Deadlifts....a mental approach for success. Time to get angry

[induced_drag]

As many of you know, I have been focusing on increasing my deadlifts lately. At the point I am at in my training, the majority of any increase will come from two main areas:

-Increasing my efficiency through form changes.
-Removing or overcoming mental blocks.

I have been really putting a lot of thought into this, and feel it might apply to just about anyone so I thought I would share it. I am also interested in others thoughts on the topic. I also think this information can be helpful to anyone at any level in their training.


Of the two areas I referenced above, I have come to realize just how large an impact the mental portion can have. I feel this is even more true (and more critical) on the deadlift than either of the other 'big 3'.

Squats and bench are similar in that they both start with a lowering of the weight. (the eccentric). This portion of the lift by its nature does a lot to prime the body to perform the lift. The 'stretch reflex' has also been shown to aid in recruiting muscles to fire for the concentric portion. Regardless of your mental state, just lowing the weight is already priming your body to lift it. Now add to this the inherent danger of each exercise. On both exercises, your body 'feels' the weight prior to the lift. Your body, in both movements, is trapped under it. This can activate your 'fight or flight' response and help focus your body to move the weight like your life depends on it. (at times it really does )

I am not saying that mental preparation does not come into play on squats and bench, but for me it is very different. Bench and squats are almost mechanical for me. I picture myself as a machine. Hydraulics power me through the range of motion. Once set into motion, the lift is almost all mechanical. I do not find myself getting emotional prior to the lift. Instead, a calm centering comes over me. The only exception is setting my the bar into my back on a heavy squat. I sometimes get aggressive with that. But once un-racked, it is just auto pilot.


I noticed deadlifts are VERY different for me. With the weight just lying there on the ground, there is nothing telling my body I have to lift it. No lowering of the weight, preparing me to drive it up. There is no danger if I cant lift it, I can just walk away from it. It does not care....it will happily just sit there on the floor all day long. Giving this lots of thought I realized that without know it, I prepare myself totally different to deadlift then I do my other lifts.

With deadlifts, I get ANGRY. I mean downright pissed off. I get mad at the plates, I get mad at the bar. Prior to a larger lift, I work myself up into a frenzy inside. I pace the floor while in my mind picture some of the most gruesome thoughts. I personify the weights. I hate them. Just getting near to them, my breathing becomes more and more shallow. I can feel pressure build in my abdomen. When I am ready to lift, it is personal to me. The weight is something I hate. I want to defeat it. I want to rip its limbs off and leave it bleeding in the corner as I stand over it.

This may sound a little weird and I almost feel funny sharing it. What struck me, is this is profoundly different then I approach my other lifts which are much more mechanical in nature. I am pretty low-key in the gym. I dont make a lot of noise, or yell or scream. But at times, I growl and grunt when I deadlift. It is the release of the anger in me and it comes out without me even realizing it. I even swear at the weights at times at the end of a set. I dont even know I am doing it. I will record my sets and watch it later. I have to laugh at myself telling the weight to 'f-off' on the last rep.


Where am I going with this?..... Well realizing this, I have been able to harness it and am still looking to improve upon it. The effects have been pretty amazing. In 5-6 weeks I will have added close to 60lbs on my estimated 1rm max working this. (I have not been doing singles in my training) I started out with a 585x3 rep working set (620 1rm). That was right in line with my best single of 625. I am now repping 585x5 (660 1rm) and next week pretty sure I will get 585x6 (680 1rm) The only difference is my mindset and enhancing the things I already did to psyche myself up to lift it.

I dont see myself applying these things to my other lifts as the deadlift is just different. Like I said, it just lays there and does not give a sh!t. It is not going to help you lift it. You just have to give it no choice but to move!

[Jtbny]

For me this lift involves the most "mental readiness" than the other two you mentioned. I've failed on bench before and just dusted my self off and attacked the same weight again but with deadlifts, if/when I fail on a rep it gets into my head and becomes almost like an immovable object for me. Recently I've been able to "trick" myself by loading the bar with smaller plates or skipping a missed weight but I'd agree that it takes more than just pure strength sometimes to pick the bar up.

I fear failing on squats so that has been able to drive me through weight that I might not have been able to do otherwise if that makes sense.

[NorwichGrad]

Good $hit, ID! Thanks for sharing..

Yes, you are absolute right about the biggest aspect of any lift: The mental side.

From a mechanical standpoint, the deadlifter must accelerate right from GO!!! Unlike the other competition lifts where the lifter has time to 'ready, aim, fire!' There is no 'priming.' Maximum force must be applied at time 0.0001 seconds.

My second weightlifting coach was injured 2 years ago from jerking. Any overhead position was painful for him. He ended up getting surgery. While he was nursing his shoulder, he took up powerlifting. He had challenges increasing his DL (sumo style) weight. The reason: Because he (just like most weightlifters) was used to controlled and deliberate first pull in the snatch and clean.

A powerlifting coach (former mod here) coached him, and was told basically what you discovered. You gotta get super duper aggressive right from the very beginning, even if it means getting pissed off at the world.

[peacesells]

Interesting that you can get yourself angry at the plates. I can't imagine every getting myself angry at the plates unless I stubbed my toe against them.

I'm just not built like that I guess.

[otiskii]

I agree. It just lays there and dares you to pick it up. Getting mad seems reasonable. I've seen a lot of guys doing this sort of thing over the years but they are usually loud on all their lifts. I agree too on the other lifts with the weight coming down on you. I've always thought it's "get off of me!" On DLs it just stares at you and says "I bet you can't lift me". Good reason to get mad and prove it wrong. Sounds like you're making great gains. Keep it up.

[thelojones]

I picture the deadlift weights as the baby jesus, lying all peaceful in his cradle, 300lbs, doesn't even know any words yet. He has on a sweet three wolves howling at the moon onesie. When all of a sudden the ground erupts underneath him and zombies start pulling him down in to the ground and I'm like oh chit i gotta save the baby jesus!!!

Serious though, i find the deadlifts to be the most mentally difficult and I'm gonna try getting angry at them next session

[drudixon]

Id, have you tried ramping? (rolling to start the lift? )

[Garage Rat]

Getting mental is a great deadlift motivational technique.
When competing in PL i would imagine a car rolled on top of my girl friend and if i couldn't lift it off her she would die and i would never see her again.
So i had to get the lift no matter what, there was this sense of urgency when i grasped the bar.
I blocked out everything around me to focus on the task at hand.
I missed very few lifts in competition with this imagery.
Of course everyone will be different but it does help.

[Plateauplower]

I get angry at many of my lifts, srs. I'm not slamming plates around or anything, but my heavy sets to me are a competition between me and the number of reps I want to get with that weight. If I don't get them it wins, if I get my reps or more I win.

Deadlift is the most mental for the reason you stated. There is no doubt getting psyched up for the lift is going to make or break the set training near the threshold of your limits. I remember reading about using that as a periodization technique for power lifters they would have their "light" day basically trying to lift without getting psyched up for the lifts.

Good thought provoking thread.

[induced_drag]

if/when I fail on a rep it gets into my head a

I fear failing on squats so that has been able to drive me through weight that I might not have been able to do otherwise if that makes sense.

Yep...me too. failing on deads can screw with my head too! I usually have to skip past the failure to move on.

Good $hit, ID! Thanks for sharing..

Yes, you are absolute right about the biggest aspect of any lift: The mental side.

Thanks man. I know you study many of the aspects of lifting and appreciate your viewpoint. Funny thing is I just put it all together just how different deads are for me mentally.

You mentioned 'exploding' on deads. I have never been able to do that. I like to feel the weight first and then pull it. Once I can feel it, I like to try to accelerate through the top. Some people comment that my lifts look a little strange sometime how I end up accelerating through the lift. Just been the way I always have done them.

Interesting that you can get yourself angry at the plates. I can't imagine every getting myself angry at the plates unless I stubbed my toe against them.

I'm just not built like that I guess.

Try it. No one has to know you are doing it. Get pissed off and try to focus it!

I've seen a lot of guys doing this sort of thing over the years but they are usually loud on all their lifts. .

Yea....that is NOT me. I am pretty low-key. I hardly make any noise while training. Deads though, I will get emotional and angry and it just comes out. This is a vid from the first time I ever deadlifted 600. It was very emotional for me. You can see after lifting it, I just held it....in my mind telling it how I beat it. I even yelled an expletive at it! I am a little embarrassed to post it, but it is a great example of the anger coming out inside me when I lift.

Dont laugh too hard



In contrast here is a fairly heavy bench and you can see I am pretty mellow. (I think this was my first ever 405 bench) I was not fired up at all. Just centered. Hell I am wearing flip flops

Id, have you tried ramping? (rolling to start the lift? )

I have not. I dont like the idea. I like to load the bar slow at the bottom and dont think introducing a roll in the bar would benefit me. I have read both sides of it, but I dont have any trouble engaging the back and lats. My back stays perfectly flat even on a failed attempt. I just never saw how that would help me. (Plus I dont like banging my damn shins!!! )

Getting mental is a great deadlift motivational technique.
When competing in PL i would imagine a car rolled on top of my girl friend and if i couldn't lift it off her she would die and i would never see her again.
.

I used to use imagery like that, but I have gone to more aggressive ones in my quest to tap into more primal urges. Saving someone is quite a passive thing. I turn it into something quite a bit darker and nothing to do with survival or saving....it is more hate filled rage Boy just reading that makes me sound a little nuts!

[peacesells]

I've definitely been emotional AFTER a successful lift. Especially if I've broken through a plateau. But that is a reaction to a true emotion. Conjuring up an emotion out of nothing...would seem tough to me and I doubt I could reproduce the effect consistently.

Again, we are all wired different.

[pharmamarketer]

Very true but squats fuk with my head more than anything. Lowering yourself, with what feels like a house on your back, is difficult for me. I have missed more squat lifts than any other one.

[drudixon]

Very true but squats fuk with my head more than anything. Lowering yourself, with what feels like a house on your back, is difficult for me. I have missed more squat lifts than any other one.

agreed. Dead lift goes south, just let go. Squat, not so much. luckily after failing a few times I'm more comfortable how to ditch the weight.

[postman123]

agreed. Dead lift goes south, just let go. Squat, not so much. luckily after failing a few times I'm more comfortable how to ditch the weight.

I'm doing deads tomorrow. I'll see if I can work up a little anger.

Not to get off the track too much but learning to fail on a squat is something I need to do. I'm more afraid of failing on the squat than any other lift. Probably because of that I get pretty psyched and focused before squatting for a PR or a +set. I get psyched and focused for a max pull as well but that element of fear that goes along with going down into the hole with a "house" on my back really helps to channel my energy.

[induced_drag]

Conjuring up an emotion out of nothing...would seem tough to me and I doubt I could reproduce the effect consistently.

Again, we are all wired different.

Yes, that is the hard part. It has been something I have been working on. It is not immediate nor does it seem to work equally every time. It takes a lot of effort. I have found something that for me seems to be working. I try to take myself to a place, a real event which enraged me. This is kinda tough, as I dont get mad very often. In fact, I have only found one memory that seems to work for me. I try to put myself in that place. It takes a good bit of concentration and effort. I then focus on the weight and make it part of what I am dealing with. It becomes my adversary.

I know this sound all a little stupid, but adding 60lbs in less then 2 month to a already pretty high deadlift is pretty hard to argue with. That kind of progress for someone where I am at in my lifts is pretty unheard of.

It is still something I am working on though.

Very true but squats fuk with my head more than anything. Lowering yourself, with what feels like a house on your back, is difficult for me. I have missed more squat lifts than any other one.

Yep...that is my point. Squats and bench both put your mind in a danger situation. They apply force to you before you even begin. There is no such threat with a deadlift and why I started trying to create my own.

As for squats, I lately have been squatting with only oly style stands (no safety cage). This kind of amps up a bit for me the fact that I have to get the weight up . I will get a spotter if I go down to a single though. Hate saying it out loud, but I have never ditched a squat. Worst case, my back is generally strong enough that I can let them get fairly ugly and still get the weight up. Not something I like to do either .

[mirroroferised]

Good post induced_drag. I usually get mad at the bar after my lifts so there's a good chance I'm doing it backwards Seriously though, the overall point of your post is great though. I know for me I am way too deep in my own head with most of my big lifts. It's amazing how mental this really is.

[cockywop]

Check out how Dan Green does it @ 1:55. He does a little mini pull to get the feel of the weight.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_uPPqpy1L4

[silverlightning]

its hard to really get mentally angry at the gym i'm going to right now b/c i'm the only one that dead lifts over 3 PPS during the time frame i go and it seems people staring at me and i feel self conscious. it's worse now that i wear a headband due to my head sweats a lot. gonna have to DL at a different gym so i can get the mental mind frame again. just one of the mental barriers i'm going through right now.

[Plateauplower]

It works, I dont know if it was all anger, but I got myself worked up a little more than normal for my heavy set and busted a 395x3 sticking point to pull 405X4 this morning.

[ajdahlheimer]

Hey ID--in that 405 bench vid, is there a particular reason you lower the bar to your chest so slowly? Just wondering if that is advantageous to your technique or just the way you lift heavy? Looks like you could have gotten 420 in my opinion.

[induced_drag]

It works, I dont know if it was all anger, but I got myself worked up a little more than normal for my heavy set and busted a 395x3 sticking point to pull 405X4 this morning.

AWESOME!!! That is a pretty huge jump if you were at a sticking point. I agree....I cant be sure why or what at times, but I wont argue with it. I have just come to realize that deadlifts take a different mental approach for me. I am glad the approach seems to work for others!

Hey ID--in that 405 bench vid, is there a particular reason you lower the bar to your chest so slowly? Just wondering if that is advantageous to your technique or just the way you lift heavy? Looks like you could have gotten 420 in my opinion.

That was my first ever 405 bench so I was cautious. I dont push my 1rms very much. I generally wait till I am well past where I should be able to get something....then I do it.

But with benching in particular, I have to be very careful because of my shoulders. I really have no place benching heavy. I have to maintain a very specific groove to bench and not hurt myself. I cant afford to break form at all. Even with lighter weights like 225, I cant afford to get that fatigued and break form. Also I just dont feel comfortable with that much weight, lowering it fast. I pause anything heavy regardless. Focus on groove is very important to me.

Here is a vid 6 months later at a bench only meet. I got 420 fairly well. I went for the meet win which needed 440. I probably let my competitive side (and ego) get to me. 430 would have been a better pic. I missed the 440 and did not win the meet. I dont feel bad losing it though. The guy that beat me is a one trick pony. (he can only bench) He is my weight, but has spindle legs. I think he has trouble squatting 315 and I out deadlift him by 150lbs.

It is stupid for me to go to a bench only meet, (as it is not a great lift for me) but it was all in good fun and my friend asked me to represent his gym in it and I went to support other friends.

I have not benched heavy (over 365) since the meet which was about 9 months ago. Heavy benching and my shoulders do not get along. I have been working light bench for months now, just repping with 315 and not going above. When I get ready to train for a meet, I will have to bring heavy benching back in.

[ajdahlheimer]

That vid was nice and slow too. Next time I bench heavy I'm going to try that. I've never bounced or anything, but I think I have always brought the bar down significantly faster than you in your vids.

[induced_drag]

That vid was nice and slow too. Next time I bench heavy I'm going to try that. I've never bounced or anything, but I think I have always brought the bar down significantly faster than you in your vids.

Comp lifts require a pause and then you are given the press command. This takes away a lot of power compared to a touch and go where you use the stretch reflex.

Learning to pause bench, I feel for me it is all about building tension in my back. As I lower the weight I am trying to support the weight on my lats.. My back is pretty well developed and I can push against it pretty well.

To be honest, I am not comfortable going faster on heavy stuff....so it works well for me.

If you do a good elbow tuck you should be able to utilize your back size. You are a big dude. Practice on lower weights. It helped me press more weight when I learned to use my back more.

[ken01976]

On.

[silverlightning]

you may like this video.

[thelojones]

I picture the deadlift weights as the baby jesus, lying all peaceful in his cradle, 300lbs, doesn't even know any words yet. He has on a sweet three wolves howling at the moon onesie. When all of a sudden the ground erupts underneath him and zombies start pulling him down in to the ground and I'm like oh chit i gotta save the baby jesus!!!

OK this has been bothering me, i spent a good 4 minutes coming up with this and no one seemed to appreciate it. Are you all offended i talked about the baby jesus or just not fans of Talladega Nights?