Fear will beat down years of training in a matter of minutes. It will trap you in a corner and cause you to lose all recognition of yourself, your skill, your strength, and your will. Fear’s best friend is doubt. Together they can destroy your confidence and wrangle your strength until you feel as if you have none. Fear, if you let it, will destroy all you have worked for—it is an athlete’s worst enemy. Because of this, it is important to learn to get your mind as strong as your body. You accept that fear lingers and you control it. You face what you are not getting and what you are truly hungry for. You get serious about what you’re missing in order to motivate yourself to make the changes necessary to start getting it. You live in the moment of truth as an athlete who confronts your fears instead of allowing them to break you down. You become mentally strong. As much as I try, I cannot describe the success of mental training better than the great Tommy Kono: "Successful weightlifting is not in the body, it's in the mind. You have to strengthen your mind to shut out everything—the man with the camera, the laugh or cough in the audience. You can lift as much as you believe you can. Your body can do what you will it to do... I don't think of my opponent, even in a close contest. I never would say to myself, 'I hope he slips.' That's a negative attitude. Saying that, you're relying on outside help to win. Prayer doesn't help, either. That's also relying on outside help. The will has got to come from me. It's all up to me."



Obviously I will apply the mental game to weightlifting because that is what I do, but being a mind freak applies to all aspects of life with all sports. Not just lifting heavy things only to put them right back down.

The Mental Breakdown, AKA freaking out

Ahhh yes. The freak-outs. A result of fear of failure, freak-outs produce tension in our bodies that slow reflexes and neurological movement, which then causes our breathing to become short. Short and irregular breathing patterns causes a contraction in opposing muscle groups, which then reduces the quality of our technique and coordination. So, freak-outs due to fear of failure ultimately create an ugly cycle that causes what we most fear. It is when you clench your hands because you can’t stop shaking. Tears are streaming down your face, you can’t see yourself performing in your head, and you have lost all sense of reality. You stand up from your chair, chalk your hands, and walk on to the platform afraid of the bar. The weight feels heavy; you can’t remember how to snatch. You start thinking too much, you get trapped in confusion and you miss. And you miss again. Your coach is yelling at you to just lift the weight. The more you try the more you fail. The look on your coach’s face reminds you of your despair. Your technique is lost, and the misses have damaged your ability to relax. In these five minutes, your months of training have become meaningless. Your breathing is no longer controlled. You become broken, and your effort is destroyed.

Fear comes out of nowhere sometimes, blindsiding you when you have let your guard down and have forgotten to focus. Perhaps something is on your mind, maybe you don’t feel like training, or you are just simply afraid of a number. Fear sneaks in at the very moment you think you are in a position in which you don’t need or want to focus. At this time, the freak-out has won, and there is little opportunity to turn it back around. Then you remember you are an athlete. And you need to get things done. This is when you recognize that you need to keep fear out before it defeats you and your ability to focus. You are given a talent as an athlete. It is your job to develop it and watch it thrive by combining your physical strength with your mental strength. Don’t let fear of failure create a pattern in your training. Break the cycle, appreciate failure and use it to make you better. If your mind has the power to make you fail, then it definitely has the power to make you succeed.

As I have recently discovered, your physical strength can only get you so far. I had yet to tap into my mental strength and said freak-outs occurred in training more and more until I started to understand that something needed to be done. Unfortunately it took me going to a National competition and freaking out in front of hundreds of people to realize my mental stability as an athlete was a little underdeveloped. Fear and I had become great friends, and according to those closest to me, it was time I found a new friend.

Confidence

It is important to identify the need to understand your own purpose and your own goals and not someone else’s. You shouldn’t train everyday for someone else’s dreams, or for what someone else can snatch, or for how good a fighter someone else is. Instead have confidence in your own abilities. Have confidence in your improvement. Have faith in your skills as a great fighter. For how great your snatch is. For what an awesome floor routine you have. We can only ask to be the best that we can be with what we have to work with. We cannot be as good as someone else with what they have to work with. This continuous comparison can cause a lack of confidence in your own skills and potential. Now, this isn’t saying to not be competitive, or to not have goals and desire to be better than another. I am simply saying that you need to train for you. You need to beat your own best, you need to compete the best that you can and hope that your best is better than another’s. You cannot control what they do; you can only control what you do. When athletes lack confidence, they can never reach their full AKP.

I have learned that my fear took over because I lacked confidence in myself. My coach knew I could do it. My boyfriend knew I could do it. Everyone knew what I had before I knew what I had. I had to find my belief. I had to quit searching for my skills in my head, and realize that they were already embedded in my every move. I had to become confident in my strength, my technique, my talent, and myself so that I could move forward in my training. Once I faced fear, kicked its ass, and found that confidence, I finally realized my AKP. With confidence you are able to beat fear, overcome doubt, and start achieving your goals.

Mohammed Ali was known for his confidence. He was the greatest. He walked and talked his greatness. Everywhere he went, everything he did, he rapped how he was the best. He believed it. He knew it. He would shout to his opponents that he was the greatest, and he created a showboat of confidence. He never let fear overcome his poise, but rather would use it to put doubt into his opponents. Those he fought would be shadowed with doubt due to Ali using his overwhelming display of confidence to get under their skin. He was great not solely because of his skills as a boxer. He did something other boxers didn’t do—he mastered his mental toughness, assumed the highest degree of confidence, and in doing so, completely set himself apart from the weak-minded. His confidence enabled him to obtain the level of greatness that other boxers with equal strength could not achieve. With his mastery of confidence in his talent and endless hours of training came the ability to relax. Ali was so confident in his fighting and in himself that when it came to step into the ring, he was able to relax and do what he knew he could do. This is why he said he could float like a butterfly but sting like a bee. Appearing as a powerhouse of strength and confidence is all part of being an athlete, even when and if you don’t feel that way. 1



Relax

When you learn to master the ability to relax, it will enhance your strength, flexibility, energy, and focus. When you are tense, you waste energy and effort in even the simplest movements; your body becomes tense and you exert energy from muscles that aren’t even needed for the movement being made. If you have trained your body for a particular movement, then neurologically you should be able to repeat that movement over and over again without flaw. However, tension in the muscles, stress, and the inability to focus create obstacles, which decreases your ability to replicate the movement with ease. Once you have learned to control your degree of relaxation physically, mentally, and emotionally, you can notice when tension is developing and take the steps necessary to release it. Relaxation allows you to trust your strength, your skill, and your power. With this, the mind can rest, you can let go of clouding emotions, and you can surrender yourself to your athleticism and the movements already embedded in you.

Someone said (I don’t know who said it, but it wasn’t me), “Your ability to relax reflects your willingness to trust.” Trust in your abilities. Trust yourself. In doing so, you are not repressing your feelings, denying the anger, hurt, or whatever it is you may be feeling. Instead you are simply learning to maintain a level of physical relaxation in order to train and compete even under the most stressful conditions. Because you have much more control over your behavior while training than any emotions or thoughts you may be experiencing, it is better to accept them, understand they are lingering in your mind, maintain the highest level of relaxation possible, and focus on whatever it is you are doing. Keep your body relaxed so that said feelings cannot take over physically. Athletes, especially strength athletes, often have weakened effective strength due to their continuous muscle tension throughout their bodies. Effective strength comes when an athlete can relax certain muscle groups while simultaneously and consciously tensing only those needed to perform whatever movement they are trying to accomplish. If you have not mastered this skill, you have yet to tap into your full effective strength. As another anonymous person has said, “Greatness lies not in being strong but in the right use of strength,” and Bruce Lee put it best when he said, “The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.” 2

If you don’t believe me, try this: You will need a partner. Stand with your feet under your shoulders. Stick your arms out to your side (forming a T). Close your eyes and think about something terrible. Conjure up a mental imagery of all that is stressful in your life, someone who has hurt you, something that causes you pain, or the most heinous thing you can imagine. Basically fill your head with all that has been bothering you lately. You get the idea…

Before starting, tell your partner that you will want them to push down on your arms with as much force as possible, once you have told them that your mind is clouded with the bullshit, but at some random time so that you will be caught by surprise.
What happens?

Next, do the same thing, but this time put your mind at ease. Think about things that make you happy. Imagine times where you are most relaxed and where you feel most comfortable. Fill your head with all the good things in your life. The things that make you elated.

What happens?

Let me tell you what should happen. As your body becomes tenser due to the images clouding your mind, you have to apply more effort and your partner should be able to defeat you. Your arms will collapse, and you will lose your balance. However, when your mind is not clouded and your body is not tense with frustration, anger, or stress, you will be less likely to topple. Your strength will withstand.

Remember, when doing the exercise you cannot think about your partner who is about to push down on your arms at any second. You need to focus. As cheesy as this exercise may seem, it is a great lesson to show you the less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.


1. Despite what you may believe, I did not discover the greatness of confidence. Fortunately, I stumbled upon Dan Millman’s book, Body Mind Mastery, in which these ideas and thoughts came after reading it. Twice.
2. Again… I do know my stuff (now). But I did not know the importance of relaxation until Dan Millman came into my life. Credit goes where credit is due. The quotes were taken from his book as well, although I wish Mr. Lee had told me that himself.