In my December article, I shared with you some nuggets of information about how to find a take-away message, even during the shittiest of lifting days. I am hopeful a number of you have been practicing the art of finding a take-away message and are noticing the benefits of doing so. I applaud you and give you much credit.

I am now going to encourage you in this article to turn that skill up a notch: I challenge you to practice being mindful of your self-talk on a continuous basis so that you can consistently reframe your thoughts, not just once or twice during a lifting session. This will help you not only to live a balanced life but improve your lifting performance as well.

Why Bother?

As a reminder, cognitive reframing has to do with examining your self-talk and substituting it with more accurate thoughts. Self-talk is what you say to yourself in your head. If I could audio-record every thought zipping through your head and play it back, I would be listening to your inner self-talk. When your self-talk tries to convince you of inaccurate information (e.g., “You suck at lifting, you should be able to clean that, why can’t you lift that today”), it negatively impacts your mood. A negative mood is not going to help you lift. A positive mood will. This is because a positive mood has been linked to improved physical functioning and a reduction in pain perception. So, learning how to alter your thoughts so that you can personally enhance your mood is not only like harnessing a superpower, but is pretty freaking useful in the world of weightlifting, too.
 
The Effects of Your Thoughts on Your Mood

Our thoughts, feelings, and actions are directly connected. If I approach the bar thinking, “I’m not going to hit this. There’s way too much weight on this bar. It feels so heavy today,” my body is going to respond as it has been wired to respond and I will likely become anxious, deflated, and less confident. As a result, there’s a very good chance that I’m going to miss that lift solely based on that attitude and mood.

The effects of self-talk are also cyclic. Once I miss that lift, I’m likely going to experience more thoughts that are going to reinforce my initial negative thoughts, such as, “See, I knew it. That bar is too heavy. I should be able to lift that, but I can’t; I must just suck at this.” This is only going to further impact my mood, which is going to result in my performance tanking even more.

*Record Scratch* (Quick Disclaimer)

Before I go any further, let me say this: I am aware that your thoughts are not the only factor influencing your lifts. That said, it cannot be denied that how you mentally and emotionally approach the bar impacts how you perform. As a psychologist, thoughts and feelings are my jam. So let’s keep going, while simultaneously acknowledging the benefits of diet, sleep, reducing stress, and other factors.

Learning to Reframe

Getting in the habit of continuously being mindful of your thoughts, stopping your thoughts in their tracks when they are unrealistic, and reframing them is one of the best approaches you can take every day that you lift. Actually, this is probably one of the best approaches to take every day you simply live, but let’s make this sound less daunting and start with a focus only on using it to improve your lifts for now.
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have to reframe my thoughts every single gym session. It’s a constant back-and-forth in my head. Sometimes it’s a little annoying, and it takes a ton of practice, but by golly, when done well, that shit really works!

If you are new to this, start by learning how to observe your thoughts and notice the effects they can have on your feelings and actions. Try to do this at least five times a day at first. Then increase that to 10 times per day. Then perhaps at least twice per hour; so on and so forth.
Recommended Structure

Here’s a structure you can use:
 

Thought	Feeling	Behavior/Consequences

 
Example:

Thought	Feeling	Behavior/Consequences
I should have been able to make that lift. I’m going to embarrass myself so badly at my next meet	Deflated, upset	Appearing angry, people are avoiding me, Coach is becoming annoyed by my behavior

 
This example lays out how my thoughts are not only impacting my own feelings and behaviors but other people’s reactions to me as well. This is something to also consider, because our thoughts and feelings are influenced by our environment, too. If your coach is feeling annoyed by your behavior, he/she is probably going to treat you a little differently, which you are going to pick up on, and it will likely impact your thoughts and feelings further.
 
Therefore, catching and reframing your thoughts so you don’t spiral out of control is really important. Example:
 

Thought	Feeling	Behavior/Consequences
I should have been able to make that lift. I’m going to embarrass myself so badly at my next meet	Deflated, upset	Appearing angry, people are avoiding me, Coach is becoming annoyed by my behavior

 
REFRAME: “Okay, I really would have liked to have made that lift, but it didn’t happen. I could sit here and fuss about it, or I could choose a better attitude. Perhaps I could try to learn what happened there instead.”

Immediately following that reframe, it would make sense if I noticed a positive shift in my mood and behavior:
 

Thought	Feeling	Behavior/Consequences
Okay, I really would have liked to have made that lift, but it didn’t happen. I could sit here and fuss about it, or I could choose a better attitude. It would have been nice to make that lift, but I didn’t, so now it would be wise to try to learn what happened there.	Optimistic, motivated	Practicing visualizing my next lift, people genuinely encouraging me, Coach offering feedback

 
The Importance of Realistic Reframes

Reframes should serve as that realistic part of your brain that finds the balance. It should make sure you don’t go too far in either direction. For me, the realistic part of my brain often has to work overtime to keep me focused and balanced, because I tend to try to be a little too Pollyannaish about things when reframing, which is not good either. When I’m too positive, I’m in essence lying to myself, which sets me up for failure and disappointment.
Allow me to demonstrate the back and forth process by dialoguing for you an exact conversation I had with myself this morning at the gym (and yes, I do literally sound this cheesy when I talk to myself):
Positive Me: You’ve got this!
Negative Me: Why did I just say that? I literally have no idea if I have this.
Realistic Me: Fair. But I don’t know for a fact that I don’t have this either. And thinking negatively is definitely not going to help. So how about this: I’m pretty freaking sure I’ve got this. Even though I took a few weeks off since my last meet, I’m doing my best to jump back in, and Coach would not have programmed these weights if he didn’t think I could do them.
Negative Me: Coach probably remembers when I was strong.
Positive Me: Oh, stop. I am strong.
Realistic Me: Okay, I’m definitely not as strong as I’d like to be, but either way, I’ve hit this weight many, many times before, and it’s really only 82% of my PR.
Negative Me: 82% is still really high!
Realistic Me: 82% is high but doable, and I’m planning to do it today. And if I don’t make it, I’ll work to figure out what went wrong and learn from it.

So as you see, it’s not just all negative-to-realistic thoughts all day. It sometimes bouncing from negative to somewhat overly positive (and therefore still unrealistic) to appropriate and balanced. And it never stops. My realistic mind is continuously keeping me in check. And as a result, my mood and behaviors are noticeably impacted – normally for the better!

Challenge Yourself to Give It A Go

If you’re thinking, “Oh, come on, I really could care less about tracking my thoughts. I just want to lift. I don’t need some kind of homework assignment,” that’s fair. But I have to assume you are someone who is seeking to better yourself on the platform. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be dedicated to reading a lifting journal. Am I right?

I’m not lying when I tell you mindful cognitive reframing can make a positive change, and not just when it comes to lifting weights. Identifying your thoughts and shaping them so that they positively impact your feelings will only put you in a better mindset. A better mindset typically equals better lifts. And if your lifts are still not so great, then you get to practice the art of finding a take-away message, as discussed last month. Hurray!

I really do hope you will give it a shot. It’s something that takes time but can be quickly learned. It’s something that takes effort but reaps rewards. Make it an experiment; see what it’s like. For all you know, having this skill could be what makes the difference between you and your competition at the next meet.