Hi Everyone

Today's blog is on meditation and lifting. I will discuss how I've dealt with anxiety through different forms of meditation and how you can use meditation in your lifting practice to learn how to deal with anxiety before your workout or in between sets.

Allow me to give you a scenario

It's your deadlift day and either you or your trainer have programmed a 1 rep max that will be your all time best. How do you approach the bar? Are you cool or anxious? If you're anxious, how do you deal with anxiety and the "butterflies" in your stomach? Are you light on your feet or are you breathing heavy?

Anxiety has been a problem for me personally since I was a kid. Whether it was presenting a group project, acting in theater plays as a teenager and young adult or currently in my powerlifting practice. As a teenager, I would practice my monologues and lines for plays nonstop and the day of the performance I would mess lines up or just freeze up in general. What changed that is the fact that I searched breathing techniques and asked my acting coaches for any advice on how to deal with anxiety and I stumbled upon meditation which helped in keeping a calm state.

What I would do on the day of a show is I would find a private space where I can be alone and let out my emotions through meditation and visualization. I would close my eyes and see myself on stage going through a long monologue or a scene that I practiced, I would practice this for 10-15 minutes and by the time it was showtime, my body was calm and I was in the zone.

Back to the scenario from before, How would you handle getting on a platform before an all time deadlift PR? I handle it by "finding my zone" . I compare it to a basketball player getting "in the zone" . The basketball feels small, the basket looks huge and everything is effortless.

I practice meditation daily for my own personal calmness living in NYC, to quiet the noise when I'm lifting and practice stillness. I have to be at my most confident on my lifting days and my confidence is through my stillness.

Here are some forms of meditation in which you can do further research and practice on your own time

Mindfulness Meditation-This involves paying attention to your thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations in the present moment.

Mantra Meditation-Repeating a sound, word or phrase that can help in making a scenario into reality.

Movement Meditation- This is relaxing physical activity like walking, yoga or taichi to help you focus on the body and breath.

Visualization Meditation- Using mental imagery to evoke a sense of peace and relaxation.

These are all forms of meditation that I practiced and have helped in creating stillness and positive reinforcement in my lifting.

I lean towards mantra and visualization because I'm a big believer in the transferring of energy and the words you say can eventually lead to the world you create.

During a heavy set or a 1 rep set. I sit by the weight and I just either stare into the distance or close my eyes and breathe, while I'm breathing I'm visualizing lifting the weight for that one rep max and feeling that sense of accomplishment.

My way of meditating or meditation in general doesn't guarantee that you'll accomplish your goals every time but it allows you to attack the weight with a sense of calm and positive belief.

I hope this helped and will lead you to do further research and practice some form of meditation to help with your lifting and also in life.

Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you learned something.

Always remember the winner is YOU.

If you want to continue reading, please read my past work and also be on the lookout every Monday for a new blog.