The weight room is one of the few places where talking to yourself out loud is not only accepted but also encouraged. Who hasn’t psyched themselves up with a good old “light weight, baby” or “nothing but a peanut”? (If you use the same psych-ups as the pros, you’ll look like them, too. It’s a fact.) And if talking to yourself out loud isn’t your thing, everyone has some type of self communication, even if it is on just a cognitive, inaudible level. The trick lies in controlling this type of self-talk and ensuring that it is helping you make your lifts, not preventing you from success. When I’m working with people, I try to determine which “level” of self talk they have achieved so that I can effectively and accurately coach them through their lifts.
The first level of self-talk is seen in beginners with very little lifting or workout experience. I like to refer to it as the “Holy shit, I’m going to die!” phase. As soon as something gets difficult, their minds immediately start screaming, “ABORT MISSION!” Form will break down completely, and you end up getting some really good material for Awkward Gym Moments. Obviously this is no good, so I try to encourage my clients to focus on one technique cue during their set. The more difficult things get, the more I want them to hammer that cue home. Before their set, I will begin my “mantra” and instruct them to speak to themselves with the cues I am telling them. For instance, let’s say we are doing kettlebell swings for a little conditioning. I will then have them focus on whatever technique cue I think is the most important (sometimes this means something that will help prevent them from getting injured). Therefore, I will continually say, “back straight” and have them repeat that to themselves throughout the whole set. It gives them something positive, or at least neutral, to focus on instead of the tremendous muscle pump occurring in the low back, hips, and hamstrings.
The second level of self-talk is common amongst intermediate lifters who can give themselves mental cues but usually can’t necessarily tell what part of their form is breaking down. When dealing with an athlete at this level, I tell him (or her) to listen to me. “Don’t cue yourself, let me cue you.” Hmmm...that sounds kinda dirty now that I see it in writing...oh well. Anyways, I don’t want their minds cluttered with too many instructions. If my instruction is having to compete with their own self-talk, whether that be cues or “this is heavy!” thoughts, they’re going to have a tough time completing the heavier lifts. Thus, I tell them to just listen to me and lift. When they hear my cue, they should do whatever I’m asking them to do as hard and as fast as they can. For example, if someone is squatting and he has a tendency to let his knees fall inward, I will scream, “Knees out!”And as long as he isn't telling himself something different, the result is usually a good lift.
The final level of self-talk is reserved for more advanced lifters. Usually these guys are good enough to know what is going on during a lift, and while a little form cuing doesn’t hurt, it isn’t necessarily going to make or break a lift. At this point, it all comes down to where his head is at. He has to have visualized himself making the lift so many times that it isn’t anything new to him. It is important for lifters to go through the different technique cues over and over again in their heads as they visualize themselves making the lift. “Pull the bar straight out, set it, row it down, tuck the elbows, touch, press, legs, flare, lockout, wait for the rack command.” Whatever the lift, the specific techniques they use to make it happen have to be ingrained well before the lift takes place. With weights that heavy, you don’t usually get a chance to “correct” bad technique.
The final necessity is getting them psyched-up correctly. This is different for every person. Maybe it involves telling them the weight is light and they’ll get it easy, or maybe it involves calling them a puss and that they’ll never be as strong as so and so. Every person is different and you have to really dig in and pay attention to find out what drives them. Once you find it, build it up until right before the lift and give it to them full force.
Hopefully this helps some coaches and lifters master the mental side of training and hit some new PRs. And if for some reason you miss a lift, just blame it on your alternate personality.