Any Resources on "Mentality While Lifting"

[ucimigrate]

Hi Everyone,

I find that if I think too much when lifting, I end up quitting sooner.

1. Is there any evidence-based, proven lifting mentality?

I know weight lifting coaches, etc. have mantras; but, I am not sure how much of it is proven.

2. Is there any science to this?

My guess is thinking causes the mind to become more active. That causes the nervous system to become over-active, causing earlier fatigue.

It seems like there is a pleasant middle ground between no mental activity and too much, to get into a "lifting zone" or "state of flow."

Any actual evidence?

 

[Resolve10]

I'll be brief since I don't know exactly what you mean, this could be quite a few things.

There is research on various avenues of this though.

Internal vs External cues show different benefits depending on goals, movements, and experience.

Visualization has research showing increased performance.

Mental fatigue has been shown to decrease performance (both from things prior to training and during).

I wonder more if you are talking more about mental arousal though? That is individual and different individuals, training styles, and sports may require different levels of arousal for optimal performance. Improper arousal can definitely lead you to fatiguing too soon and/or require different approaches to recover from training appropriately.

 

[ucimigrate]

You hit the nail on the head.

These all answer my questions.

My biggest problem was mental arousal. Stimulants (esp. caffeine) over arousing me. Even thinking can over-arouse me.

I think it is sort of like driving: it is important to be cool, calm, confident, neither negligent nor overly hyper-vigilant.

 

[Resolve10]

You hit the nail on the head.

These all answer my questions.

My biggest problem was mental arousal. Stimulants (esp. caffeine) over arousing me. Even thinking can over-arouse me.

I think it is sort of like driving: it is important to be cool, calm, confident, neither negligent nor overly hyper-vigilant.

Ya it isn't the case for everyone, but some things can cause people to be over aroused and almost burn out too quickly in and after training. You may just be the kind of person who needs a calmer approach.

 

[Airmaniac]

Music is arousing and shown to boost performance. Only negative I can think of is if you forget your headphones you’ll hate your workout lol. I’ve been there too many times.

When I coached the hardest part to teach was the mental aspect. I know before I ended up broken physically when I prepped for a session I would tap into my systems darkest parts and it would power me up through emotional stress and that was my technique to transform mentally. I’d think of the saddest moments in my life, embarrassment, rejection, my father dying when I was young, growing up poor, etc. Nowadays that’s titled toxic motivation and I don’t have 100th of the temper I used to or that same chip on my shoulder. I also don’t think that toxic positivity is great either like every podcast promotes! I do baby weights, yoga(pain reduction), and biking these days. I say that to convey how much my mentality has changed over time.

Can music make workouts more fun and effective? - Harvard Health

Listening to up-tempo music (135 to 142 beats per minute) may help make interval training exercise more enjoyable as well as more effective....

www.health.harvard.edu

“Over the course of several weeks, 24 young adults each did three 10-minute interval workouts under different conditions: listening to music, a podcast, or silence. When they listened to music, their heart rates were slightly faster, they exercised more intensely, and they reported greater enjoyment after their workouts compared with when they listened to a podcast or to nothing.”

APA PsycNet

psycnet.apa.org

“Investigations into the benefits of music during exercise- and sport-related activities have a long history, dating back at least to Ayres (1911) who observed that competitors in a 6-day cycle race traveled 8.5% faster when a military band was playing. Since then, music has been shown to be associated with improved physical performance in a broad range of activities (see Karageorghis, 2020 for a review).”

Edit: Another thing that works if feasible is a community centered around lifting in person or a lifting partner. Essentially support or like minded individuals pursuing similar goals is definitely motivational for the mental aspect.

 

[Hyde]

You just need to find what works for you.

All the evidence you could ever need is all the truly successful lifters, who have all different levels of arousal or methods to achieve their best flow/performance. You don’t have to beat your head on the barbell until it bleeds or get shocked with a cattle prod, nor do you have to lift in restrained emotionless silence like a monk. It’s about what you do well with. So there’s nothing wrong with either of those approaches if they work & you are satisfied.

When you lift heavy for you, or to reach a very high/peak effort level in an activity, it will be necessary to reach a certain level of inner intensity. There will be a necessary focus on the desired task. But some will become raging wild men, or euphoric, or laser focused, and still others still almost robotic, or even appearing passive/relaxed. But they are doing what they have found allows them to execute maximally.

 

[kisaj]

I stopped taking stim heavy pre workouts a long time ago because I found it distracted my mind too much and instead of focusing on what I was there for, I would literally have hundreds of unrelated items in my head. Instead of resting between sets I was figuring out what I had to put in a report that afternoon or when the kids had to get to avtivities, or whatever. I need a calm mind for the best workouts, which is somewhat counter to what we hear a lot.

 

[ucimigrate]

Thanks. Stimulants do that to me, too.

I guess I am one of the best people who works under a lower than normal state of mental activity. Granted, I am not sleeping or being mindless, but focusing on being mentally calm.