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Are you aware of the role your emotions play in weightlifting? When you’re lifting weights, many critical factors will affect the outcome of your training. There’s the program you pick, there’s your dedication to the training, and there’s the time you dedicate to it.
But one of the most important factors of all, and something that often gets overlooked, is the importance of emotions. There are many reasons emotions are critical for weightlifting, which we will see now.
The Role Emotions Play in Getting Out to the Gym
Often you hear people talking about training as though it were a challenge or a chore. They talk about how crucial it is to have the ‘will’ to train and force yourself out of bed every day, even when you don’t want to.
They talk about ‘no pain, no gain,’ and ‘eye of the tiger.’
And that’s all good and well–the drive will certainly help you get to the gym and commit to your training program. But you know what’s even better?
To want to go to the gym. To feel as though any time you’re not training is time wasted, to be itching to get there at every opportunity. You can never underestimate the power of motivation.
The most successful athletes feel this way. This is how Arnold Schwarzenegger describes feelings. This gives you unstoppable motivation and the drive to achieve your goals.
If you’re going to reach this point, then that means you need to understand why it is your training and what appeals to you about the idea of working out. That means you need a vision and a goal, and you need to feel entirely motivated by that idea. Why do you want to get bigger and stronger? Now remind yourself when it’s time to go to the gym. Think about it while you workout.
The Role Emotions Play in Lifting More
This same drive and determination are also what will make your workouts even more effective. That’s because you’ll be able to dig deep to find that part of you that’s capable of lifting more, punching harder, and running further.
And to do this, you need to be once again able to tap into the reason for your training and remember why it’s worth so much to you.
This isn’t just a pep talk: it changes the entire way your central nervous system works. So when something matters to you, your body will pump out more adrenaline, more dopamine, more norepinephrine, and all these things will combine to give you more focus and more drive when you’re training.
The Last Word on the Critical Importance of Emotions
Did you know your emotions affect everything you do and especially weightlifting? They give you the drive you need to go to the gym and complete your workout. Also, they affect your gains. Emotions increase neurotransmitters and hormones that handle how your body changes and behaves.
So the next time you think about your progress and how you can get better, consider your emotions. Then you can use the positive ones to get better results from your workout and diet. What has been your experience with the role emotions play in weightlifting? Please respond in the comment section below.
