Ive begun to notice that i perform lifts the best when i just walk up to / or just jump under the bar and get’r done before i can think too much about it.
Take a clean or power clean for example…I’ll see those dudes that sit there for half a minute stooped/squatted over the bar mulling over in thier head the execution of the lift before they do it.
I for some reason seem to lose like half my damn thunder doing that crap and will very regularly screw up a lift. Im much more successful when i just walk up to that thing and yank it off the ground.
Or with squats, people will have this big looonnnng setup where they are grabbing the bar, planning and plotting, walk the bar out, take 3 big deeeeep breaths and then squat.
I ever do it that way i just get crumpled, doing heavy singles i gotta angry power leap underneath the bar and just get it done as fast as possible. I seem to lift more weight this way.
Not sure if its overthinking, losing tension or probably a combo of both. Kind of a funny brain game you need to play sometimes.
To each their own in my opinion. I personally have to get in the right mindset for certain lifts. I perform best when I can find that special thought that just makes me want to hulk out. Matt kroc has an article that somewhat pertains to what you’re thinking about…think it is titled “get your mind right”. Good read regardless
I do better by just doing it. If I think about it I might just give up and walk away.
I play pool and have to play those same brain games. Sometimes I just can’t afford to second guess myself. Usually I’ll step back and think for a bit before I set up. Once I get up there, I act before giving myself a chance. I guess you could say I get my mind right before I even get near the bar. Once I’m there, I just act.
I’ve noticed that I perform my dead-lifts better if I actually do them on time (immediately after 3 min rest is up) instead of any seconds afterwards. I think it has to do with the counting I do. It gets me into the mind-set at that exact moment I reach 60.
But, ya, lifting is a lot of mind-games for me. One day I’m pulling 295 dead-lifts as though they’re nothing and another day I have a hard time getting through all five. Or one day I “breeze” (as if that’s ever possible) through my squats, and another day the fifth rep of the last set is absolute torture.