Where's your head when you lift?

Urban

Urban

Savage Mystic
@Gold
Joined
May 16, 2003
Messages
16,942
Reaction score
60
I used to be an angry lifter. I used to try and psyche the holy crap out of myself. You wouldn't see me smile the entire time I was in the gym. PR's were met by scowls and "FUCK YEAH!" and it never felt quite right. Things have changed a bit recently. I started intentionally smiling, finding a "happy place," and it didn't even take a one handed golf veteran to show me the way. Neuro linguistic programming gave me the idea, in essence, by implying we display greater strength when happy than when sad. So I started thinking of the good times in my life when I was at the gym, those moments I really cherish, hugs from loved ones, nights out with close friends, times of seemingly effortless, flawless success despite the odds. and I found my middle ground. Not wise man on the mountain calm, but not bloodthirsty angry.

Sure, the happy place I go is a little darker than most, and the archetype is more trickster and savage than enlightened savior, but I find myself enjoying the workout more. It's a strange lycanthropic confidence: knowing I can make the lift, not trying to fight against it. Chalk up, Run my tongue from canine to canine across my incisors, smile, and grab the weight. And win or lose I feel good.

Where's your head when you lift?
 
My head is usually near the crotch of another guy when I lift.
 
zop said:
My head is usually near the crotch of another guy when I lift.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I really don't appreciate your gayness... but then again, I suppose it's kind of a gay thread.
 
I try to keep it empty - that's part of the point of lifting for me. With oly lifting I concentrate more before the lifts and try to keep adrenaline lower than with PL.
 
I like the mean mutha-fucka approach. Buuuuut I'm really not a very mean person, so I'm not sure how well it works. Perhaps I will give this "happy" experiment a test.

.... orrrrr I could just think about how big meh gunz are going to look if I manage to knock out one more rep. Which ever works better.
 
nervous and slightly scared / worried I won't make the lift. Yeah I'm quite the man :rolleyes:
 
"Lifting" these days is limited to whatever weird shit my PT has me doing (bands and isometrics mostly). So I'm normally just looking back on life wondering where the hell I went wrong.
 
My surrounding dictates my mental state.

When I'm next to frat boys playing grab ass I am an angry son of a bitch.
When I'm next to another serious lifter I am calm.
When I'm lifting in front of a sexy latino girl that doesn't speak a word of english I like to believe I'm suave.
 
bacon said:
"Lifting" these days is limited to whatever weird shit my PT has me doing (bands and isometrics mostly).
Click to expand...
That sucks man, but at least with some solid PT you'll be back lifting eventually. Ends justify the means. like that guy in the halo that they said would never walk again. You lose focus on your reason for going through the bullshit, and you never get out of it. "If you're going through hell, keep going." -Winston Churchill
So I'm normally just looking back on life wondering where the hell I went wrong.
Click to expand...
bikini%20snowboarding.jpg
 
I mentally proceed through the lift; emotions canceled out. I have one punchline for each lift that I repeat to myself. For presses it's "Squeeze the bar, mofo", for lifts it is "Tighten up".

Both lines can be misinterpreted by Zop.
 
In the moment, focusing on the movement. Too amped up/over stimulation is counter productive.
 
A blend of three things, I guess -- attention to whatever details I need to focus on to get set up or whatever, blankness, and a non-angry kind of fired-uppedness.
 
big_john127 said:
My surrounding dictates my mental state.

When I'm next to frat boys playing grab ass I am an angry son of a bitch.
When I'm next to another serious lifter I am calm.
When I'm lifting in front of a sexy latino girl that doesn't speak a word of english I like to believe I'm suave.
Click to expand...

QFT on this.
 
Between sets I'm pretty mellow. When I start a normal set I'm calm and focused. Pretty empty head. Before the first rep I go over a checklist of things I need to remember to lift well and I focus on those points each rep.

When its a heavy set, something really demanding my body goes into fight or flight mode.

I get an upset stomach, feel really weak and I start to shake a bit. Pulse goes up and I begin sweating. Feel like I have to take a huge shit and piss. As soon as my body gets there I know I'm going to murder the set and my brain forces me into fight mode. To this day I've never missed a lift when I felt like that.

There is no checklist for these sets. Its just grip and rip. The conscious is blank and the subconscious is telling me what to do.
 
Whenever I'm legitimately angry while lifting I do horribly, I become clumsy and seem to lose most of my strength. I really enjoy lifting and training and I'm normally relaxed, focused, and happy. I get pretty nervous before conditioning workouts but it's the same as lifting otherwise.
 
I usually try the whole 'badass' mindset and try to use anger to lift the weight but i've found that times when I get pumped through more happy thoughts I usually lift better.
 
I get into a kind of peaceful mindset... and sometimes when I need to push a lift harder I talk to myself... its pathetic
 
Kinda like meditating. I'm thinking about whatever between sets. Then during the actual lift, I just do it.(Wearing Pumas. Fuck you, Nike.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,768
Messages
55,516,005
Members
174,805
Latest member
hardscarf

Share this page

Back
Top