elitefts™ Sunday Edition
Originally Published in Issue 6, The JoshStrength Newsletter

“It might be a placebo effect, but it’s still an effect,” Chuck Liddell said at the same time he was the most dangerous man on the planet.

Placebo effects are real. Belief will boost your probability of success regardless of endeavor.

“Psychology trumps physiology every time,” said bestselling fitness author, Alwyn Cosgrove. Psychology will directly influence physiology and how you perform.

Science Speaks

Moseley, J.B., O'Malley, K., Petersen, N.J., et. al. A controlled trial ofarthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee. N Engl j Med 347(2) 2002, p. 81-88

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study that examined the effectiveness of arthroscopic surgery on folks with arthritic knees. One hundred and eighty patients received arthroscopic surgery on their knee or a placebo surgery. In other words, some received legitimate surgery while others believed a procedure was performed, but in reality only an inconsequential skin incision was done to trick patients into believing surgery was performed.

Patients were examined for improved levels of pain and improved function over a 24-month period. Both the placebo group and the surgery group improved post-op and “post-imagined op.”

Astonishingly, at no point did the surgery group report less pain or better function than the placebo group! Both believed and both achieved.

This study has implications far beyond examining the efficiency of arthroscopic surgery. If you believe you achieve.

Bottom line: The right mindset can produce the same results as surgery. Maybe it’s time to put your beliefs under the knife and transform yourself into the purpose-driven, goal-striving being God created you to be.

Believe to achieve!

Placebos Shams?

“Scientific evidence demonstrates the positive effect of placebo from sham interventions on other conditions, sham-controlled trials of interventions for the treatment of these conditions should be considered to have prospects of benefit as well.”

J Med Ethics. 2012 Dec 13

The placebo effect is not akin to a belief in the make-believe. It is a real physiological response. The effect can be amplified according to the invasiveness of the placebo via the condition being treated, environment, and the expectation of the participant receiving the placebo.

According to the Journal of Medical Ethics, placebo pain relief is a product of the release of endogenous opioids and endocannabinoids. In other words, your belief gives you a dose of morphine.

Expectations and beliefs augment the placebo effect; expecting pain relief produces pain relief. A placebo literally causes your brain to release chemicals that will act like feel-good drugs without the chance of developing an addiction or receiving negative side effects. The Journal goes on to say, “Additionally, expectation of relief can decrease pain via dopamine release in reward centres of the brain.”

Belief can work like powerful drugs! Sham means bogus, but there is nothing bogus about believing and getting a response that produces real-world results.

What if you took this attitude of expectancy to being a great prizefighter or powerlifter? I promise you will be more successful; your mind and body are an interrelated link, science proves this.

Application to Strength

Austin Smith, a 15-year-old Michigan teen, lifted the front end of a 2,000-pound car off of his 74-year-old grandpa. This skinny kid was able to do this by “committing to the pull”—the pull was lifting the car off of his grandpa. The right mindset is critical to lifting heavy weight.

The legendary Vladimir Zatsiorsky has stated that most people are able to use about 65 percent of their muscles’ potential strength, but trained weightlifters can use about 80 percent and can potentially do 10 percent more in a contest. The mind limits the body and the two are an inseparable, integrated unit. If your mind is weak, you will be physically weak.

I am not advocating to venture into a life or death state of psychosis every training session; too much fatigue would be imposed on your central nervous system. Training with a focused, aggressive attitude can get you to the 80-percent range of total strength used and beyond in training, maybe 90+ percent of absolute strength in competition. Max effort strength is the largest amount of force that can be produced under voluntary conditions. Absolute strength is the greatest force that can be produced under involuntary conditions, measured in a laboratory setting.

Approaching absolute strength is nearly impossible, something most people will never scratch the surface of. The right mindset can serve as your game changer!

In Mel Siff’s monumental classic Supertraining, he writes about how the development of strength is related to the number of muscle fibers that fire simultaneously, which is entirely a function of the nervous system. Guided mental imagery or self-talk to produce more rapid efforts can recruit a great number of muscle fibers at a faster rate of firing. The result is lifting more weight.

Focus on the task at hand and visualize yourself succeeding. Take twenty minutes a day to relax and watch a movie of yourself and your future successes. Remember, this is accomplished through relaxation—breathe deeply and relax. The more vivid the movie, the more real the experience. The more real the experience, the more transferable the level of success is.

Brain Activity Proceeds Movement

Brain activity proceeds movement, and it is vital that correct movements are visualized long before those movements are performed. Visualization techniques were utilized by top Russian and Eastern block coaches for decades before receiving more widespread acceptance in the western world. No two great fighters fight exactly the same and no two deadlifters deadlift exactly the same. Being able to visualize your optimal technique is crucial to becoming a “master of sport,” as they would say in the old eastern block!

Emotional State

Your emotional state strongly dictates performance. Generally, the influence responses are:

  • The increased secretion of adrenaline.
  • Intensification of nervous discharge of the muscles.
  • Irradiated nervous impulse from surrounding muscles not actively involved in the sport skill or movement.
  • Extreme depression, over-arousal, or fear tend to inhibit maximal performance.

Again, focus and discipline are necessary for maximum performance. See yourself succeeding and don’t over-psyche or get in extreme emotional states.

Parting Thoughts

To be the best fighter, weightlifter, or elementary school teacher, you need to see yourself in that light. This is not a feel-good exercise in futility. This will make your body literally produce drug-like effects that will help propel you to that next level.

Set a specific goal and strive for it! Man has a built-in success mechanism and does not operate efficiently without striving for a goal. REMEMBER SPECIFICITY—making more money this year is not a goal, making over six figures in a year is.

A squirrel that has never experienced winter still instinctively knows to store nuts for the winter. You have this same mechanism: success begets success.

Your central nervous system cannot tell the difference between a real and an imagined experience. The more vivid, the more real. Get the mind to work and the physiological mechanisms will follow.

*Header photo courtesy of: © Chrisharvey | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images