Overcoming Performance Anxiety in Powerlifting
Written by Abbie Leschinsky, MS, CSCS
I want to start off by saying that while I have no formal higher education in psychology, I am a Certified Anxious Gurl™, and I hope my my experience overcoming this may help others. My performance anxiety used to affect me dramatically at powerlifting meets, and it’s been a long journey to overcome it. The week or two before my first national meet, my stomach was constantly upset. I was physically being impacted by my stress and anxiety about competing at a higher level for the first time. The night before a meet, I would have trouble getting any sleep at all, even with the help of sleep aids like melatonin. Even afterwards, my anxiety on meet days would affect my performance so much that my meet PRs would be nowhere close to what I had done in the gym previously. In my very first meet, I was so anxious that I actually ended up bombing out on squats. Over time however, I have been able to overcome my performance anxiety. At Raw Nationals last year I was as completely calm and collected, and ended up going 9/9 with and setting multiple PRs.
We should start by understanding what anxiety is. Oxford defines performance anxiety as extreme nervousness before or during participation in an activity taking place of an audience. In extreme cases such as mine, it can hinder competitive performance. In powerlifting this is especially frustrating because it takes athletes months to prepare for a meet, only to then fall short of expectations due anxiety. When someone has more severe anxiety, it can hinder their ability to be able to focus on the task at hand. Being too anxious at a meet can make one miss important cues and details such as hearing their name being called onto the platform, missing a command, or even making a silly technical mistake. In the worst case scenario, one can end up (like me) not going on to post a total.
Luckily, there are several strategies that can help manage and overcome performance anxiety. The first one is graded exposure to the stressful event in question. In simpler terms, this takes the form of more practice. For our purposes, this would look like competing in more meets to gain experience, and training in ways that mimic the demands of meet day. The more exposure you can get will make it easier to understand and anticipate what to expect at meets. This will also build confidence on the platform once you have done it a handful of times. Ideally, lifting on the platform will eventually become second nature to you, relieving the anxiety you once suffered from.
Another strategy, which has plenty of research behind it, is intentional breath work. This involves you focussing on your rate and amount of breathing, helping to bring your focus of attention within yourself, rather than on external things you can’t control. Focusing on what you can control while suffering from a lot of anxiety can help ground you. Studies have proven breathing exercises effective for a number of ailments outside of anxiety as well. Another tip I have to accompany and complement your breathing exercises is to wear headphones. Personally, I like to wear headphones not only because it can improve motivation, but more importantly because it helps me drain out other unneeded noises, and helps me focus prior to a lift. If you do this, I would recommend having someone watching to see how far out you are so you don’t end up missing a lift.
The last strategy I like to use is to develop a routine when setting up for a lift. Having a routine that you can consistently run through each time will help calm the nerves since this is something you are very familiar with. This can also help you ground yourself. You can practice your set up every time before you lift in the gym. I even perform my same setup before all my warmups in training to build consistency. Techniques such as positive self-talk also work wonders, and can be used during your setup to help build more confidence within yourself.
If you struggle with performance anxiety, particularly on meet days, I highly suggest trying one or more of these strategies. These are my go to ways that I used to overcome my own struggles with anxiety, and I firmly believe they can help you to start going 9/9 in meets too. It will take some time and practice to overcome it, but if you need along the way, feel free to email me or message me on Instagram.
May the gainz be ever in your favor!
