Mental Training

Posted By: Donna 
Date: Wednesday, 20 November 2002, at 12:25 p.m.

I’ve always put as much effort into the mental approach to my lifting as the physical side. I personally feel that my mind is my greatest strength, my body is just a tool for my mind. I enjoy pressure, perform my best under pressure and take pride in my ability to focus and not let anything “upset my applecart”. I believe my mental training is the reason for this. I thought I’d include a bit of info from the book “In Pursuit of Excellence” by Terry Orlick for anyone interested. It is a book on mental training for sports.

“If you are serious about becoming the best you can possibly be, the most essential ingredient is your commitment – to do the right things. It takes an incredible commitment to reach the top; a commitment to train and rest your body so that you can perform under the most demanding conditions and commitment to train your mind to focus totally on executing your best performance skills under the most stressful circumstances.

If you really want to excel, the following basic guidelines will help immensely:

Set specific daily goals so that you know what you want to accomplish every day and every training session.

Before training, take some time to prepare mentally, so that you get the most out of yourself during each training session.

Commit yourself to executing your skills in training with the highest quality of effort.

In training, simulate what you want to do or have to do in competition. Run through complete, clean routines, programs, plays or events on a regular basis.

During scrimmages, run-throughs, and time trials, commit yourself to focusing 100 percent, every step of the way. Be totally connected to your task.

Do imagery every day to prepare yourself to accomplish your goals. Imagine yourself achieving your goals and successfully executing the skills you are trying to perfect.

Approach your performance imagery as an experience involving all of your senses. Try to call up the feelings of the moves. Experience your performance the way you would actually like it to occur.

Quality imagery is a way of programming your mind and body to perform more closely to perfection on a consistent basis.

Gaining quality and control of your imagery is a learning process that takes time. Be persistent. It will lead to a higher level of concentration and an overall improvement in your performance.

When preparing for an important competition, rest well, listen to your body, and avoid overtraining so that you remain strong and healthy. The commitment to rest well is as important as the commitment to train hard. Without proper rest, the mind-body system falters and eventually shuts down.

Know what focus works best for you. Where is your focus when you perform best? Respect this focus. Remind yourself to follow it in training simulations and in competitions.

Practice overcoming distractions on a daily basis for high-quality training, better competitions, and happier living. Avoid wasting energy on things beyond your control, and commit yourself to remaining positive.

Before important events, remind yourself of the focus that works best for you. Follow the pre-event preparation patterns that have resulted in your best performances. Imagine and feel yourself executing your perfect performance. This will ensure that the best performance program is fresh in your mind and body. Then close off your thinking and connect totally to your performance. Turn on your autopilot and go.

Draw the lessons out of every competition. What went well? What needs refining? Were you able to hold your best focus for the whole event? What do you want to do in the same way next time? What changes might be helpful? How do you want to approach your next competition? What reminders might help? Make a note of these points and work on them so that you are even better prepared, mentally and physically, for your next challenge.”

Terry Orlick, In Pursuit of Excellence, Leisure Press, Champaign, IL, 1990, Pg. 13-14.
 

: If you really want to excel, the following
: basic guidelines will help immensely: Set
: specific daily goals so that you know what
: you want to accomplish every day and every
: training session.

I have a routine set-up and mapped out in advance.

: Before training, take some time to prepare
: mentally, so that you get the most out of
: yourself during each training session.

I have a long commute so I take this time to go through the workout in my head before I arrive at the gym. I know my warmups, weights, sets, reps, accessory exercises. It's all sorted in my head before I arrive.

: Commit yourself to executing your skills in
: training with the highest quality of effort.

Effort is the name of the game :^).

: In training, simulate what you want to do or
: have to do in competition. Run through
: complete, clean routines, programs, plays or
: events on a regular basis.

Use perfect form on each and every rep. No high squats, no lifting the butt while benching, etc. Competition legal, each and every rep.

: During scrimmages, run-throughs, and time
: trials, commit yourself to focusing 100
: percent, every step of the way. Be totally
: connected to your task.

I focus on each rep of each set starting with an empty bar. I tune everything out and focus on my form, nothing else.

: Do imagery every day to prepare yourself to
: accomplish your goals. Imagine yourself
: achieving your goals and successfully
: executing the skills you are trying to
: perfect.

At night, before I go to sleep, I will imagine/picture myself successfully completing a lift that I need the most work on. I will use this approach on my weakest lift as that is the one that makes me most apprehensive. Once I see myself making the lift successfully in my mind often enough, all apprehension is gone.

: Approach your performance imagery as an
: experience involving all of your senses. Try
: to call up the feelings of the moves.
: Experience your performance the way you
: would actually like it to occur.

I fill in my mental image with as much detail as possible. The more you practice the more detailed you will become. If it was a bench press I was focusing my energy on, I see (in color), hear, feel, I use as many senses as possible. I run through two perspectives in my mind, one where I see myself performing the lift and one where I experience myself performing the lift. If I'm seeing myself bench, I see what I'm wearing in all it's color. I see myself lay on the bench and grip the bar at my competition grip. I see myself pause for a moment to compose myself and then go into my arch, arching nice and high. I see myself lock my feet and legs in firmly to get good leg drive but keep my hips down. I see and hear myself take a deep breath and then nod for the lift off. I see the bar handed off to me, right in my spot, perfect. I see myself lowering the bar, elbows tucked, body nice and tight. I pause and hear the press command and watch myself drive with my legs and press up strongly, through my sticking point to lockout. I will review all these details in my mind from many angles, seeing myself over and over again from these different angles. I then "feel" the entire lift in my head. I feel the chalk on my hands as I approach the bench. I feel my lifting belt pulled tight and my shirt confining me. I lay on the bench and feel the padding on it beneath me. I grab the bar and feel the rough knurling, feel the cold of the steel as I take my grip. I close my eyes and clear my mind and then go into my arch. I feel myself setting up nice and high on my shoulder blades and traps. I feel my legs locking around the bench seat in perfect position to drive with. I feel myself take in a deep breath and nod to my husband to unrack the bar. I see him hand it out to me, nice and low. I feel myself flexing my lats by trying to bend the bar as I lower it, making me feel nice and tight and explosive. I tuck my elbows in in the process. I can feel the pressure building in my body as the bar moves lower and lower. I feel the bar touch solidly, rock solid and hear the press command. My lower body and upper body move as one to explode the bar off my chest and I watch it come up in a straight line, not towards my head. I feel the knurling digging into my hands as I press for all I'm worth and I feel myself move through my sticking point and lock out solidly. It has taken time and practice to visualize with the detail I can now but it comes, detail by detail.

: Quality imagery is a way of programming your
: mind and body to perform more closely to
: perfection on a consistent basis.

Because my mind "sees" what I want my body to do regarding form, etc., I think it becomes much easier to actually perform that way.

: Gaining quality and control of your imagery is
: a learning process that takes time. Be
: persistent. It will lead to a higher level
: of concentration and an overall improvement
: in your performance.

It has certainly improved my concentration. I can now visualize at any time of day, while driving, etc.

: When preparing for an important competition,
: rest well, listen to your body, and avoid
: overtraining so that you remain strong and
: healthy. The commitment to rest well is as
: important as the commitment to train hard.
: Without proper rest, the mind-body system
: falters and eventually shuts down.

Probably my biggest weakness is not listening to my body and making rest as important as my non-rest times. It tends to go against my nature and is always a struggle for me. I tend to see my tired body as a chance for me to impose my mental strength, to polish that approach further. There are times when that makes sense and times when it does not. I need to learn to discern between the two.

: Know what focus works best for you. Where is
: your focus when you perform best? Respect
: this focus. Remind yourself to follow it in
: training simulations and in competitions.

I'm starting to sound like Rickey but routine, routine, routine. I focus in the gym the same way I do at a meet. Same images, same thoughts, same preparation.

: Practice overcoming distractions on a daily
: basis for high-quality training, better
: competitions, and happier living. Avoid
: wasting energy on things beyond your
: control, and commit yourself to remaining
: positive.

Negative energy will drain me faster than anything. I work very hard at removing those feelings from my life.

: Before important events, remind yourself of the
: focus that works best for you. Follow the
: pre-event preparation patterns that have
: resulted in your best performances. Imagine
: and feel yourself executing your perfect
: performance. This will ensure that the best
: performance program is fresh in your mind
: and body. Then close off your thinking and
: connect totally to your performance. Turn on
: your autopilot and go.

There is a point right before each lift where I will completely clear my mind and let my body do the work. I will visualize the lift one last time the way I want to perform it and then "turn off the lights" and go for it.

: Draw the lessons out of every competition. What
: went well? What needs refining? Were you
: able to hold your best focus for the whole
: event? What do you want to do in the same
: way next time? What changes might be
: helpful? How do you want to approach your
: next competition? What reminders might help?
: Make a note of these points and work on them
: so that you are even better prepared,
: mentally and physically, for your next
: challenge.”

I always keep a training log and keep extremely accurate notes while preparing for any meet. I keep daily notes as I work on making weight, right down to the food I eat, how much of it I eat, how much I drink, what I weigh each day during that process, my approach to making weight, etc. I also keep records of what I weighed in at, what I ate after weigh-in, how I felt, anything and everything. I also make notes of what went right with each meet, what went wrong, how things could be better. I'm always fine tuning but I find I must write things down or will forget.

D.