5 Mental Tricks for Better Workout Results

“Light weight,” eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman says as he settles under a bar for a max-rep set of bench presses at 495 pounds. Little verbal cues like this represent the tip of the iceberg for what people have used to help them get through tough workouts. The brain is willing, after all, even if the flesh is weak. Our panel of experts chipped in on some of the psyche ups that they use to push the envelope in the gym.

“Visualization and verbal motivation combined are big for me when needing help to get through the last killer sprint of an interval workout or pushing out the last rep of a heavy set on a major lift. As for verbal aid, typically I use a song with some serious motivational lyrics. Right now it's a song by Eminem titled, "Til I  

Collapse" that gets me past that point. With visualization, when I am leaning out I picture how I need my midsection to look and when lifting for size I picture what my chest needs to look like.”

>> Use a Goal: “Several female clients I train tell me that to help them bust it out they tend to picture how they are going to need to look in there bathing suit for a vacation that’s coming up.”

Jim Ryno, CPT, is the owner of LIFT Studios, a private personal-training facility in New Jersey.

“When powerlifting, technique is paramount so I train every set with a consistent series of steps whether I'm warming up with the bar or performing a max-effort set. This would be similar to the way a baseball player like Ichiro approaches every at bat with an identical ritual of movements before he's ready for the pitch. This way, when performing a max-effort set, I'm not distracted. I'm focused on every step from approaching the bar, gripping, positioning, breathing and then performing the lift. I've done it exactly the same hundreds of times before and the max is no different.”

Stan “Rhino” Efferding is an IFBB Professional Bodybuilder and World Record powerlifter. His two-hour training and instructional video, “Proving It,” is available at www.ProvingItDVD.com. For more with Stan, you can visit his web page at www.stanefferding.com. 

“In my hardest set, I’ll focus on my end goal -- why I need that rep. Whether I’m doing what it takes to win the next show or leave no excuses not to save a life.”

Nick Bolton, NCSF-CPT, NASM-CPT, EMT

“Essentially, mentally rehearsing, or imaging, has been proven to positively influence activities such as free throw shooting and piano playing, devoid of actually physically practicing either. Studies show that mental rehearsal can actually improve strength as well. ‘We conclude that the mental training employed by this study enhances the cortical output signal, which drives the muscles to a higher activation level and increases strength,’ the abstract states. I suspect that confidence levels heighten when mentally rehearsing desired outcomes as well, and so there seems to be a physical and mental shift with mental imagery. So, see the set being accomplished before actually doing it, especially on those tough sets. Every edge matters.”

Greg Chertok, M.Ed., CC-AASP, is a sport psychology consultant with Telos Sport Psychology Coaching (www.telos-spc.com).

“I like to find what drives myself or my client at the time. For instance, I was talking with a client yesterday and hit a hot topic in his business. He got so fired up that he had one of his best lifting sessions. It doesn't only have to be gym motivated. Maybe you get someone excited about their kid’s baseball game, a trip they are going on, a hot topic in the news, whatever. There are many ways to spike someone’s adrenaline. Find it and go with it. It may surprise you what motivates them, or yourself!”

Justin Grinnell, CSCS, is the owner of State of Fitness in East Lansing, Michigan. Justin received his Bachelor of Science in kinesiology from Michigan State University specializing in exercise science, fitness leadership, athletic administration, and health promotion in 2004. He is a certified personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), and the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA). He also holds a certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and is CrossFit Level I certified.