards, in place to uphold the integrity of the experience and at the sole discretion of the Head Coach. If an athlete receives 3 strikes through any of the six boxes in total, they will have failed the experience and immediately excluded from continuing. NOTE: We make no apologies for this mechanism. It is in place to bring more out of our athletes and unearth some of their extraordinary potential. It will be aligned with a value the Ironmind Institute holds in the utmost regards, fairness, and is in place for all the right reasons.
OUR MEITHEAL FUND
“Ní neart go cur le chéile”
(There is no strength without unity)
– Ancient Irish Proverb
MEITHEAL (pronounced Methal) is the Irish word for a work team, gang, or party and denotes the ancient co-operative labour system in Ireland where groups of neighbours would come together to help each other in turn with farming work, such as harvesting crops. Neighbours who give their work to others are then helped in turn with their own heavy seasonal tasks. At the heart of the concept is community unity through cooperative work and mutually reciprocal support. Meitheal is the Irish expression of the ancient and universal appliance of cooperation to social need. The Ironmind Meitheal is our co-operative response to the obvious social need amongst teenagers for increased resilience and mental strength through immersion in extreme physical endeavour. 5% of all Ironmind Institute revenue is lodged into our Meitheal fund which is ringfenced to allow financially challenged 17- to 19-year-olds the opportunity to experience our Crucible for teens which is coming in 2025.
The CRUCIBLE Environment
Deep in the raw and untamed Killary fjord, the Ironmind Crucible environment is a bespoke high-performance unit combining cutting edge training equipment, luxury accommodation, award winning catering and some of the most challenging landscape on the island of Ireland to create an unparalleled training centre where extreme physical endeavour is unleashed and where non-professional athletes can immerse themselves in a wholly professional training experience that deepens their mental strength and increases their resiliency to levels never before achieved.
The crucible environment is specially designed to deliver extreme physical and mental training experiences that combine strength, conditioning and endurance methods in the highest quality equipped studios, gym and outdoor settings with luxury accommodation in the Killary Lodge and five-star catering by the Misunderstood Heron.
Frequently Ask Questions
- Accommodation at Killary Lodge.
- All meals catered to you by the award winning Misunderstood Heron team.
- The Ironmind Crucible rucksack with all the requisite training gear for your crucible experience.
- Your extensive Ironmind Crucible training program (one of the 117, 103, 85 or 68 day programs)
- Intra training program webinars and individual Crucible group communication with Damian
- Unparalleled access to unique training methods, coaching and guidance from Damian Browne and his team of world class coaches.
- Personalised ‘in action’ professional photography & videography digital content
- The Ironmind Crucible completion package.
- You quit. (Our coaches will do their utmost to prevent this from occurring)
- You don’t achieve your individual target metrics on 3 occasions. Read more about this here.
- You don’t adhere to and attain the required standards of behaviour on 3 occasions – This is at the discretion of the Head Coach exclusively.