Plateau Breaking - Part 1 - Mental Training

"To continue to do the same actions again and again, while expecting different results, is the definition of INSANITY."    - Albert Einstein

"See much, study much, suffer much is the path to wisdom." - Celtic Proverb

Plateau breaking 
   There are many varying methods of breaking plateaus. These articles will specifically refer to those chasing the iron game, however this will work for weight loss/gain, breaking/creating habits, bettering yourself, thinking more effective, clearer, and sharper, improving problem solving skills, playing chess or Brazilian JiuJitsu at a higher level, or simply washing your dirty laundry instead of being a damn bum, you name it.
   Many, MANY methodologies will be covered to break plateaus, some you may be familiar with but think is bullshit (mental training), some will be unheard-of (periodization, or abandoning one goal temporarily to pursue another, secondary goal that will allow one to surpass the first), and some will be common.
1) MENTAL METHODS
   To break a plateau in many things, the most effective way of doing so it by changing the mind. The mind exerts control over what we do; getting the results you expect to get is the premise of feedback (and inhibition) from the logical portion of the brain. Changing your mind will, at the most fundamental level, change the results you get.
   How many times have you heard someone say "Its all mental"? This is a common saying because it happens to be unequivocally correct, regardless of what activity is being pursued. How often do you ACTUALLY exercise your brain? It is the strongest method of control in the body, yet most Americans have the weakest minds.
A Brief List of the Nine Mental Skills
Successful Athletes:

1. Choose and maintain a positive attitude.
2. Maintain a high level of self-motivation.
3. Set high, realistic goals.
4. Deal effectively with people.
5. Use positive self-talk.
6. Use positive mental imagery.
7. Manage anxiety effectively.
8. Manage their emotions effectively.
9. Maintain concentration.

             (For a more detailed description of these: http://www.sportpsych.org/nine-mental-skills-overview )
   Personally, I think most people can choose to adopt the first eight listed above. However, I think the last one is where most everyone falls to pieces. 
   Try this:

• #1) Take 5 minutes, and sit somewhere without distractions or interference. Empty your mind. As thoughts come, do not dwell on them or let them take attention from your mind. Allow them to drift away as they came, unimpeded and unfocused. If you are honest with yourself, this will be VERY VERY hard. To NOT think of thoughts that present themselves in your mind is backwards thinking, but this is exercise for the brain.    If you discover yourself thinking about the thoughts that spontaneously come, start over. If you discover that you are thinking about not thinking, start over. If you discover that you have thoughts that you cant get out of your head, start over. These instances are all 'proofs' that your concentration, to put it bluntly, sucks.

This is also known as "silencing/stilling the mind."
   If that was a pleasant distraction (or if it was ridiculously difficult), try this next mental exercise:

• #2) Mentally, silently count from one to ten, focusing on nothing but the number you are currently on. If ANY thought slips in, even for a split second, you have to start over. Shoot for a 5-10 count on each number before advancing to the next. If you are honest here (AND IT WILL PAY BIGTIME IF YOU ARE) you can expect to make it to 3 or 4 the first couple times you try this. Youre gonna be thinking 'ONE, ONE, ONE, ONE, OH HOW MANY TIMES WAS THAT OH SHIT FML I HAVE TO START OVER.'

   Try that one for a few weeks. You should surprise yourself after that time by how far you can get, due to your mind being quieted. These mental workout methods were taught to me by the late Dr. Glenn Morris, and as he put it, you want your mind functioning like a smoothly running cadillac, not a jumpy, stacky race car motor. He also wisely said "if you dont control it, something else does!" Do you want that statement to apply to your MIND?
For a bio on Dr. Glenn Morris, click here

For a quick impression of the man's stunning intellect, look at the list of his Educational Background entries.

I know, you are most likely thinking "what in the HELL does this have to do with lifting weights?"
Go here:

Study at Univ. of Texas on importance of mental strength in athletes

Mental Discipline at its best!

   Have you ever seen a professional athlete play their sport? Have you ever watched them in the spine-tingling focus they summon to be able to perform? This is what we are attempting to develop, although that level can take years. Consider a maximal effort bench press. Think about how psyched up you need to be. And then remember the form/saftey cues that you need (lower bar under control but not too fast or slow, tuck elbows slightly near bottom, keep upper back tight, etc.). Now think about your spotter. Is he ready? Eff, you just lost your train of thought. 'Ok, well ill give it a go anyway' you say. If you look at that gym cutie that walks by as you set up and swing under the bar, you have already failed.

I know she's got a sick body but dont let it distract you until you are done.

   Getting set up for a lift should not be easy, and should require a zen-like focus to attempt (for max effort attempts). Distractions neccesarily need be absent from your mind, and if they arent, how well do you think you will perform? Sloppy set up, lack up body tightness, lack of squeezing grip on the bar (think this one isnt as crucial? Check this out: USC's tailback Johnson), all of these can lead to a missed lift. For more info on the specific technical aspects of the bench that you might be missing, check out this article on proper bench pressing.When striving to break plateaus, there will be plenty of instances when your mental toughness, the refusal to give up, the self-confidence, etc. will be what carries you through.

Those awarded one of THESE can tell you about mental toughness. Think you have that mental edge?

     However, NOT having these in order can lead to a missed lift, as indicated above, but beyond that, one must remember resistance training with free weights is NOT a safe activity. Go outside and find the heaviest thing you can possibly pick up, and then attempt to press it over your head. (DISCLAIMER: THIS IS AN EXAMPLE THAT ATTEMPTS TO MAKE A POINT THROUGH EXTREME EXAMPLES AND SHOCK VALUE. DONT ACTUALLY EVER TRY THIS. EVER.) Think that was safe? Chances are you didnt even consider it. Your brain actually saved you from a stupid injury or death in that case. Take the time to 1) make that brain stronger since it just saved your life and 2) realize that resistance training can be a FATAL activity if you screw it up or lose your focus.
   Have you ever felt 'in the zone' at anything you were doing? What was happening? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has termed this 'in the zone moment' as the Flow. "According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation." (Wikipedia) Guess what? The same numbers-counting exercise that you are currently not very good at (#2 above) requires the same 'completely focused motivation!' This is part of breaking plateaus, by focusing motivation appropriately. THE BRAIN is the difference when you are in the 'flow' and when you arent. So start strengthening your grey matter! For even more info on the 'flow' check out this link: http://www.austega.com/education/articles/flow.htm

   Mensa Workout - Question 25 of 30

Continue the following number series with the group of numbers below which best continues the series?
1 10 3 9 5 8 7 7 9 6 ? ?

11 5

10 5

10 4

11 6

   This is from www.mensa.org and if you would like to see the answer see the end of the article.
   A good baby step is crossword puzzles. Hell, even brain-teasers you can play on your phone help when your brain is as shit-shape weak as yours. Thanks to Matt Antonelli for that little idea on keeping your brain sharp. Mental exercise is only one part of the equation to mental strength too. Mental toughness is necessary as well. Think you have the mental toughness? Go stand in a COLD shower for 15 minutes. Or hold your hand over a flame to see how much pain you can handle. There is an EXCELLENT book on the mental side of toughness, pain tolerance, etc. and its called "The Fighter's Mind" by Sam Sheridan. He doesn't teach you how to get that toughness, he talks with people that are ALREADY HAVE IT, on what makes that characteristic show up, what makes tough people tick, etc. The MIND is always what fails first, except in those unnaturally tough, resistant human beings, "those that can take a crowbar to the face and keep on fighting"  - Greg Jackson. Once you give up, you give in, you let the desire slip away, you have lost. And one of the best ways to train that mental tolerance for pain, for toughness, is by experiencing it, by facing it down, whether it is by banging out an extra 5 reps, running that extra half a mile at that ridiculous speed, forcing yourself to do things outside your comfort zone, training for a MMA fight (training is WAY harder than the actual fight), etc. An article on Matt Kroc gives excellent examples on how that gives you an 'edge' in the iron game:
http://www.t-nation.com/testosterone-magazine-628#more-man-than-you
Here is a quick excerpt: "Mental toughness is making your body do something your mind doesn't want to do," he says. That day he learns an important lesson he'll keep with him forever: if you can override your mind, you can do anything.
Another article BY Matt Kroc talks about the importance of confidence, and the mental side of things:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_confidence_switch
A recent article by Dave Tate on pain, strength, and excellence in sport; superb but short article:
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/columns/under-the-bar-how-strong-is-your-pain/
Thanks to my good friend Blake Andrews for showing me this article, he has plenty of experience with pain, mental toughness, strength, and hes not too slow either.

SO:    Subject yourself to discomfort. Run hills till things get fuzzy, spinny, or until your lungs burn. Jim Wendler is a HUGE advocate of these and can tell you how the day-to-day shit just isnt nearly as important/bad/grueling after finishing a set of hill sprints, bear crawling up to the top on the last sprint, holding down your vomit until you get to the top. In fact, you should probably check out his 5/3/1 book, its pretty damn simple, yet VERY well thought out, VERY smart training. Traffic aint shit after pushing the prowler and 5 min after your last set you realize you STILL cant breathe fast enough and you are in real danger of suffocating while wide awake cause you cant breathe in enough oxygen. Or you could take half your 1RM for a back squat and attempt to get 20 reps with that weight. Even better, Blake showed me THIS recently too: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/hungarian_oak_leg_blast Here your first session you take roughly 30% of your 1RM for a back squat, and LITERALLY squat that same weight for a 2 minute set. Each subsequent session you add 20 minutes to the time limit! THESE examples are SERIOUS pain tolerance, and will teach you a lot about yourself as well. Going through these will make you mentally tougher, without a doubt. Just remember these are EXTREME examples!

   Mental discipline will make a HUGE difference in breaking through a plateau, which is 99.99% of the time simply a mental construct of your personal limitations. After learning how to quiet your mind, your focus will be like a laser, your technique will be DAMN good, little distractions like "my left arm isnt going up as fast as the right" wont get you out of your groove, and people won't be able to distract you from working towards your goals. After making your MIND tough as nails, you wont mind a little discomfort since you have become accustomed to it, and that OH-SO-HEAVY weight doesnt feel like a dangerous attempt, it feels like a way to test yourself. Those last few reps, those that you could never exceed because of that burn (which is a crock) now feel like you are just warming up those muscles and you blow past that limitation you had set on yourself. That drained feeling that you are used to at the end of a training session, that feels like you have just done a little work, and with a few minutes recovery, you will go back at it and hammer away at a intensity level you previously hadn't been aware you could have. So find ways to test your limits. Mentally, by increasing the disractions to your concentration incrementally so you can build up a tolerance to them (playing mind-puzzles with static in your headphones), as well as increasing the discomfort you can subject yourself to and become accustomed to, so that day-to-day things can't even begin to phase or distract you (hill running 1-2x a week), but TRY to make those mental toughness exercises things that will also take you toward your goals as well, whatever those are!

Answer to mensa workout question 25 - first choice, 11 5.