I also deadlifted again today. I'm going to probably be pulling 4x a week just to work on position and mobility at sub max weight.

The biggest thing I wanted to touch on today is the power of positive self talk. So many people, men and women included, get hung up on the "Don't be a pussy" mindset and berate themselves for thinking about cutting a set or workout short. Thesemethods might work in the short term, but are incredibly damaging over time imo. A more effective manner of motivating oneself is the use of positive self talk. Telling yourself you CAN and you WILL is much more powerful, and can be tied into the field of sport psychology.

I'm not going to cite sources because I am typing off the cuff here, but Marilia Coutinho is a great resources on this, to show how belief structure in athletes usually plays a very strong role in performance. KNOWING you can do something and seeing it happen through visualization, can potentially lead to the likelihood of it actually occurring increasing an incredible amount.

My friend and client Lindsay Bogner is a perfect example of this. When she first came to me she was plagued with thoughts of doubt and very hard to overcome feelings related to low self esteem and negative self talk. However, after training for powerlifting and speaking with myself and Skyler Hjelm, things have gotten better and she has been hitting some personal bests and feeling GOOD about herself more often than not. (I hope anyway because she should).

This is also the difference between a "coach" and a "programmer", a coach can and will explore these avenues related to psychology related to performance, and will have an open relationship with the athlete attempting to improve these things, whereas a programmer will simply lay the groundwork in a fire and forget way of approaching it. Sometimes this is effective, but usually only with very elite athletes.

I'm proud of Lindsay and you can check her most recent personal best, and celebration here.

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