View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Juggernaut Training Systems (@juggernauttraining)

Learn to Have A Growth Mindset vs. A Fixed Mindset. Growth Mindset is saying, “ I cant lift that yet” versus fixed mindset of, “I’ll never be able to lift that.”

Reframe Thoughts on Failure-failing isn’t a bad thing and provides a lot of learning lessons. instead of saying things like I’ve failed 5 times, say i’ve learned 5 things that didn’t work

Learn to Control Self Doubt-it’s easy to doubt yourself when your confidence has been diminished , but you can Build confidence with smarter training. If you’re failing attempts in the gym, it can mentally take its toll come meet time. Make sure your training is giving you more assurance and not adding road blocks to your mental game. Remember, you control your thoughts so make them positive ones as much as possible, and make sure your programming is building you up for success both physically and mentally.

Don’t Get Discouraged -You need to remember why you started competing in the first place. If you really look at the times you were most successful, it’s probably when you were actually having fun with the process, more mentally relaxed and not over-thinking every aspect of training.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Juggernaut Training Systems (@juggernauttraining)

Have A Plan-know what your top set will be and have a plan b or c if it’s feeling less than ideal, this will eliminate any unnecessary anxiety.

Visualize Success-Visualize successful lifts and clean technique. Vividly imagine each lift in the first person and be in the moment by bringing in all your senses-the butterflies you feel, the bar in your hands, the weight on your back etc. Over time the brain learns our routine movements, allowing these actions to become more automatic and fine-tuned.

Have a Pre-Performance Routine-Having a routine will help you block out distractions, focus on the task at hand, and stay in the moment. Doing things like hitting your chest on the bar before you squat, or breathing deeply and shouting go time before every lift- whatever your routine is commit to it regardless of the circumstances.

Strong Body Language-Powerful body language can send signals to the brain that you’re more confident. Sitting up straight and keeping your chin high versus slumping and looking defeated will help you fend off any negative self talk and unproductive thinking patterns that can impact you psychologically.

Trust Your Technique-As you approach the higher percentage ranges in your lifts you need to let your body do what’s its been trained to do and stop overthinking. Write down one cue for each lift, make it one word, and that’ll will be the only cue you think about for those top sets.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Juggernaut Training Systems (@juggernauttraining)

Play Your Own Game-Don’t get caught up in the comparison game. It doesn’t matter what someone else is doing because that’s their gameplan not yours. If your focus is on someone else you can’t be focused on the training you need to do for you.

Cultivate Your Circle-If you hang around negative people chances are you’ll adopt some negative behaviors. Surrounding yourself with people who are positive or even better than you because it will only make you a better athlete and force you to up your game.

Fuel The Fire-We are all driven by different things, but finding that thing sets things into motion and gets you fired up even more can be helpful come game time. Is it people doubting you, is it trash talkers, or just finishing what you started? Think about what fires you up the most and write it down.

-Visualization

-Bigger Reason to Win, Not Just for Ourselves

-Positive Self-Talk

-Staying in the Moment

One of the things that I’m pretty good at come meet day is being mentally tough. I’ve only gone 9/9 one time, so I’ve had to overcome misses and come from behind wins on several occasions. I’m not proud to say I’ve missed my opening squat attempt more than a few times, but I never let that mentally break me, and in a weird way those misses forced me to learn how to become mentally stronger. Once you admit defeat you will be defeated, so don’t let doubt take over.

I have anxiety like most people before a competition, I have expectations of myself and most of all I just want to win. I want to win because I put in the work and for all the people that support me-for the time Chad has invested in coaching me, for my kids that understand and cheer for me when I’m away, and for their dad who steps up to take care of them so I can pursue my passion. When I win they win and I want to make them proud.

Before a big lift, I visualize success and then shut my brain off and let my body do what it’s been trained to do. Typically, before deadlifting (because that’s usually the lift that decides who wins) I let out a yell as I walk onto the platform and say loudly “let’s go,” to remind myself to do what I’m capable of doing.

When I miss a lift I quickly put it behind me and focus on my next attempt. This is when Chad will come over and give me reassurance and one key cue to keep in mind. If he notices I look particularly frustrated he’ll say to me, “I am the strongest tiny boo,” and ask me to repeat it back to him. As silly as that may sound, sometimes you just need to remind yourself that you are good enough and say it out loud and with conviction.

Heather Connor (@stayfit_with_heather) 47kg IPF world Champion:

Before a big lift I tend to think about my family. They’re my biggest supporters in this sport, so before every lift I’ll always receive a text from them saying how proud they are of me. Last text I sent to my mom before my final deadlift at IPF worlds was me saying “I’m about to bring home the gold.”

If I miss a lift, I tend to tell myself that we are still in the game, that I will make up for it in the next lift. The moment I have doubt is the moment I lose focus-confidence is key.

I always take one lift at a time and don’t worry about what the other person is doing. I take each comp as a new learning experience on what I can work on to better myself as an athlete.

Liz Craven (@lizpowerlifts) Austrailia’s #1 Ranked Lifter:

I picture myself nailing the lift, all I think about is the feeling and the timing-not cues.

I get really nervous and doubt creeps in but I just let those thoughts wash over me, they are there for all of us. I try to turn the nerves into excitement. I think “I want to test myself.” “I’m Liz Craven, I get all my squats”.

Think of all the reasons why you will do well.

I get really hyped too easily so I try to breathe and calm down. I lift best when I have time to think of my cues.

I also lift best when I’m feeling kind of cocky/confident so you will see me nodding to myself, I’m thinking, “I got this, this is mine.”

It’s also best when I don’t think about numbers or total, I just handle one lift at a time and focus on getting that right. As I set up is when my actual cues come in, my ritual that makes it the same every time.

When I miss a lift it can be very hard to turn it around after and to not let that feeling of doom creep in. When I missed my second squat at Worlds 2016 I went out the back a bit shocked. Then I got angry, all that was going through my head was “This is not how this ends” “I’m Liz freaking Craven and I can squat this” I went out there furious and nailed that squat.

I remember my girl Megan missed her bench and when she came back she just looked defeated and like she wanted to cry. JP was coaching her and I said we have to do something. We both ended up doing a Braveheart speech telling her she was a gangsta, to put her headphones on, put her best music on and go out there and fight-she did and she nailed the lift.

So my advice is find that inner fighter in you and think “this is not how this ends”

Don’t think “I’m Liz Craven” though as we only need one of those in this world.

Kim Walford (@trackfu) 72kg 6x IPF World Champion:

I remind myself of the importance of proper body position under the bar, remaining tight, taking in air and holding it, and finally I visualize myself completing the lift.

Miss a lift: If technical, I remind myself that I’m strong enough to get the lift and that I need to fix whatever aspect of technique I missed on the next lift.

If strength: I tell myself my body wasn’t strong enough at that moment, but it will be next time I attempt that weight.

Jen Millican (@jenmillican): 57kg IPF World Champion:

On meet day, I tend to lean on verbal affirmations for myself, particularly if I start fearing an attempt or having doubt. If my mind starts to go in the direction of fear or failure, I’ll often repeat one line to myself over and over until I’m walking on to the platform. Depending on the meet/goals/training cycle….

“My name is Jennifer Millican and I am champion”

“Jennifer Millican, 8 for 9” this one I used after being red lighted for an opening bench attempt.

In any event, make or miss, I always want to keep my mind moving forward. Try to have a short memory and focus on one attempt at a time.

“All I have to do is make this one lift, right here, right now, I need to win this one single lift”

Maria Htee (@maria_htee): 57/63kg #1 Canadian Lifter

Like most athletes, I still get nervous before every competition, regardless of the size of the meet. It’s a combination of pressure and expectations I put upon myself, and the excitement to get on the platform and show how hard I’ve been working to improve. I am very calm and collected, and remind myself anytime I’m feeling anxious that “it’s not life or death, it’s just powerlifting”. My mental preparation occurs during every training session, and begins to sharpen in the last few weeks before meet day. I have full confidence in knowing exactly how I’m going to move those weights. Of course, it doesn’t always go perfectly the way you had planned, but I make no excuses and put my heart into every attempt. You must have no fear, no second guessing, and 100% trust in yourself and your coaches.

Bonica Brown (@bubblypowerlifter): 5x IPF Raw/Equipped World Champion:

When I’m getting ready for the platform I close my eyes and visualize past experiences. I imagine I’m in my comfort zone-my gym, my squat rack, my bench, my deadlift platform. It’s another awesome day in the gym working out and there’s no pressure or worries. I close my eyes and I think about the best times and repeat the best times. I like to think about the walk out on stage.

Jen Thompson (@jenthompson132) 63kg IPF World Champion:

Right before I go out I give a yell. I do this because it takes my mind off of everything but the lift. It clears my mind. Then I yell. ” It’s my weight, let’s go!” I’m telling myself I got this no matter what. When I say “let’s go” I’m trying to get the crowd on my side. I raise my arms encouraging the crowd. I feed of it. It makes me feel like everyone is on my side. They are urging me on. I can feel the energy and it’s electric. It gives me goose bumps. Then I have Donovan yelling key words to help remind me what to do. On squats he’s telling “speed” so I won’t go to slow into the hole. On bench he is telling me “take down” to bring the bar down as fast as I can, not to baby it. On deads he yells “pressure” to remind me to build as much as I can.

My attempts are so that my opener is an easy one-I think of it as the last warm up. I know I only have two huge lifts in me. My second is always the biggest weight I know I can get for sure, but it gives me a good read on what I have left. My third is always on the edge. I very rarely miss a second, it’s usually a third and at that point there’s not much you can do about it. If I do miss a second, I will most likely repeat it maybe go up a little depending on the competition. When I miss, Donovan will hit me with encouraging words. While I’m waiting for my next go at it, I keep the negative thoughts out of my head with visualization, and I’m anxious, anxious to fix my mistake.

Developing a winning mindset is something we can all learn to do-the same way you are consistent with your lifting and the physical cues, repeat the mental cues and practice them over and over again. I can’t promise you that you’ll always win the competition, but you can develop a more positive growth mindset and learn how to overcome when you fail-failures are for growth not discouragement.

Having a winning mindset doesn’t just happen you have to develop them over time, so don’t wait until meet day to flex that mental muscle, instead practice these cues the next time you’re in the gym-Visualize, self-affirm and stay in the moment.

I’ve been putting off writing this but I suppose it needs to be done. Quite simply, I lifted badly. This is the first time in my career that my training total has surpassed my competition total and I know part of the reason why but part of it is still leaving me a bit confused and frustrated.

This was undoubtedly my best squat training cycle, making PRs of 365kg/804# x4, 380kg/838# x3, 400kg/882# x2 and 415kg/915# x1 in sleeves and 420kg/925# x1 and 430kg/948# x1 in wraps. Previous to my PR squat of 440kg/970#, my best training squat was 415kg/915#, so I knew that I should have been in shape for a big PR. Unfortunately, that plan got a bit derailed on the last rep of my last heavy training session on Oct 14 when I suffered a quad injury on a set with 420kg/925#. It wasn’t a severe injury, just felt several pops in the lateral quad while coming out of the hole and had the spotters take it. Through the time before the meet, I worked with my great support team (Dr. Quinn-PT, Dr. Joe-Chiro/Graston and Elyssa-Massage) along with doing a lot of slow eccentric squatting to help heal the tissue and I felt strong the day of the meet through warmups, with my last warmup at 395kg. On my 420kg opener I felt strong, though pain in the quad went from probably a 2 to a 5 and then the issue became my head. I went to my planned 2nd of 445kg/981# but throughout the descent (which was much slower than usual) couldn’t get the idea of ‘am I about to get injured?’ out of my head and I missed the lift out of the hole and increased the pain in my left quad. I retook the weight for a 3rd attempt and while I did a better job of descending with confidence, when I reversed the weight, I just couldn’t push the way I needed-which in many ways I think was just my brain protecting my body. A very frustrating start to the day.

On to the bench, my bench training cycle was very up and down, with lots of elbow/forearm pain hampering me during the early training but a great finish to things with a smooth 260kg/573# lifetime PR on Oct 12th. Warmups felt good, not great and after a solid opener at 245kg/540#, I jumped to the lower end of my planned 2nds at 255kg/562#. I missed this very near lockout and then was informed by the judges, that had I made it, would have been redlighted for a heave. This isn’t a call I necessarily agreed with or saw in the video, as I felt that it looked the same as my opener and other benches at Pro Raw and in the USPA but with this in my head on my 3rd attempt, a retry at 255kg, I was very conscience of avoiding the same issue, which basically eliminated my leg drive and any chance of making the lift. At this point, I was pretty dejected at the day, knowing that 2nd place and $10k AUD was now very likely out of reach and that my place in 3rd was basically cemented, barring disaster on my part or massive PRs by others.

The deadlift I took my planned opener and 2nd of 345kg/760# and 365kg/804# (made that 2-1 and probably got a bit of a gift). Was going to pass my 3rd attempt but figured to give 372.5kg/821# a shot for a small PR. My deadlift training cycle was good for awhile and then I hurt my back about halfway through and really just let myself become lazy in training that lift, with the excuse of protecting my back from more injury but the reality was I just didn’t train it as hard as I should have.

I’m still at a bit of a loss trying to figure out the bench issue, as I expected to be taking 265kg/584# on a my 3rd attempt. Could it be travel related? Yes, but considering my 2 best totals are both in Australia, I don’t like that as an excuse, though I had 1 less day to acclimate on this trip than I did at Pro Raw 7. Could it have been that I didn’t have enough volume in my Peaking Block and Taper to maintain my fitness, possibly and that’s the most likely thing I see at this point. Whatever the problems of this meet were, injury, poor planning, lack of effort, etc I’m going to continue to do my best to identify and rectify them moving forward towards the 1100kg total that I know I’m capable of.

Thank you again to Emad and Markos for organizing such a great meet. Congrats to Shawn Doyle, Andrey Malanichev and everyone on their strong performances. Thank you to all the fans here in Australia and on Social Media for the encouragement. Most of all thanks to Marisa, Max, Pomp, Colin, Cortney, Zack, Liz, Josie and everyone at JuggHQ for their support throughout all the training. I’m figuring out what is next and I’m bringing everything I’ve got for it. #JuggLife

With a bad performance comes a crossroads for a competitor, an opportunity to make excuses or find the reasons you didn’t perform better, take ownership of the performance and do what you can to fix the problem moving forward.

This is a key moment in achieving long term competitive success, as it is critical for a competitor and/or coach to be able to critically evaluate performances, understand what was done well and understand what needs to be improved. In regards to this meet for myself, there are 3 main things that I feel I could have done better in preparation and competition.

1-Set The Ego Aside, Listen To Yourself and Stay Healthy

As stated above, I suffered a quad injury during the last rep of my last heavy squat session, 2 weeks before the competition. While I didn’t feel any indications of an oncoming injury during the training, I do feel like I could have prevented things. My last heavy squat day was done while Marisa and I were in Atlanta for her to compete (and win) at USAPL Nationals. I don’t like to give travel as a reason for poor performance but the combination of travel and accumulated fatigue into the final day of overload training, I just didn’t feel sharp the whole session. As I readied to take my heaviest squat in sleeves (a backdown after a top set of 440kg in wraps), I thought to myself ‘skip this set, you don’t feel your best, the needed hard work is done, just call it a day’ but since I was in a gym with about 50 other people, I let my ego get the best of them and try to put on a show and because of that felt about 10 pops in my left quad as I came out of the hole with 420kg. That is a set I should have skipped, I should have listened to my own intuition but I tried to impress the gym and it cost me.

2-Work Harder

I didn’t train hard enough in the bench and deadlift to have the meet I needed to. While I had some very positive moments in my bench training, including a 260kg/573# lifetime PR, my volume throughout the training cycle wasn’t consistent enough to peak properly. My arms get very sore from squat training and I let that be an excuse for not pushing my bench training harder, so when there are days that my arms hurt, I need to be more diligent in finding workarounds to still get quality work done. About 10 weeks prior to competition, I hurt my back going for the 2^nd rep of a double with 350kg/771#. The next day, I couldn’t get out of bed and when I tried to walk, I fell to my knees in pain after only a few steps. I was certain that I’d suffered another disc injury and was very dejected. Thankfully with the help of Dr. Quinn, Dr. Joe and Elyssa, I was able to make a quick return to training but from that point forward I just didn’t push my deadlift training as I needed to for maximum performance. I let my back injury be an excuse for not training the deadlift hard enough. That can’t happen again because my back was fine, if it wasn’t I wouldn’t have hit so many squat PRs.

3-Stay Engaged Mentally

Everyone comes into a competition with certain expectations of themselves and when you don’t meet those expectations, it is easy to lose focus. I came into Big Dogs with expectations of a huge squat and when that didn’t happen, I lost my focus and became complacent on the day. I let myself be filled with negativity about the day and my attitude and body language showed it. I gave negative energy from the squat issues power and while I could have/should have been able to go on to make bench and deadlift PRs, I didn’t. Some days aren’t going to go to your expectations but until the meet is over, there are still positives goals to strive for. Treat each lift as an individual effort, give it your entire focus and don’t let one bad lift turn into a bad day.