The mental side of powerlifting

I don’t think it is talked about enough or coached enough the importance of your mentality to succeed in this sport. Some of the best powerlifters I’ve seen all have 2 things in common.

Complete fearlessness going for a PR.

Fear. Fear of the weight on the bar. It will prevent you lifting the weight. And that comes down to how you are mentally. Yes, it comes naturally for some people. But it can still be learnt and coached. You can have a great program, great externals, and on paper you should be able to hit that weight. But if you aren’t in the right mental headspace to hit a new PR, then you will struggle.

Attempting a new weight for the first time can be intimidating. Failing a weight can rock your confidence. Having confidence when going for a PR makes a world of difference to how likely you are to be successful with that attempt.

Controlled aggression to lift a weight, and confidence that you can do it, are a perfect combination. Too much aggression and your technique and set up goes out the window. But too timid and you won’t be mentally ready to push with full force. Aggression doesn’t have to be visible. You don’t have to run on the platform screaming and bash your head against the bar a dozen times to have aggression. Aggression is mental. Being ready to give everything that rep to complete it. And having the belief that you can lift that weight, you’ve just got to go and do it.

To get into this mindset there are a few things you can do.

Get used to heavier loads:

– If you are someone that seems to mentally crumble when going for a new weight, then your programming should probably involve some work at higher percentages and intensities. Making use of regular singles. Just making sure that you’re able to recover from the work you’re doing. Another good way is to program in a variation that helps you lift more than normal. As lifting heavier than your max can be a good way to mentally be ready to go for a PR as you’ve technically lifted more already. For bench that can look like a board press, high pin press, static holds, or even using a mild slingshot. For me, using a slingshot before my main bench day helped a ton and helped me shoot past a plateau that I’d had on bench press.

Music:

– There was an interesting study that I read a few years ago. It was to see if you could basically make a “PR song” that actually helped you lift more weight. They had 1 of the groups listen to a new song but only let them listen to it before or when going for a heavy weight. Then after a while they tested to see if there was any difference in strength when they were listening to that song and when they weren’t. They found an increase in strength performance and adrenaline when people listened to their “PR song”. Now obviously you can’t control the music at your meet. But might be worth having a “PR song” to listen to with headphones before you go out on the platform. Even if you don’t use a specific song, maybe it’s a specific playlist that gets you going. But music can make a difference.

Visualisation:

– It’s not just a bunch of voodoo hippy stuff. Visualising yourself completing a lift successfully with your planned third attempts can really help. It gives you confidence and belief that you’ll be able to do it. You can start this whenever; it doesn’t have to just be the day of the competition. It works better the more you do it. I’ll utilise this months out from a meet. Just visualising yourself lifting that goal weight. Successfully, over and over again. Leave no other possible outcome in your mind besides a successful lift.

The other key to be a great powerlifter is to keep going even when things aren’t ideal.

Having temporary regressions due to stress, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, or just a block that didn’t work for you, can feel like the end of the world and make you want to give up.

Being able to get past those things takes a resilient mind. There will be bad reps, sets, sessions, weeks, blocks, or even years. The important thing is to shake it off and not let it affect the next thing you do.

Powerlifting (and even just general health) isn’t all or nothing. Just because 1 thing went badly is not a reason to throw in the towel and give up. Short term or long term. When you have a bad rep during a set, do not let it affect the rest of the reps in that set. I’ve seen people going for a double where their first rep didn’t move great due to poor technique or poor force production, and then they let it ruin their second rep. Whether that’s panic, self-doubt, anger (uncontrolled), shame, or any number of emotions. As a coach, I can usually see why a rep went badly. And especially with beginners its usually not a strength issue. So, keep calm, and just try to do better on the next rep. Same goes for if a whole set goes badly, don’t let it affect the rest of your workout. A workout goes badly, don’t let it affect your week. You get the idea. This stuff will happen, its inevitable, but you don’t need to let it spread.

I watched a show recently with a powerful point made. Fair play if you know where this is from. But the happiest animal is a goldfish. Know why? It’s got a tiny memory. Be a goldfish. Have a shit set? Forget about it, move on to the next one. Powerlifting isn’t always linear; things will go up and down.

I’m discovering this myself. My daughter was born 5 days after my last competition. Have I improved since then? God no. I’ve gone backwards. But I’m still doing my workouts. Setting myself up so that when my sleep and stress are better, I am in a good place to kick on and get some PRs. If I stopped because things weren’t convenient, it would be a hell of a lot harder to get back to it. And I would have to wait longer before I could get some PRs.

That’s why it is good to have a coach. Someone who can objectively look at you and your training and tell what needs to change. Whether that’s something in your training, like technique, programming, etc. Or you as a person needs to change. A coach is someone also there for you mentally. To help you calm down after a bad workout. To help you navigate your training when things aren’t ideal.

Overall, pay attention to the mental side of things in your powerlifting journey. Utilise the tips I’ve given. If you do feel stuck with your training, you’ve regressed, plateaued, keep aggravating old injuries, then send me a message on my contact form for a free consultation to chat about what you need help with and how I can help.