Mindset Tips for Competition Day: A Mental Performance Consultant’s Guide for Olympic Weightlifters with Tom Smalley
When it comes to Olympic weightlifting, competition day is about much more than raw strength and technical skill—it’s also about mastering your mindset. As a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC), I’ve worked with athletes to help them harness the power of mental fitness, turning pre-competition jitters into a source of focus and confidence. Here are three practical mindset tips tailored specifically for weightlifters to excel on competition day.
1. Engage All Five Senses with Mental Imagery
Mental Imagery is a cornerstone of mental fitness and a proven strategy to enhance performance. On competition day, don’t just imagine the technical aspects of your lift—engage all five senses to create a vivid and immersive mental image. This approach makes your visualization more powerful and prepares your mind and body for success.
Here’s how to engage your senses during visualization:
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- Sight: Picture the competition platform, the barbell, and even the crowd around you. Notice the colors, the lighting, and the position of the weights.
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- Sound: Hear the clank of the plates, the cues from the referee, and the noise of the audience or your coach’s encouraging words.
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- Touch: Imagine the grip of the barbell in your hands, the feel of the chalk, and the tension in your muscles as you execute the lift.
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- Smell: Recall the distinct scent of the gym or competition area—be it the chalk dust or the metallic smell of the weights.
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- Taste: Though less obvious, this sense can help. Imagine the taste of your pre-competition snack or the hydration drink you had earlier—it adds to the realism of your mental imagery.
Pro Tip: Perform this sensory visualization as part of your warm-up or just before stepping onto the platform. Pair it with deep breathing to further enhance your focus and readiness.
2. Practice Controlled Breathing for Focus
Weightlifting demands both physical intensity and mental precision, and nerves can sometimes disrupt this balance. Controlled breathing techniques can calm your mind, reduce stress, and improve focus under pressure. Use box breathing or diaphragmatic breathing to center yourself before each attempt.
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- Box Breathing Technique: Inhale for four counts, hold your breath for four counts, exhale for four counts, and hold your breath again for four counts. Repeat for 1–2 minutes.
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- Diaphragmatic Breathing: Breathe deeply into your belly, ensuring your abdomen expands as you inhale and contracts as you exhale.
Pro Tip: Combine controlled breathing with a power phrase, such as “strong and capable,” to create a ritual that enhances focus and confidence.
3. Cultivate a Present-Moment Mindset
Weightlifting is a sport of moments. Dwelling on a missed attempt or overthinking your next lift can derail your mental game. Instead, adopt a present-moment focus to keep your energy and attention grounded in what’s immediately in front of you.
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- How to Stay Present: Use mindfulness techniques like anchoring yourself to physical sensations (e.g., the feel of your feet on the platform) or directing your attention to a single cue, such as “drive through the heels” or “lock out.”
Pro Tip: Establish a consistent routine between attempts—such as chalking your hands, adjusting your belt, and visualizing success—to reinforce your focus and prevent distractions.
Avoiding Harmful Phrases: “Don’t Think About It” and “Turn Your Brain Off”
On competition day, well-meaning advice like “Don’t think about it” or “Just turn your brain off” can actually backfire. These phrases dismiss the importance of managing thoughts effectively, leaving athletes to suppress their emotions or overcompensate by ignoring their preparation. Suppression often amplifies stress rather than alleviating it.
Instead, try these counter-tips:
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- Acknowledge Your Thoughts: Accept pre-lift nerves as natural and redirect your energy to focus on what you can control, like your breathing or cues for technique.
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- Replace Negative with Constructive Cues: Swap vague advice with actionable focus points like, “Stay tight through the core” or “Smooth pull, explosive finish.”
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- Embrace Mindfulness: If your mind wanders, gently guide it back to the present moment by focusing on the feel of the barbell or the rhythm of your pre-lift routine.
Final Thoughts
Success in Olympic weightlifting isn’t just about physical preparation; it’s about building the mental resilience and focus to deliver when it matters most. By incorporating visualization, controlled breathing, and a present-moment mindset into your competition day strategy, you’ll be equipped to tackle the mental challenges of the sport and perform at your peak.
Your mental game is just as trainable as your physical one. Consider working with a Certified Mental Performance Consultant to further develop these strategies and elevate your performance on and off the platform.
Nutrition Tips For Meet Week with Estelle
Nutrition plays a pivotal role in athletic performance, and meet week is not the time to experiment with new strategies or foods. If your body weight is on track, it’s best to continue eating as usual without making significant changes to your meals or meal timing. Focus on balanced meals that include protein, carbohydrates, and fats at each eating occasion.
If weight manipulation is necessary during meet week, there are several approaches you can use to ensure you make weight. The most common methods are water cutting, food volume manipulation, and sodium intake adjustments.
Water Cutting
A water cut involves overhydrating your body for several days, which signals your body to flush water at a faster rate. By decreasing water intake closer to weigh-ins, you can achieve an acute drop in body weight.
Steps for a Water Cut:
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- 5–7 Days Out: Begin drinking 2–3 gallons of water per day.
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- 2 Days Out: Reduce water intake to 1 gallon.
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- 1 Day Before Weigh-In: Limit water to no more than ½ gallon, adjusting based on your weight.
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- Day of Weigh-In: If you’re at weight, sip small amounts of water as needed while closely monitoring your weight.
Food Volume Manipulation
This method reduces the total weight of food you consume without significantly decreasing caloric intake. You can achieve this by eating smaller, higher-calorie foods or swapping solid meals for liquid options.
Steps for Food Volume Manipulation:
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- 4–5 Days Out: Replace one solid meal with a liquid meal, like a protein shake or sports drink with carbs.
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- 3 Days Out: Replace two solid meals with liquid meals.
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- 1 Day Out: Transition to a fully liquid diet.
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- Liquid Options: Gatorade, protein shakes.
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- Higher-Calorie Foods: higher fat meats, pasta, candy, chocolate, peanut butter, other nut butter.
For example, replacing low-calorie, high-volume foods like lean proteins and vegetables with higher-calorie options such as fattier proteins and calorie-dense carbs can drastically reduce food volume while maintaining energy intake.
Sodium Manipulation
Sodium loading is another effective strategy. It works similarly to water loading but focuses on salt intake to influence water retention and weight.
Steps for Sodium Loading:
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- 3–5 Days Out: Increase sodium intake significantly.
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- 1–2 Days Out: Drastically reduce sodium intake to encourage water loss.
This approach works best if you maintain a consistent baseline sodium intake before starting the manipulation.
Additional Meet Week Tips
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- Avoid New Strategies: Stick to familiar foods and practices to avoid unexpected negative effects on performance. Testing these techniques before meet week can help you understand how your body responds.
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- Rehydration and Refeed Plan: After weigh-ins, prioritize rehydration and refueling.
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- Drink 32 oz of a 50/50 mix of water and electrolytes immediately after weigh-ins.
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- Sip water or Gatorade throughout the meet as thirst dictates.
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- Eat a meal with protein and carbs to replenish energy, keeping fats minimal to prevent possible GI issues.
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- Stick to foods your body is used to for optimal digestion and performance.
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- Rehydration and Refeed Plan: After weigh-ins, prioritize rehydration and refueling.
Final Thoughts
Meet weeks can already be stressful, so having a solid nutrition plan can minimize additional anxiety and ensure you perform your best. Proper preparation and consistency are key to optimizing your energy, recovery, and overall results on competition day.
Game Day Vibes with Coach B
Set Yourself Up for Success
One of the most rookie mistakes you can make at a meet is showing up unprepared. Create a checklist of everything you might need on game day, in addition to the essentials. If you take pre-workout, pack it. If you sometimes use wrist wraps or knee wraps, pack them too. Think through every possible situation and plan for it. However, game day is not the time to experiment. Don’t try a new post-weigh-in meal, pre-workout, or routine—consistency is key in every aspect.
Creating a Game Plan
Collaborate with your coach to create a solid game plan for game day. Discuss your goals for the meet—whether it’s achieving a specific total, going 6-for-6, or hitting technique PRs on the platform. Stick to the same warm-up routine you use in training to maintain consistency and familiarity. When planning your attempts, choose weights you feel 100% confident in. Some athletes prefer 2kg jumps, while others thrive on 3kg or larger increments—find what works best for you.
Part of this plan should also include what you’ll do between attempts. Will you listen to music with headphones? Do you need your water bottle or a specific snack close by? Think ahead about how you’ll use the 2 to 10 minutes between lifts to stay calm, focused, and ready. The key is ensuring everyone is on the same page and that you feel confident and prepared to execute the plan successfully.
Compete in Your Mind
Meet week is the perfect time to incorporate visualization into your preparation routine. Before bed, take a few moments to calm yourself, then mentally rehearse your game-day performance. Some athletes visualize their warm-ups and attempts in detail, while others focus solely on their competition lifts. Regardless of your approach, be intentional about working through each lift from start to finish, paying attention to how it feels—physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Neurologically, visualization activates the same motor pathways in the brain that are used during actual physical movement. Studies show that mental rehearsal strengthens neural connections associated with the visualized task, improving motor learning and performance. Research also indicates that visualization can enhance muscle memory and increase the likelihood of successful execution under pressure. By practicing this technique, you’re effectively rehearsing your lifts multiple times before stepping onto the platform, building confidence and familiarity with each attempt.
Visualization is a powerful tool that primes your brain for success, helping you stay composed and perform at your best when it matters most.
Be Your Own Hype (or Unhype) Man with Music
Music has the power to influence your body and mind by regulating your nervous system. Calming music can lower stress hormones, activate your parasympathetic nervous system (slowing your breathing and heart rate), and help you feel relaxed and focused. On the other hand, upbeat music can stimulate your sympathetic nervous system, boosting adrenaline, heart rate, and energy while improving coordination and focus. Curating the right playlist to match the physiological response you want on game day can make all the difference. Personally, I prefer calm music for snatch and more upbeat tracks for clean and jerk.
The Most Important Thing to Pack on Game Day
Hint: it isn’t the shiny new singlet or the perfect intra-comp snack—it’s confidence. For most athletes, confidence is built through proper preparation during their training cycle, consistent performance at heavier loads, and the right mindset on game day. A great coach once told me, “Everyone starts over on game day,” and often, success or failure is decided before you even step on the platform. My advice? Choose success.
