How You Can Instantly Boost Your Strength Levels

Let’s face it, we all want to lift more weight. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Well, the other day, I finished my workout and was on my way to the change room when I ran into another fellow lifter in the hallway.

We started talking and he said that he just didn’t feel like working out and felt as weak as sh**.

I asked him why, and he said he just had a long day at work and needed some sort of boost to get him going. This got me thinking.

How many times have I felt like that during a workout and what did I do about it? You know something, I actually talk to myself. I talk out loud and convince myself that this is going to be the best workout of my life or that the weight is nothing more than light weight. When I think about it now, there haven’t been too many workout sessions when I didn’t talk to myself. Sure, other gym members might look at you funny but you want to know something, this really works. Anyways, I decided to see if there was any validity to self talk.

As it turns out, self talk has been shown to actually increase power and strength. In 2007, there was a study done by the University of Wales that showed how self talk can boost overall strength levels. The study involved 24 make athletes doing vertical jump tests. Those that used self talk, increased power production by 4% while those that didn’t use positive self talk didn’t improve.

Very interesting indeed. Let me ask you a question, have you ever seen top pro’s use self talk? Check out Ronnie Coleman or Branch Warren on youtube and you’ll see this method of positive reinforcement in action. Ronnie is famous for saying “Light Weight!” or “Yeessss, buddddy” before a heavy lift. By talking yourself into something, your brain will send signals to your body to do it.

The next time your in the gym and are working on your last set of a heavy set of squats, use something that is inspirational to you and say it out loud before you get under the bar. Mean what you say and your body will follow suit. I used to love saying “Alright, let’s get this rip ride going!” or " The last rep is the best rep!" and that’s all it took.

Of course, you have to believe what you say or this won’t work.

Even try counting the repetitions out loud. I’m certain that once you start to use positive self talk in the gym, your lifts will improve immediately.

All the best,

Blake