How do you motivate yourself before a heavy lift? Do you take a strong hit of ammonia, yell as you approach the bar, and make as much noise as possible? Do you sit in the corner with headphones playing music in your ears, hood up, silently waiting for the bar to be loaded? Do you have someone smack you before you lift? Do you tell everyone to leave you alone, not to speak a word until after the lift?
In this video, Steve talks about motivation, and he begins by saying that you should try to keep an open mind about the topic. Every lifter is different and likes to get motivated or in the zone in their own way. For Steve, he likes loud music and ammonia. This may not be the case for you, but whatever it takes, you need to find it. Understanding what motivates you and what will ignite your adrenaline before a heavy lift is crucial to your success in powerlifting.
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As an example to demonstrate how effective finding your best source of motivation can be, Steve shares a story from roughly a year ago when he did a seminar with Josh Rohr. At the seminar, there was a group of lifters attempting max deadlifts. Out of the entire group, Steve saw four of the five lifters miss their heavy attempts. These lifts were not much of a jump from their previous PRs, and should have easily been achievable based on training indicators.
So Steve decided to intervene. He spoke to the group and told them to try again, but this time, no matter who was up to lift next, the focus was on that person. He told them to make as much noise as they could, to bring motivation, and to help the current lifter bring their adrenaline up to the top. The result? Each lifter came back and hit the lifts they had just missed — and some even made another jump and hit another PR.
As another example, Steve shares an even more recent story in which one of his lifters was struggling to get through a bench workout that she should've easily been able to complete. After encouragement from Steve, her next set was easy, and she told Steve it was exactly what she needed. In each of these cases, finding the right method of motivation was the difference between a missed lift and a successful training day.
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