Is thinking to much during a lift a bad thing? This has been a common debate for a long time and while once side would love to prove the other wrong there really isn’t a “best” answer. Instead I would view this as you SHOULD be thinking during a lift but only when it makes best sense.

How to tell when you should be thinking during a lift?

When lifting it can be very easy to get in your own head and talk yourself down or let yourself overthink something to much. While in comparison just going up and ripping a barbell can be just as equally inneficent. The best way to perform a “mental rep” while doing our physical reps comes down to 3 steps.

Step 1: Imagine Yourself Doing the Lift

Before you start the physical aspect of your lift, take a second and picture yourself performing the lift. Thinking of what you would look like from all angles, front, back, side, bird’s eye. By envisioning ourselves performing the lift we are automatically setting ourselves up for success.

Step 2: Break It Down

Once you’ve gone through what the whole lift will look like now break it down piece by piece. Let’s use deadlifting for example. You would approach the bar, bring the bar closer, drop your hips, grasp the bar and pull out the slack, now you pull pull pull until you are about 1/4 of the way up and then switch and push push push with your legs to lock it out.

By breaking down our lift into every segment we are training our muscles mentally on how they should be performing at what stages. Once you complete this as many times as you need you may move onto step 3.

Step 3: Feel The Lift

We’ve talked about thinking of the lift, now it is time to perform the lift. When you get ready to perform your exercise nothing should be flooding your mind except the thought of feeling the weight pull, contract, and release. This step is crucial to remain locked in by thinking of nothing but our physical receptors going to work. Once we can lock into this phase, our prior mental training will perform its duty allowing us to maximize weight, effort, and safety of our lift.

When to Start?

Now! The beauty of mental lifts is that we can always be performing them whenever we want! If you are someone who finds themselves thinking best in certain locations or situations let your mind wander! To whatever level of effort you are willing to put your body through our minds should go something twice as challenging. Our minds are our greatest assets and destructor. By taking control of our thoughts we can achieve our goals quicker, easier, and in a healthier way!