The mental side to lifting

[harry1970]

Just though I'd share something that happened to me today...

My normal routine (as I am still a novice) is to squat, bench, military then deadlift in that order. Until I reach my basic strength goals I will continue to lift this way 3 times a week. I'll fuck around with splitting shit up once I get stronger.

Anyway, today in my lifting program I got to the deads after about 60 minutes, and I have to admit I was pretty shagged. I've been fighting off a cold and the weights felt heavy, my form was crap and everything felt hard.

Now I've felt this way before and over the last few months I've experienced my fair share of "good days" where weights just bounced back and felt light and "heavy days" when I felt I was pushing twice the weight.

I had a bit of a strange experience on my last set of deads. It was only 117.5kg (way off my 1RM) but as I stood at the bar I just told myself I couldn't lift it. Being a stubborn nit I did it anyway, but I have been in a shit of a mood all day thinking about it.

I guess what I'm asking is how do you more experienced guys handle the mental side of lifting?

Do you tackle every set as if you own it?

Does confidence come from volume?

I've never experienced this before and as I'm training to compete in some novice comps I'd hate to be standing under the bar on my last lift only to be mentally fucking the lift up.

I've only seen a few comps and it's amazing as a spectator that I could tell from some lifters body language if they would make the lift or not. I guess I'm after some feedback/advice on the link between the lifters brain and the performance.

 

[Brick]

You feel fucking invincible on those good days. Somtimes everything just falls into line, you eat shitloads, you slept well, your in the right frame of mind and you just throw the weights around.

I live for those days it's one of those few pleasures in life I truly enjoy, totally primal. It's up there with fucking and cold beer on hot days.

The days when your fighting every rep, your niggling injuries are playing up, it just feels like plain old hard fucking work. Yeah they suck but with time I've learned consistency is the key and plodding through those shit workouts are a big part of the whole process.

On those days I liken it to work, yeah I don't want to be there but I still need to reap the benefits of all my effort so you gotta slog on through.

 

[harry1970]

It's up there with fucking and cold beer on hot days.

lmfao, epic fluffy...

 

[kaz]

I guess what I'm asking is how do you more experienced guys handle the mental side of lifting?

Do you tackle every set as if you own it? No. At PTC I smash out every rep and own it, unfortunately at home I dont get the same vibe and tend to struggle more. But then the right music choice also has a positive effect

Does confidence come from volume?
I believe confidence comes with experience, and knowing you are true to form on each lift

I've never experienced this before and as I'm training to compete in some novice comps I'd hate to be standing under the bar on my last lift only to be mentally fucking the lift up.[/b]If you bet past the first lift in a comp, you're locked in. Biggest mental fcuk in competing is missing a first lift. [/B]

I've only seen a few comps and it's amazing as a spectator that I could tell from some lifters body language if they would make the lift or not. I guess I'm after some feedback/advice on the link between the lifters brain and the performance.

Keep lifting to build your confidence, see a coach intermittently to check form.

You feel fucking invincible on those good days. Somtimes everything just falls into line, you eat shitloads, you slept well, your in the right frame of mind and you just throw the weights around. I wish everyday was like this

I live for those days it's one of those few pleasures in life I truly enjoy, totally primal. It's up there with fucking and cold beer on hot days.

The days when your fighting every rep, your niggling injuries are playing up, it just feels like plain old hard fucking work. Yeah they suck but with time I've learned consistency is the key and plodding through those shit workouts are a big part of the whole process.

On those days I liken it to work, yeah I don't want to be there but I still need to reap the benefits of all my effort so you gotta slog on through.

My confidence was built in training and reaching milestones.

Once I misloaded my bar and squatted a PB that I was going to spend the next 12 weeks working towards.

 

[nazzysmith]

You feel fucking invincible on those good days. Somtimes everything just falls into line, you eat shitloads, you slept well, your in the right frame of mind and you just throw the weights around.

I live for those days it's one of those few pleasures in life I truly enjoy, totally primal. It's up there with fucking and cold beer on hot days.

The days when your fighting every rep, your niggling injuries are playing up, it just feels like plain old hard fucking work. Yeah they suck but with time I've learned consistency is the key and plodding through those shit workouts are a big part of the whole process.

On those days I liken it to work, yeah I don't want to be there but I still need to reap the benefits of all my effort so you gotta slog on through.

I love you man!!!!

Lots of homo....

 

[Brick]

I love you man!!!!

Lots of homo....

Whatever floats your boat big man.

Doesn't suprise me, women find me offensive and repulsive stands to reason life would kick sand into my face by making me the poster child of homo attractiveness when I love the box.

 

[0ni]

There have been a few times when I had a completely shit session and it sucked so much that I just did it again the next day or even in the afternoon and it was amazing

Most people when they have a shit session automatically think their programming is shit or they were not recovered enough or CNS burnout or whatever shit, I can't count the number of times I've repeated a training session the day after and it was awesome

 

[callan]

the mental side of lifting is just as big as the psychical side, you know your headstrong when you can fail a squat mid set, being caught by spotters, then resetting yourself and continuing to finish your set. you feel bad ass after it.

fluffy is right about having to slog through those shit sessions, leading up to a comp i trained for about a month with the flu, all through the heaviest part of my training cycle, then hit pbs on each lift at the comp.

it comes down to a mindset, you need to be able to push yourself on those days where you feel shit, its pointless going into the gym feeling sorry for yourself when you have a cold or didnt have much sleep. to be honest iv had some of my best sessions when iv felt like shit, sounds weird but i believe it all comes down to the mental side of things, train hard, no matter what

 

[Darkoz]

Same here Oni, whenever I have terrible session, I wait 2min. Then do I all over again man and I smash it hard.
I swear my biceps went from 12" to 13" in those kick arse, awesome, amazing sessions.
And I don't even use a bellt!
I shit you not.

 

[0ni]

you don't even strength train
why are you here

 

[Darkoz]

T o give you shit

 

[0ni]

o-ok

 

[Fadi]

Do you tackle every set as if you own it?

No, never.

Does confidence come from volume?

As above.

As for the first question, I've used the exact opposite mental attitude to tackling every set as if I owned it. I viewed myself as a V8 car, warming up the engine slowly, and gradually adding the power as the set progressed into a heavier and heavier weight. In other words, conserving mental effort was paramount to revving up the gears when push came to shove right at the end of the set where it really counted. Now that does not mean I was asleep during the initial phase of the set no, but I only applied the necessary effort to get the job done and no more than that, taking advantage of the lighter weights to really nail down my lifting form so as to get in that lifting groove.

As for the second question, my confidence as far as the competition day was concerned came from my knowledge that I had a great preparation, and that I was injury free, and that my only competition was some record I wanted to smash instead of being concerned about lifter A or lifter B.


Fadi.

 

[jj80]

Sometimes it's not mental when you think it is... I think it's important to recognise that. Or it starts off as mental, but then it becomes a physical thing...

e.g. Often if the weight feels lighter on bench / press / chins it's cause I'm dropping through the eccentric faster, and powering through the concentric faster (cause I'm 'happy'). I haven't magically gained 10% strength, though it feels like it cause I will get out another rep or two.

Also if you're 'scared' of the weight or performing badly you will often go slower. And by virtue of going slower get out less reps (or fail a 1rm) and think 'wtf'.

Also if you're depressed you might be tempted to rush through a few sets, meaning shorter breaks between sets - less reps, whoa somehow your strength seemed to vanish....

Sometimes I will set up sloppily on bench, lose my arch and tightness and the weight suddenly feels like a ton.

By knowing all the little things (including sleep etc.) that can affect my performance I don't worry about it as much (or try not to) and as a result often lift more. Or more consistently.

I used to try to psych up big time before lifting. This worked as it made me go fast and set up like crazy. These days I try to do this a little bit but most often I just try to be calculating, focussed, powerful & fast (though not always dropping eccentrics...).

 

[200Boy]

I really took on some advice I read here once. Kudos to the person if the read this and remember saying something similar.

Some days go great and others it just feels like a drag, but those are the days when you set your mental PB's. When you can overcome feeling lethargic with a sour mindset and still fight through it to achieve what you've committed to. Sometimes there's great weights in your way for you to lift, other times there's a great mental weight to overcome.

Either way usually it's satisfying once you're done and you can pat yourself on the back for not giving up when shiz got hard.

 

[Chum]

Totally agree with the above. nothing more satisfying than smashing out a PR despite being sick or a long day at work. This shit is all a mind game, got to be able to switch on and off when you need to.