The Mental Side of Training
By Abbie Leschinsky, MS, CSCS
Have you been missing lifts you know you can hit or have you worn out your go-to lifting playlist within a month? This article will dive more into the mental side of training that has the potential to translate into smoother meets. Earlier I wrote an article about the mental side of competing (insert here). This time around, I want to look into a few training habits you could start incorporating into your sessions that could ultimately lead to a successful meet.
The first training habit you can start testing out is to play music you wouldn’t normally listen to while lifting. This might sound strange, but in my experience, this strategy can help you become more adaptable and focussed on the platform.
My thought process is: you can’t always control your environment you compete in. Whether your headphones die during a big session or you have to take them out before you walk out on the platform, you won’t always be able to rely on your music for strength. I have even seen lifters use this as an excuse for having a bad lift on the day, but with proper preparation to lower your reliance on the perfect playlist, this is easily avoidable.
Yes, there is plenty research demonstrating that listening to your preferred music can help you perform better on maximal lifts, no one is disputing that. However, if you’re training for powerlifting, not only will the majority of your time in the gym be spent lifting more sub maximally, you don’t get to wear headphones on the platform.
Another thing to consider is that listening to the same playlist over and over can make the songs’ influence on your lift less powerful. If you get too used to a stimulus, over time that stimulus will start losing its effect. We’ve all experienced this I’m sure, where eventually your go-to pump up song loses its edge after you listen to it too much. Rotating your selection and not relying on the things that work best can preserve their effectiveness.
Personally, I take a dual approach in implementing this in my training. During my off seasons I will listen to any music under the sun outside of my preferred genres to lift to. (Seriously, I have so much fun when I decide to throw on a little Disney). I try my best to listen to different types throughout the entire session. Occasionally, if I go for a PR volume set I’ll maybe throw on something very similar to my preferred genre of music. Then during my in-seasons, I will listen to different genres during my warm ups and then switch to my lifting playlist during the last warm up or so. I have been doing this for the past year or so and I found it very effective.
The second training habit you can look to control is your caffeine intake. Pretty much all lifters love taking in an unhealthy amount of caffeine, but mentally, you don’t actually need that of it too much to see a performance benefit. Double scooping your preworkout can often hinder your lift by overstimulating you. If your heart rate is too high and you become shaky and overhyped, it can seriously hinder your ability to focus on the task at hand. That makes it impossible to have a quality session. Caffeine has a minimal effect on top end strength, it is much more effective at providing you with energy for the duration of the session. Personally, I try to cycle off most caffeine during my deload weeks. I have seen others cycle off during their off-seasons to see a greater effect when they choose to take it again, and this seems to work well too.
The third and final training habit I have for you to explore is to limit your level of hype in your sessions. When I mean “hype”, I specifically refer to blasting your music to the max, getting slapped on the back before a lift, taking ammonia/smelling salts, and generally working yourself up too much. Similarly to taking too much pre, you can absolutely overstimulate yourself beyond the point of usefulness. Doing too much during your pre lift ritual could lead you to missing a lift you have been planning to hit for months (that you knew you could hit too). Another downside can be that you can wear out mentally to the point where you won’t be able to finish the rest of your lift. I know how fun getting that rush of adrenaline is, but personally, I have stopped doing ammonia before a big lift to work on focusing on the technique and the execution.
To conclude, your training habits can have a major impact on your lifts, and in turn, the quality of your training sessions. Successfully stacking more and more quality sessions together will lead to more kilos on your total at your next meet. If you work on becoming more adaptable and robust in unknowns and new environments, it will be much harder to throw you off on game day. If you have any more questions about my personal training habits, feel free to email me or send a private message over Instagram.
…And always remember, curls before the girls.
