Mental Toughness

[Manveer]

I've been training a while (5+ years) and I always get my training done somehow, but a lot of the time the weights are still intimidating. What strategies have you successfully employed to overcome anxiety related to pushing into uncharted territory? Overcoming anxiety at a meet?

I have a couple of videos that I watch before training when I'm getting that feeling of self-doubt. (https://youtu.be/RZiYpIlUZY0 and part of https://youtu.be/WsRzCV5IWfM)

In the gym, I try to just forget about the weight that's on the bar and focus on the steps required to perform the movement. (1) put my belt on, (2) step onto the platform, (3) put my right hand on the bar, (4) put my left hand on the bar, (5) get under the bar, (6) get tight, (7) stand up, etc.

Another thing is to keep things in perspective - it's just lifting some weights in my garage and hardly anyone cares about it. Get it done and enjoy the fruits of putting in the work.

Anything else that works? Meditation?

If you post a quote that starts with "you embrace the fear", I will find you and punch you in the face.

[KOTJ]

Positive reinforcement thinking.

I tell this to all my lifter's and use it myself. I used to be a very emotional/mental lifter,.and have to psyche up for lifts...Texas method will do that to you sometimes.

Not allowing any doubt/thoughts of failure to manifest internally.

Being calm, confident, and focused.

Several minutes before a daunting lift, the lifters will be isolated, mentally. No talking or engaging with anyone. All thoughts are along the lines of "I will lift this. This is my rep/set." As time gets closer, the phrases and thought need to become shorter and more focused. 2 minutes out, the lifter needs to be focused on success. There cannot be any doubt or worry. There is only an undeniable fate of completing the lift, no matter how hard. Breathing should be slow, deep, and controlled before approaching the bar. No emotion as you lift.

Do not touch the bar if you have any thoughts in your head. You need to be running on automatic.

If you fail a lift, fuck it. Thinking about it does nothing. You focus on your next lift.

At meets, I'll have a lifter sit down and face away from the platform. You shouldnt give a shit what someone else is doing. You're there for you. Think less, lift more.

[EricK]

I don't allow myself to be intimidated by intimidating things.

/sarcasm

I've been "lifting" longer than you, but with far less consistency and dedication, but I have applied mental toughness tactics in a past life. It's very similar to what you describe.

For instance, when hiking up 3,000 feet in elevation from 6,000 to the "9494" with a ruck, crew served weapon, and climbing kit, it has every attribute of "impossible." But one step isn't even all that hard. The Next Step is something you deal with later; I can move my foot right now and lean forward almost no matter how tired I am.

Or during "water confidence" training. In cammies, flippers, and face mask, swim underwater to the center of the pool, sit at the bottom, take off the flippers and face mask, place them together and wrap them with the flippers inside the band. Look at the instructor for approval. After approval, pull the flippers out, put the mask back on, clear the mask, place the flippers on, request to surface. Upon approval slowly ascend with hands above your head. Each task is mind numbingly simple, but the totality underwater is intimidating. Focus on each task. When the burning in your lungs starts, and you can feel your nose involuntarily sucking, try to relax and get the flippers on one at a time.

[Murelli]

1) Learn that failing is not the end - you've been there already;
2) Focus on the method;
3) Empty your mind. The void knows no fear...

[Chebass88]

I have a couple things that work for me.

1. A mantra / mental envisioning. Based on an article by Tommy Suggs (on StSt), I made my own mantra that I recite before every single set, two or three times before big PRs. "Every day I get better and better, stronger and stronger. I am a strong man." I have to believe it whole-heartedly or I miss the lift. I've also had great success with positively envisioning every single step of a big lift, beginning at least a week or so ahead of time. The repetitive mantra also helps focus me to remove other garbage from my thoughts (work stress, family stress, chuckleheads in the gym talking work or sports, etc.). If you do not believe you'll get a lift - you're right - you won't.

2. Small increments. I like to train for relatively small increments in PRs, maybe 5-10lbs. For the last time I got a big deadlift PR - it was only a mere 10lbs more than my previous best. Ten pounds is nothing. A mere two bags of flour. Less than a grocery bag containing two gallons of milk. It is far easier to make a small increment successfully than a large increment. Numerous small increments add up. All I have to do is put 5 or 10lbs on a lift and repeat the process. I don't have to worry about going wildly into uncharted territory - just a little more than last time.

3. The numbers game. At some point, lifting weights is simply a numbers game. A heavy weight will always *feel* heavy. The weight on the bar is simply a number - pulling 635lbs felt identical to the first time I pulled 405. When I stop to think "Gee, that is a lot of weight!" - I miss it. A 500lb squat is not a "quarter ton on my back" - it is simply a slightly higher number than what I did previously.

[Manveer]

Positive reinforcement thinking.

I tell this to all my lifter's and use it myself. I used to be a very emotional/mental lifter,.and have to psyche up for lifts...Texas method will do that to you sometimes.

Not allowing any doubt/thoughts of failure to manifest internally.

Being calm, confident, and focused.

Several minutes before a daunting lift, the lifters will be isolated, mentally. No talking or engaging with anyone. All thoughts are along the lines of "I will lift this. This is my rep/set." As time gets closer, the phrases and thought need to become shorter and more focused. 2 minutes out, the lifter needs to be focused on success. There cannot be any doubt or worry. There is only an undeniable fate of completing the lift, no matter how hard. Breathing should be slow, deep, and controlled before approaching the bar. No emotion as you lift.

Do not touch the bar if you have any thoughts in your head. You need to be running on automatic.

If you fail a lift, fuck it. Thinking about it does nothing. You focus on your next lift.

At meets, I'll have a lifter sit down and face away from the platform. You shouldnt give a shit what someone else is doing. You're there for you. Think less, lift more.

Yeah, I don't watch other lifts in a meet. I don't care or need the distraction.

One thing that actually did help was visualization. It is a little hard to visualize everything before an opener on a given lift since you don't know all the little details/distractions that might pop up (like the feeling of pushing the bar into a soft competition rack).

In general I am a pretty calm person. I try to stay calm, but before a heavy squat in a meet I can't really help getting pissed off. At least, I haven't been able to yet.

I don't allow myself to be intimidated by intimidating things.

/sarcasm

I've been "lifting" longer than you, but with far less consistency and dedication, but I have applied mental toughness tactics in a past life. It's very similar to what you describe.

For instance, when hiking up 3,000 feet in elevation from 6,000 to the "9494" with a ruck, crew served weapon, and climbing kit, it has every attribute of "impossible." But one step isn't even all that hard. The Next Step is something you deal with later; I can move my foot right now and lean forward almost no matter how tired I am.

Or during "water confidence" training. In cammies, flippers, and face mask, swim underwater to the center of the pool, sit at the bottom, take off the flippers and face mask, place them together and wrap them with the flippers inside the band. Look at the instructor for approval. After approval, pull the flippers out, put the mask back on, clear the mask, place the flippers on, request to surface. Upon approval slowly ascend with hands above your head. Each task is mind numbingly simple, but the totality underwater is intimidating. Focus on each task. When the burning in your lungs starts, and you can feel your nose involuntarily sucking, try to relax and get the flippers on one at a time.

That sounds intimidating as hell. Do you find that the toughness tactics from your previous life carry over well to barbell training? Just curious - guessing it must be a walk in the park relatively.

[slowmotion]

I feel the dread in the back of my mind the whole day before heavy lifting. But when I get started I sort of get fired up, and just before the lift I get really fired up ( in my mind ). That usually works for me, most of the time. Not always.

[Manveer]

1) Learn that failing is not the end - you've been there already;
2) Focus on the method;
3) Empty your mind. The void knows no fear...

#1 - true. I am usually not working up to max efforts either, so failure is extremely unlikely.

#2 - yep

#3 - not sure how to do this. Guessing this comes from meditative practice.

I have a couple things that work for me.

1. A mantra / mental envisioning. Based on an article by Tommy Suggs (on StSt), I made my own mantra that I recite before every single set, two or three times before big PRs. "Every day I get better and better, stronger and stronger. I am a strong man." I have to believe it whole-heartedly or I miss the lift. I've also had great success with positively envisioning every single step of a big lift, beginning at least a week or so ahead of time. The repetitive mantra also helps focus me to remove other garbage from my thoughts (work stress, family stress, chuckleheads in the gym talking work or sports, etc.). If you do not believe you'll get a lift - you're right - you won't.

2. Small increments. I like to train for relatively small increments in PRs, maybe 5-10lbs. For the last time I got a big deadlift PR - it was only a mere 10lbs more than my previous best. Ten pounds is nothing. A mere two bags of flour. Less than a grocery bag containing two gallons of milk. It is far easier to make a small increment successfully than a large increment. Numerous small increments add up. All I have to do is put 5 or 10lbs on a lift and repeat the process. I don't have to worry about going wildly into uncharted territory - just a little more than last time.

3. The numbers game. At some point, lifting weights is simply a numbers game. A heavy weight will always *feel* heavy. The weight on the bar is simply a number - pulling 635lbs felt identical to the first time I pulled 405. When I stop to think "Gee, that is a lot of weight!" - I miss it. A 500lb squat is not a "quarter ton on my back" - it is simply a slightly higher number than what I did previously.

#1 - The mantra is a good idea. I have made a lot of lifts I honestly thought I wouldn't get, though.

#2 - Good too. My squat is at 590. Just a little 10# plate between me and superstardom.

#3 - Yeah, that's good. Karwoski says the same. Kind of doubles down on it and says he wants it to feel heavy so that he can get pissed off about it.

[Allentown]

Or during "water confidence" training. In cammies, flippers, and face mask, swim underwater to the center of the pool, sit at the bottom, take off the flippers and face mask, place them together and wrap them with the flippers inside the band. Look at the instructor for approval. After approval, pull the flippers out, put the mask back on, clear the mask, place the flippers on, request to surface. Upon approval slowly ascend with hands above your head. Each task is mind numbingly simple, but the totality underwater is intimidating. Focus on each task. When the burning in your lungs starts, and you can feel your nose involuntarily sucking, try to relax and get the flippers on one at a time.

Dude. I can't even use a snorkel without hitting Defcon 2.

[Murelli]

1) Learn that failing is not the end - you've been there already;
2) Focus on the method;
3) Empty your mind. The void knows no fear...

#1 - true. I am usually not working up to max efforts either, so failure is extremely unlikely.

#2 - yep

#3 - not sure how to do this. Guessing this comes from meditative practice.

#3 was kind of a joke (where's Hanley with his zen), but it comes from a good principle: you should not be emotionally invested on work, tasks must be performed thinking about the tasks, the goals were thought about when planning the tasks. Our mind already does this automatically sometimes - like fighting, because the need to accomplish the task becomes greater (cost of not doing it is bigger than the risk of doing it).

#3 is a consequence of #2

[EricK]

That sounds intimidating as hell. Do you find that the toughness tactics from your previous life carry over well to barbell training? Just curious - guessing it must be a walk in the park relatively.

Not as much as I would like. The coordination to duration ratio is all fucked up. Think about how little coordination it takes to take one step compared to a limit lift. But we walk for hours, but the entire lift is over (one way or another) in seconds.

Further, the build up is different, too. There's no question that the hike is going to suck but you just keep on walking. The lift, is questionable. So you can get wrapped up trying to think about ways to "fix" it but thinking about the lift almost always fucks up the movement for me. Plus, I usually try to PR after some period of training where, essentially, I try to validate all of the hard work I put in over the last few weeks to achieve it.

I dunno, I'm probably just over thinking it and need to practice counting to 10 without daydreaming (I've made it as far as 3).

Dude. I can't even use a snorkel without hitting Defcon 2.

I was never a very good swimmer but I can be stubborn as hell.

[TwoFoursStrohm]

I was a college/pro pitcher and I think the life of a pitcher mimics the life of a lifter, especially a starter. 2 days out from a scheduled start I would do nothing but think of the game ahead and would feel anxiety and dread the entire time. The walk over to the locker room and while getting dressed I would be damn close to vomitting from the anxiety/stress. I never actually puked but I dry heaved before almost everygame. In between innings I would not talk to any teammates and stick to myself and think game plan/visualize the upcoming batters while still having butterflies in my stomach. The second I took the field though, all that nervousness went away.

I experience something similar to this day. Before a meet or even a heavy lifting session I feel exactly what I felt in my atheltic days and have gotten a ton of weird looks when dry heaving before my heavy work sets. Even the between innings stuff is similar to inbetween sets or attempts at a meet. Stay calm, breath deep, think of nothing but game plan and visualization of the attempt. For some weird reason, the second the bar is on my back the nervousness and stress goes away and Im able to perform with out thinking too much. I think that is the key. The moments leading up to the attempt to clear your mind of nothing but the game plan and visualization of the mechanics involved.

I could never be one of those people that got all riled up and loud (screamer Manuel comes to mind) because I feel it would put extra pressure on me. Cool. Calm. Ready.

I also agree with Manveer that doing the same routine before the lift helps.

- SS

[Manveer]

I feel the dread in the back of my mind the whole day before heavy lifting. But when I get started I sort of get fired up, and just before the lift I get really fired up ( in my mind ). That usually works for me, most of the time. Not always.

Yeah, this is basically my experience. Usually only a few hours before training now, I try not to think about it much the day before.

Plus, I usually try to PR after some period of training where, essentially, I try to validate all of the hard work I put in over the last few weeks to achieve it.

I know that feel.

Never thought about "coordination to duration ratio" before. Huh.

I was a college/pro pitcher and I think the life of a pitcher mimics the life of a lifter, especially a starter. 2 days out from a scheduled start I would do nothing but think of the game ahead and would feel anxiety and dread the entire time. The walk over to the locker room and while getting dressed I would be damn close to vomitting from the anxiety/stress. I never actually puked but I dry heaved before almost everygame. In between innings I would not talk to any teammates and stick to myself and think game plan/visualize the upcoming batters while still having butterflies in my stomach. The second I took the field though, all that nervousness went away.

I experience something similar to this day. Before a meet or even a heavy lifting session I feel exactly what I felt in my atheltic days and have gotten a ton of weird looks when dry heaving before my heavy work sets. Even the between innings stuff is similar to inbetween sets or attempts at a meet. Stay calm, breath deep, think of nothing but game plan and visualization of the attempt. For some weird reason, the second the bar is on my back the nervousness and stress goes away and Im able to perform with out thinking too much. I think that is the key. The moments leading up to the attempt to clear your mind of nothing but the game plan and visualization of the mechanics involved.

I could never be one of those people that got all riled up and loud (screamer Manuel comes to mind) because I feel it would put extra pressure on me. Cool. Calm. Ready.

I also agree with Manveer that doing the same routine before the lift helps.

- SS

This is what a meet is like for me. I tend not to worry as much the week of a meet now that I have a few under my belt, but yeah, this is spot on. Once I start my step by step process, the nervousness starts to fade and get replaced by aggression.

[Chebass88]

There is one lift that is a total mind-killer. Moderately heavy 20 rep squats. No matter how much I psyche myself out, they are the hardest thing I've ever done. The only time I can get close to being comfortable with them is when I do a high rep set as a backoff after a much heavier weight. I dread these a few days in advance.

Any other lift is fine though.

[jwagner]

I try my best not to think of the task. I've tried visualization techniques, but then my mind drifts and I visualize myself failing; It's best if I don't visualize anything.

Lately, I've been watching mindless shows on Netflix (Marvel Agents of Shield) or programming lectures (lately cppcon2016 videos). For heavy singles I may put on some heavy metal or classical depending on the mood to drown out all other sounds; then I try to drown that out. It helps to stay out of my head during heavy lifts.

[simonrest]

part of me is disappointing that this thread wasn't 25 replies all quoting Paul Horn.

I don't really have this anymore. I used to when I was a novice - everything used to freak me out. 100KG squats! Shit!
now I don't really get bothered by it, and I don't hype myself up for lifts. If I get it, good, if I miss it life goes on. I'll get it on the next cycle.
At meets I always watch the other guys lift, then they call my name, I step up, do what I trained for and move on.
Also nose tork helps if you feel too antsy for whatever reason.

[mgil]

b ruff n tuff n lyk da muff

...den...

u b tuff n ruff n thicc n buff

[Hamburgerfan]

When I'm attempting a big lift I like to get a moderate psych up. Get my mind right so that my body can push the bar a little harder. I can't get too extreme with it though, or it won't work. I have to let myself get psyched up, not make myself.

Other than that, I've found that overtraining in the past helped me with mental toughness a bit. Regular training doesn't feel as hard.

[Idlehands]

Shit man, getting under the bar has been the easiest part of the last two years, assuming I had the energy for it.

[jwagner]

/thread