The Psych Up Discussion

[Hardartery]

What does everybody think about getting ramped up for a lift? There are a lot of ways to do it, but where do you go when you do this? Is it just cranking your adrenaline for you?

My angle, I am obviously getting the adrenaline up, but I am not head butting a bar or anything. I am of the opinion that it is mostly about achieving focus, and that many guys do weird things to get that. Louie Simmons apparently did things like hitting himself in the head with a wire brush, some guys yell, some guys have particular music to amp up or imagine scenarios involving their family. I find that music can be useful, to a point. I don't know about everyone else or what music that would be for them.

How do you know when you are there? How long does it take to get there and how long can you stay there? For me, it's a very calm place. Sometimes thing move in slow motion, always I become detached with what is around me and almost everything becomes blurry and distant except whatever is directly in front of me, which becomes incredibly high definition. I have had guys yelling in my ear and it's like they are yelling from the other side of the room and it takes a little time to come out of it and sort of wake up after the lift/event. I cannot do it a lot of times in a row or in a day, I'll be kind of shot for a bit after really hitting it. That said, I don't like going there in training but wonder if it is something that should be rotated in to practice and develop just like the lifts.

Also, what do feel you are accomplishing by doing this, other than maybe hitting a bigger number? I feel like all I am really doing is increasing fibre activation and recruitment, but that is the name of the game after all.

[lheugh]

In my experience, if you’re more motivated to lift, you’re less fatigued (basic application of Banister’s Impulse-Response model, otherwise known as the fitness-fatigue paradigm), and if you are at optimal arousal (with both too little and too much being detrimental – Yerkes-Dodson Law), you’ll be able to lift more. Now where this "optimal" psychological arousal is depends largely on the individual in question. Some, like you noted, do some pretty wild things to get to what they might consider optimal levels. Whether it actually is, however, I take with a grain of salt. For me personally, I find optimal psychological arousal internally, so largely I'm the same calm state overtly from warm-ups through to working sets or comp lifts.

Things like ammonia will certainly get you jacked up, but all the studies I've seen don't show that as being causative of actual strength improvements. Whether that's an example of the stuff forcing people to go over their optimal levels of psychological arousal for performance, I'm not sure. I know for me, the stuff is a significant impediment.

As for music, a recent study found that listening to music during warm-ups and between sets improved bench press repetition performance, barbell velocity and power, and motivation to train in trained men. The caveat being, 1RMs weren't being tested so whether this translates to 1RM testing is another question. Personally, I always listen to music (that I enjoy) when training and find my motivation, rep performance, and enjoyment goes up overall. I don't like listening to the general "music" that is played in the gym though, which often entails a lot of gun shots, rapping with vulgarity, and distracting sentences. I actually find that to have the opposite effect. So listening to my own music serves both to drown out a performance detracting variable, as well as to offer a slight performance, and quality of life, enhancing effect.

[Renascent]

Music usually does it for me, especially if I catch an earworm before a session. I've put the same song on repeat throughout a session many times before. Often times, I'll wait for a breakdown or a beat to drop before starting a top set or attempting a 1RM (usually end up not hearing shit until the lift is done, though).

I've never used ammonia; might try it one day, just for the fuck of it.

I've missed reps due to thinking about something (real or imagined) that legit pissed me off. I've had some good sessions while in a shitty mood, but by and large they're usually much more productive when I'm in a more positive headspace.

I've (over)hyped myself up and failed reps because of mistimed breathing before, so I try not to get too far into my own head aside from visualizing my execution.

In my experience, if you’re more motivated to lift, you’re less fatigued (basic application of Banister’s Impulse-Response model, otherwise known as the fitness-fatigue paradigm), and if you are at optimal arousal (with both too little and too much being detrimental – Yerkes-Dodson Law), you’ll be able to lift more.

Pretty much this.

[mbasic]

N=1

Things that at more technical for me ...no psyche-up. Squats, cleans, snatches.

Things that comes easy to me technique wise....yes, get overly aroused...presses, deadlift.

No yelling for me

[DCR]

Also N=1

Press is the one lift on which I think the psyche up absolutely is necessary. I can make anything else work with non-lunatic focus (not easy and certainly not always successful, but I can do it) but to hit a near max press I need to be homicidal.

[KarlM]

I wish I was better at this side of things. I can count on one hand the number of times I felt truly focused and gamed a max lift. But I have had that experience, and it is basically what @Hardartery described above. I felt focused, aroused and shit was moving in slow motion.

Too much screaming and yelling and I have an adrenaline dump and get weak. But no yelling and I get in my head and underperform. I let out a “medium” shout that helps with my nerves and helps with sometimes feeling a little light headed.

Music (that I enjoy) is usually too distracting, so I don’t bother. Boring music doesn’t bother me. Music that shouts at me horribly violent and disturbing lyrics is profoundly unpleasant and I’ll leave a gym if that’s what’s being shared with the public.

[Hardartery]

I wish I was better at this side of things. I can count on one hand the number of times I felt truly focused and gamed a max lift. But I have had that experience, and it is basically what @Hardartery described above. I felt focused, aroused and shit was moving in slow motion.

Too much screaming and yelling and I have an adrenaline dump and get weak. But no yelling and I get in my head and underperform. I let out a “medium” shout that helps with my nerves and helps with sometimes feeling a little light headed.

Music (that I enjoy) is usually too distracting, so I don’t bother. Boring music doesn’t bother me. Music that shouts at me horribly violent and disturbing lyrics is profoundly unpleasant and I’ll leave a gym if that’s what’s being shared with the public.

This is more what I am trying to discuss. How does one get better at it? what are people's rituals/methods? I found it easier at a comp. I find that if I use music it matter a lot what the music is up until the point that I don't really hear it. The music needs to be something that I am not really paying attention too, something familiar, and with a certain beat or rhythm. AC/DC stuff works well, some RATM, some Metallica, stuff along those lines generally. Regular lifting can be any music, but focus requires some affinity and familiarity for me. I like some Jazz, but it doesn't work at all (Nina Simone is great for sitting around, but terrible in the gym for me for example). When I really hit it right, it switches though, it's feels more like that Two Flowers duet just after the 1 minute mark when both voices come in together and it's glorious. And yes, my head will got from Killing in the Name to that like flipping a switch. But I don't feel like I really know how to reliably get there when I want to.

[broseph]

I very rarely do any deliberate psyching up. I'm often tired, hungry, and distracted while lifting but I manage to get stuff done and make a little progress.

When I'm going for a heavy single though, I change mental gears and get pretty focused. Like others have said, music can help for this but it mostly feels like a switch I can just flip. My mental focus sharpens and I feel "tighter" throughout my whole body. I have ammonia capsules which I VERY rarely use- mostly when I'm trying to flip the switch and it seems stuck.

Even then, there's no magic to ammonia. It's just like a slap or a yell- if you're trying to get riled up, a noxious stimulation/shock to the system can help.


The other day, I was on my last set of a workout (tired, slow, and hungry) when one of my kids came down and bothered me about some nonsense. I didn't think I was that angry, but that last set felt light and explosive and now I think maybe I should be psyching up more often. Or seeking help for my anger problem.

[5hout]

tl;dr: If you want to get pumped for every lift, but not waste energy between, practice doing exactly that.

After a prolonged bout of trying this calm lifting nonsense (which may have worked if I kept at it) I concluded it's just not for me. I get hyped up for everything, conference calls at work, video games (my poor college roommate when we 100+ attempts in killed the then "super hard bad guy"), fencing, board games. Heck I'm mildly pumped up playing online Euchre. Maybe this is a character flaw, but I've decided to stop fighting it.

I have found standard sports visualization practices extremely helpful in terms of developing it to an instant and (nearly) on command switch. Severe caffeine restriction, 2-4 cups of caffeinated coffee per week, also helps turn the caffeine into an instant GO TIME MOFOs switch as well.

However, the most important thing for me (hyper-competitive) was to practice visualization for calming the fuck down between touches (fencing)/lifts(now). You cannot productively maintain a high arousal state for very long. You need to gear up, and then release and come down. I think the refractory period is somewhat activity dependent, but with practice I think is possible to get 9/10 pumped up every 30-45 seconds for 20+ minutes at a time with the inter-pump periods being fairly calm (not resting, just distinctly calmer).

Modern sabre fencing is essentially a series of 5-10 second extertions, spaced by about 30-45 seconds. You toe the line, get ready "en guard, ready, fence" and on the fence command MUST explode off the line AS fast (or faster) than your opponent. If you cannot tie your opponent in off the line speed at least 45% of the time you will 100% lose vs someone of approx. equal skill. Even 45% tie off the line is going to be rough vs a competent fencer, 50% would be better.

With this I decided (instead of coaching my students/spending my time on stupid stuff like form perfect parries applicable to the 1950s) to base my entire coaching/sabre fencing paradigm around first being able to explode off the line, on command, every 30-45 seconds. This took the form of doing various drills to 10 minute "en guard, ready fence" command sets with 10 second spacing/20 second spacing/30 second spacing (sometimes with variation in the pacing of the commands, sometimes nothttps://soundcloud.com/justin-schaudt/s ... eady-fence). This was paired with a lot of pre-activity visualization of coming to maximum pump/tightness, learning physical queues (active pressure from both feet, hand/and shoulder loaded like a spring, back tensed to provide firm force transfer on fence command), performing the action, allowing a brief pressure relief (first pump, for example), then deep exhales to calm.

The specific drilling of coming to high arousal, action, pressure release, repeat, was extremely effective at brining the refractory period down allowing for my sabre fencing to consist of a series of extremely high arousal states with periods of fairly relaxed low arousal between them. I think this is applicable to daily lifting and training, if someone wishes, and you could probably use physical queues/pre-lift visualization to get moderately pumped for every set of even a fairly long workout without sustaining high arousal between sets (a waste of energy).

YMMV

[BostonRugger]

After a prolonged bout of trying this calm lifting nonsense (which may have worked if I kept at it) I concluded it's just not for me. I get hyped up for everything, conference calls at work, video games (my poor college roommate when we 100+ attempts in killed the then "super hard bad guy"), fencing, board games. Heck I'm mildly pumped up playing online Euchre. Maybe this is a character flaw, but I've decided to stop fighting it.

I'm a little more subdued by nature (the Yankee Puritanism in the soil perhaps), but I love being around people like this. Stimulant effect.

Agreed on the visualization. I haven't taken it to the level you have, but I find visualizing good execution is more effective for me than trying to get aroused for each lift. Getting up for a lift every few minutes just feels like an additional burden unless I'm going for heavy deadlift (or something similarly grug brained).


ETA: In the past, I've put rugby matches on youtube in the background during a lift. I found it had something akin to the effect of rattling antlers for male deer.

[MarkKO]

I start by focusing on the fear that comes with a max or a really hard set. I hate being afraid, or rather I hate myself for being afraid because of various experiences I've had; so I let the fear come and let myself feel it, then the reaction against it comes in and the adrenaline dumps. Then I take a deep breath or two and reign everything in and calm myself so I'm very focused but the adrenaline is still there.

What I aim for is just before I get to the bar my heart is racing and I can feel the energy, but once I get to the bar I'm very calm so I can set up exactly right and start the lift well. Once the bar starts moving the adrenaline just kicks in without having to think about it.

Sometimes ammonia can help to get things flowing, but I try to limit how often I use it because it works really well on me and I end up burned out. One meet I was sick and used ammonia on almost every attempt outside openers; by the time deads came around I was done.

[xuerebx]

Speaking of music, anyone has a free solution for listening to offline (downloaded) music on mobile? I don't get reception in my garage, so I'm constrained to Spotify podcasts (podcasts can be downloaded for free).

[MarkKO]

Speaking of music, anyone has a free solution for listening to offline (downloaded) music on mobile? I don't get reception in my garage, so I'm constrained to Spotify podcasts (podcasts can be downloaded for free).

I thought that if you had a subscription you could select some music to play off-line?

[xuerebx]

Yes, if you have a paid subscription. Everything is a subscription nowadays

[James]

I got a youtube premium account and it came with youtube music.
That's almost free or at lest it was when it was $15 they jacked up the price to $25 so now its like $5 off.

Is music piracy a thing any more? Its been so long since I've even thought about it.

[GlasgowJock]

Speaking of music, anyone has a free solution for listening to offline (downloaded) music on mobile? I don't get reception in my garage, so I'm constrained to Spotify podcasts (podcasts can be downloaded for free).

Youtube Downloader?

As per the OP, I've always found 'psyching up' to be bollocks. The bulk of stuff is done 'sub-optimally' 'cause most of us are strength enthusiasts juggling work, young families, lack of sleep etc. Just digging deep and spending 20-30min in the garage doing something consistently is sufficient for me.

The rare occasions I'm hitting a hard set/ single i.e. 'new ground' is when the above basics are in good order and you draw confidence from that to perform well.

As a tangent, people 'going to war' lifting weights in the gym - usually for the benefit of their social media - induces mild vicarious cringe in me.

[Renascent]

Is music piracy a thing any more? Its been so long since I've even thought about it.

James Hetfield and co. are gonna have to pry my Walkman MP3 player out of my cold, dead hands.

I had a wifi extender years ago and was less than impressed with it. Ended up being one more thing to have to fiddle and fumble around with far too often.

[Hardartery]

Don't know if this is the right place for this, but Jump Around by House of Pain just doesn't get played enough, and confession time, I am oddly pumped up by That's Not My Name by The Ting Tings.

[janoycresva]

i don't psych up at all anymore since i've fully embraced bodybuilding

not going to go to my deep dark place for a 2 RIR set of machine chest press in the 12-15 rep range

[Hardartery]

i don't psych up at all anymore since i've fully embraced bodybuilding

not going to go to my deep dark place for a 2 RIR set of machine chest press in the 12-15 rep range

Yeah buddy! Light weight! On a more serious note, I have been going out of my way to not psyche up, but it needs to come back in at some point for me as i plan on trying to hurt myself competitively at least one more time.