To be successful in the weight room you have got to be there for the right
reason. There is no way around it for long term success. You should enjoy
training and have a desire to physically improve the right way. Nobody else can
do the work for you, that is why your attitude and mindset are the keys to
strength training success.
Champions in the weight room have a burning desire to improve. They have specific
goals they are striving for and their training matches this desire. Waltzing
into the gym to “just get a good workout” will do little to build great
strength. You must be specific in what you want to achieve whether it is to improve
by five pounds in the short term or a hundred pounds in the long term. Compete
with your current ability and never accept your current level of strength as
your final destination.
Once your goal is developed, purposeful planning can take place. Every set
of any exercise you do in the gym should have a specific purpose, otherwise you
are wasting time. Throw out all of the distractions in your training. The achievement
of the set (of an exercise) should be your sole purpose. Like a machine, you
must shut off all distractions when you approach the weights. Be present with
the task at hand. The only thing on your mind should be to go all out to reach
the prescribed goal on each exercise for the day.
Take time to focus before each you begin each set. There should be no
talking 20-30 seconds before you pick up any weight. You are not there to socialize;
you are there to train! Your mind should be dialed in solely to the task at
hand. The music and people in the background should become a dull blur. The
next exercise should not matter nor should the performance on the last one. The only thing you should be focused on is
lifting the heaviest weight to meet the goal (repetition range), with good form
on the exercise you are currently about to attempt.
Take it rep by rep. Each repetition should be viewed as its own challenge.
Too many people try to rush through a set of eight or ten repetitions with
sloppy form so they can hurry up to the next set. This is a waste of time and
energy. The purpose is to train your muscles with progressively heavier loads
as they get stronger, not to finish an arbitrary amount of volume for each
exercise. Get the most out of every repetition and every set of exercise you do
to maximize your results.
Think about attacking the weights with aggression and hostility. Bob Whelan
refers to it as “going postal”. You cannot be timid when lifting the weights
and expect to make great results. It is okay to think this way because it is
resulting in a positive outcome. Not only are you stronger when you channel all
of your anger into lifting, but you are less stressed outside of the weight
room. The key to this is control the anger. There is a big different between focusing
this energy into the weights and focusing it into yourself. Uncontrolled aggression
will waste energy and potentially injury yourself, making it very unproductive.
Set your body into proper position before lowering the weights. Be dialed into
the proper exercise technique so you can maximize the amount of force you are
able to generate to get the weight up. When it is time for the positive (concentric)
portion of the lift channel that aggression and hostility to push or pull the
weight throughout the fullest range of motion. Once the repetition is finished
it is time to reset and repeat.
Although you are attacking the weight with anger, your overall training
should all be positive. You must have a positive attitude about yourself and what
you are doing to be successful. Many of the old-timers wrote about the power of
the mind and the wonderful results it would bring. Picture yourself where you want
to be instead of where you currently are. Believe you are big and strong so
that one day you will become big and strong. If you go into the weight room
thinking you are weak your training will reflect.
Never get hung up on the numbers so much that your workout becomes a
negative experience. The goal is to progress in weights, but nobody said it
will happen every week. Too many people label their training as a bad workout
if they failed to move up in poundage. Training should always be a positive
experience. Who cares if it takes a few weeks or months to move up five pounds,
that means you are using a heavy enough weight! You are doing everything right
if the weights are heavy and you cannot move up that day. Just give your best
on each exercise and pat yourself on the back afterwards. There is nothing you
can do to turn back the clock, but you can hurt your performance on the next
exercise if you are still dwelling on the last one.
Learn to play mind games and use your instincts to avoid mental blocks.
Bob always uses the example of himself breaking the 300-pound barrier in the
bench press as an example of this. He was stuck at 295 in the bench press and
could not lift 5 more pounds, because of a mental barrier he had with benching
300 pounds. After several attempts of failing with 300 he decided to try change
the goal to 305 because there would be no pressure if he didn’t make the lift. This
was enough change to beat the mental block and the lift was successful. Remember
the goal can always change. There are no hard-set rules of having to reach the
same repetition goal as long as your training stays progressive. If you are
stuck in your training you can lower the repetition goal and add a few pounds
to the work set. You can refer back to your notes and decrease the weight, and
shoot for beating your best number of repetitions from a few weeks ago. Or you
can drop a set to change the goal needed for you to progress in weights. The
key is to always strive to do better than what you have done previously. When
you learn to trust your instincts, you can attempt a new PR at several
different repetition goals just by looking at past attempts and understanding
how you are feeling that day.
Read books like the “Magic of Thinking big” over and over until the principles
sink in. Use positive self-talk to build your confidence in the weight room and
to set the tone for your training. Visualize yourself lifting the weights on
each exercise and succeeding, prior to showing up to train. Set high
expectations for your results and pursue after them. Do not get hung up on
wrist size or bone structure. Never limit your expectations because of what one
person’s thoughts and opinions may be. Think of big goals and focus all of your
efforts into reaching them. Your mind has to be exercised just as your muscles do
if you want to be successful in the weight room.
You can have the best weight training routine and the best equipment in
the world, but none of it will make a difference if you do not have the right
mental attitude. None of these techniques will work either unless you truly believe
they will. Spend the time to train your mind for the gym and in life. Set
goals, focus your best efforts towards those goals, build your self-confidence
and only worry about what you can control. You might just be surprised how far
it takes you.