Mindset and focus prior to training

[BenjaminO]

I have an issue with "dialing in" mentally before training. It usually takes me until the second squat workset before I really feel focused on the task at hand. (2nd and 3rd work sets always feel easier than the 1st)

However, My head is usually jumbled with unrelated things prior to the second squat workset. (I can over think things or have non-related issues flowing too much)

I was wondering if anyone had any insight on mental prep for training, or how to snap into the correct mindset faster.

Thank you in advance!

If needed: 9th week of NLP (5'10"/183lbs/ worksets: SQ 165/PR 80/DL 240/BP 100/PC 80)

[Oso Rojo]

Mindset can be created through patterns. Setup a patter you do each and every time you squat, whether it's warm up sets or work sets. Have three or more steps helps with the process. Watch an MBL hitter get ready for a pitch. They do the exact same thing every time.

The pattern can only due part of the work. Before you pickup the bar and walk it out, get your grip, close your eyes and tell yourself, "We are going to squat this X times." See if you don't start to see some focusing of attention intentionally on that set.

Look around for resources for athletes to get focus and attention.

I can guarantee you there is a weight in which you will walk it out and it will slap you in the face and get your attention, if you are not focusing!

[Eric Schexnayder]

The “training mindset” you are looking for is just discipline. You don’t squat because you’re motivated to squat or fired up to squat or excited to squat. You squat because you’re supposed to squat today. Value discipline over motivation. Consistency and repetition is what matters. Get all that unrelated shit out of your head and focus on what you need to do to get the first rep, then the second, and so on.

Listen to Kirk:
Twenty Seconds - Kirk Karwoski - YouTube

[Jason Donaldson]

I absolutely second what the Red Bear said about the pattern. Some people call it a ritual - it's the same thing. I've had people comment on idiosyncrasies of my squat and press setup in particular, but it gets me set up consistently, both mentally and in terms of position. I think Robert Santana mentioned basketball players at the free throw line doing this in a recent podcast. Tennis and volleyball players on the serve do it.

For me, I take it so far as once, when training the push press for an exhibition event, I specifically altered the first movement of my push press setup to differ from that of my press setup, so as to "wall off" the two exercises in my head. These setup movements take us down the press road, and those setup movements take us down the push press road, that sort of idea.

It's irrelevant what my rituals are specifically, because that's not the point. A ritual isn't magic. It's a set of self cues. It's a worn groove that channels you into consistency. At 9 weeks in, you've had what, between and 15 and 80-something work set events for each lift? And most of the setups have been different, for sure. Work toward wearing in that groove for each exercise, get under the bar, and do your job there. There are other tricks that might help later, but honestly, at this stage, you need to train the groove, first and foremost. Use words in your head if it helps - think of some of the 5-step DL setup cues in the videos. Copy something at first from a lifter with good form that you watch, even, and refine what works for you, just make it serve your form, work for you, and become consistent.

Follow the groove, and not the feels. Granted, I've only been doing this about six years now, but I still commonly get Set 1 being harder than Set 2. I don't think that's all that uncommon. It's just, as the kids say, a thing. Lean into the experience, submit to the program, and learn to ignore that effect by proper focus. (See also Rip's three rep squat story contra RPE...)

One more thing - if you haven't yet, read this excellent article by Andrew Lewis: Elegance and Its Place in Lifting | Andrew Lewis I found it most helpful, and it addresses this, too.

I hope at least some of this helps!

[BareSteel]

I’m not great at this, so I can’t directly address your question. However, I have had some of my best workouts, performance-wise, when I just went to the gym to “do my job.”

[BenjaminO]

Oh wow, thank you guys so much! I definitely don't have a set routine, more like a pigeon walking around.

[Alexander Dargatz]

In addition to the above replies, maybe your squats need to get a bit heavier first, I mean harder to do. When you start questioning what you're doing and begin to get scared, there's not much room for anything less than good focus.

I like the Spartan saying "η ΤΑΝ Η ΕΠΙ ΤΑΣ (=i TAN I EPI TAS = with it or on it)" for motivation before a heavy set. It means do or die, for me a reminder to not pussy out before the last rep.

[francesco.decaro]

I have an issue with "dialing in" mentally before training. It usually takes me until the second squat workset before I really feel focused on the task at hand. (2nd and 3rd work sets always feel easier than the 1st)

However, My head is usually jumbled with unrelated things prior to the second squat workset. (I can over think things or have non-related issues flowing too much)

I was wondering if anyone had any insight on mental prep for training, or how to snap into the correct mindset faster.

Thank you in advance!

If needed: 9th week of NLP (5'10"/183lbs/ worksets: SQ 165/PR 80/DL 240/BP 100/PC 80)

How old are you?

[dalan]

Everyone has slow start days now and then but anyway....this is probably obvious and dumb but do you treat your warm ups like work sets? That is, set up the same, get as tight as you can, unrack with authority, brace the same, even if it's just an empty bar? Do you set up to squat 135 just as if were 500?

You likely do all that but mentioning it just in case. Just a thought.

[Jason Donaldson]

Everyone has slow start days now and then but anyway....this is probably obvious and dumb but do you treat your warm ups like work sets? That is, set up the same, get as tight as you can, unrack with authority, brace the same, even if it's just an empty bar? Do you set up to squat 135 just as if were 500?

You likely do all that but mentioning it just in case. Just a thought.

Definitely this. The phrase I use is, "Every rep a rehearsal."