The mental aspect of Olympic weightlifting is often overlooked, but it plays a crucial role in helping you to reach your personal goals and to achieve optimal performance. Because mindset is such a determining factor within the sport, we want to share with you ways you can improve your mental approach, and how you can incorporate mental training into your training routine. Let’s do this…

How many times have you stood at the barbell ready to approach a big lift with nerves and adrenaline running wild, and no idea or belief that you can actually achieve the lift ahead? We’ve all been there. These such feelings are why your mental attitude towards OW are so important. The mental approach to weightlifting includes building confidence and self-belief, dealing with nerves and anxiety, developing a positive mindset, and setting and achieving goals. When weightlifters are confident and believe in themselves, they can approach their lifts with a positive attitude, which can lead to better performance. But, we’re afraid to say, without this, there will be no new PBs on the horizon for you, my friend… (After all, no lift has ever been successful without staying focused, right?)

The good news is that there are several techniques that us as weightlifters can use to improve our mindset when Olympic weightlifting. Such techniques include the following…

- Visualisation and imagery: Picturing yourself successfully performing a lift before you execute it.

- Positive self-talk: Talking to yourself in a positive and encouraging way.

- Mindfulness and breathing exercises: Controlling your thoughts and emotions by focusing on the present moment.

- Journaling and reflection: Writing down thoughts, feelings, and experiences to help identify patterns, set goals, and track progress.

As a weightlifter, you should make mindset training a consistent part of your training routine, and set aside dedicated time to practise mental techniques in order to help you focus and prepare for your lifts. If you’re a beginner to this practice, try adding this in as part of your warm-up or cool-down routine to ensure that during every training session, you’re working on your mental approach as well as your physical.

Overall, the mental aspect of Olympic weightlifting is crucial for achieving optimal performance and reaching personal goals. By implementing the techniques discussed in this article, you will be able to improve your mindset within the sport which will lead you to higher degrees of confidence in your ability, more self-belief, and you’ll be able to deal with nerves and anxiety in a constructive way. Remember, mindset training should be consistent and integrated into your training in order to achieve the best results.

If mindset is something that you struggle with, you might benefit from a coach who can work 1-to-1 with you to discuss your training, analyse your lifts, and create personalised techniques with you to assist you on your lifting journey. Take a look at the 1-to-1 online lifting program that we offer here.