Don't get frustrated if your mind wanders while
you're doing it, right? So a lot of times athletes
will try to listen to the script, but their mind
will wander and they're like, oh, I didn't get
fully immersed. Okay, take note, right? Mind
wandered at three minutes and 37 seconds. What
were you thinking about? What was going on, right?
And then the next day you try again, right? And
over time, you're able to start focusing more.
Hi, Tom. It's my pleasure to have you on Evidence
Strong Show for the second time. And today we're
talking imagery for Olympic weightlifting performance.
But before we go into the woods, please briefly
introduce yourself. Yeah, definitely. Thanks
for having me again. This is one of my favorite
topics. I know when I had mentioned it the first
time we recorded, we were like, oh, now we have
to do a part two because it's a good topic for
especially for weightlifters and any athletes.
Yeah, I'm Tom Smalley. I'm a certified mental
performance consultant. I own my own private
practice, struggle in the strength performance,
helping high performers of all sports be their
best when their best is required. And so that's
kind of, we believe that challenges are the catalyst
for growth. And we like to show how that happens.
There's a process to that and it's through a
lot of hard work, but mindset really does make
a difference in high performance. All right.
And today we're covering one of the techniques
in Marjorie and let's go through some kind of
definitions. so we know what we're talking about.
Yeah, totally. A good place to start is that
mental imagery gets kind of misconstrued with
visualization, right? So visualization, the idea
of mental imagery is you're using all of your
senses, right? And because we're using our senses,
it creates a more real experience when we're
practicing it. And so visualization only thinks
of the visual aspect, right, and a sight. But
mental imagery, we're trying to use the feel,
the hearing. The I mean, for some, like it could
be the taste. It could be the the kinesthetic
awareness. Right. So we're trying to bring all
of those things in. Right. And into this one
script that we're building for mental imagery
to practice. And so that's what mental imagery
really is, is is using all of your senses to
experience and replicate a moment to reinforce
better behaviors. And so, you know, I think the
thing that people don't understand is there's
different types. Right. So there's two sections
of mental imagery and that's. cognitive mental
imagery and motivational. And so cognitive is
going to be more about skill execution and strategy
and tactical planning, right? And then the motivational
aspect of imagery, that specific subtype is more
confidence, resilience -based, seeing achievement,
seeing you put success together, overcoming obstacles.
So both are very beneficial. And I think, especially
in weightlifting, in this sport, I'd... say both
are equally beneficial and when i have a weightlifter
make a script largely it's there's going to be
some cognitive skill execution mental imagery
and some motivational parts too is there a framework
and how to go about it because it's easy to say
or imagine with all your senses something that
is beneficial for your performance but for the
person who has never done it this is a huge leap
to take a huge gap to bridge so how how should
we go about it something i really like to emphasize
is especially when I start working with a client
that I identify maybe would benefit from mental
imagery is like, hey, this is not gonna be like,
we create this mental imagery script, you read
it and you're gonna be all great and everything's
awesome and it's gonna work immediately, right?
This is just like a snatch or a clean and jerk,
right? Or any sort of technique you learn in
sport and the skill acquisition, it's a skill
that you have to practice and acquire, right?
The ability to actually use your senses in the
imaginary experience, right? And so a lot of
what I do is, In my approach with my clients,
I like to almost start with non -sports related
imagery scripts, like thinking of, for example,
I use this with a quarterback I worked with.
It was a script of him on the beach, but it was
really just practicing using our senses in that
actual experience so that when we built his actual
mental imagery script of the fourth quarter and
leading a drive, he was actually able to know
how to use his senses in there, right? Because
using your senses in mental imagery is a skill
you have to acquire over time. It's something
you actually have to practice. So for a weightlifter,
I might use a mental imagery script of like,
you know, you're outside at a park and you hear
birds chirping or whatever it may be, right?
And we might practice just using the senses.
And then we have a rating scale of each sensory
checklist and say on a scale of one to five,
one being the lowest or five being the highest.
How well did I use my hearing? How well did I
use my... my kinesthetic, right? How well did
I use my sight, right? And then we rate them.
And then over time, as we keep practicing, the
intention is to improve over time of being able
to use those things better and better. But a
lot of times, like we won't even start with a
mental imagery experience based in their sport,
because if they don't have the skill to apply
into that, then they're not going to receive
the stimulus that they need from that. All right.
So the first step would be to try to recreate
some... Totally. Yeah, definitely. So my first
step usually is, you know, I like to ask them.
More ask them questions, right? About like, hey,
what's something you're trying to work for? So
identifying the goal behind the mental imagery
first, right? So before you even dive into which
experience you want to replicate, it's, hey,
what are you working towards? What specific situation
or performance would you like to mentally prepare
for, right? And then if the example is stepping
up to the bar confidently during my first snatch,
right? So that's their goal. Then we go to step
two, right? And it's selecting the imagery touch.
right? Checking the boxes that match the needs
of the client, right? Is your script going to
be more cognitive based, right? Cognitive specific,
meaning skill execution, or cognitive general,
meaning strategy and tactics. Usually in weightlifting,
we're going to see cognitive specific, right?
Skill execution is largely the main portion of
the sport, right? You know, obviously the strength
aspect is important too, and the mental aspect,
but like skill execution, if you don't know how
to do the lifts, we can't do them, right? So
a lot of what we're going to see is is skill
execution and cognitive specific mental imagery.
So we'll check that box, right? And then we start
working on what that looks like. And then we
think about, okay, do we want any of the motivational
imagery too? Like what personal goal are we striving
for? Do we want to put ourselves in a situation
of achieving it in detail? The podium, the handshake,
the feeling of slamming the bar, right? Like
those things really reproduce that moment and
make us actually have the same neural. response
as if it was happening in real life. And so the
more descriptive, the better, right? And so,
you know, we dive into the which types of motivational
imagery, right? So motivational specific, right?
Could be that achieving the goal. Motivational
general could be emotional control. Do you want
to write in your mental imagery script? Do you
want to maybe feel calm or focused or energized?
What emotional state do you want to feel, right?
Breathing, body language, heart rate, and then
the motivation. general mastery, right? It's
what challenges might come up. Do you want to
see yourself overcoming them, right? Picturing
yourself staying composed, staying in control,
right? Focusing on your breathing, all of those
things. And then that's when we start, when we
take those things, all those bullet notes that
we took, then we start putting that script together.
All right, how do you decide which, because all
of this sounds amazing, I want all of this, but
probably I will not benefit from all of it equally
because it would take me three hours to visualize.
some of the aspects. So how you go about choosing?
Yeah, no, it's a really good question. I think
it's, we usually ask ourselves when, what's important
now? Like what's, what's the most pressing challenge
we're facing right now? And then we'll, we'll
address that one in like, what have we been struggling
with the most? And that's the, that's the one
we're going to attack with the mental imagery
the most, right? So if it, if it was, you know,
the first, I tend to miss my first snatch. Okay.
We're going to do one on the first snatch and
then we're going to master that one and really
be super descriptive. and super specific. And
then once you feel, once you start making your
first snatches, you feel comfortable, then we
can move on to another one. And then also as
they get more competent, right? In that skill
-based learning of mental imagery, you could
have two, you know, I have some weightlifters
that I work with that have one for their first
snatch and one for their first clean and jerk,
right? And then I have some that just have one
for the overall meat day, right? And going into
the meat and not actually doing the lifts, right?
So that's more like motivational and arousal
regulation. So it really differs. depends on
what the client's needs are. And that's for myself
as the CMPC and the client to decide, right?
It's a collaborative approach. What do you, you
know, what do you feel like you really are missing?
But I agree with you that, you know, all of it
sounds great, but throwing everything at once
is never the answer. I think in any time we're
learning any skill, it's segmenting it and, and
learning the process of it is going to be more,
they're going to get more out of doing less way
better than doing way more and doing at a, at
a. less degree like as less experience level
all right so we have some kind of structure and
and framework how to think about imagery could
we maybe go through the example let's say let's
go with the first snatch imagery how just an
example of course it will not be personal you
know we don't know why the person struggles at
the first snatch or maybe they don't struggle
but they want to be less nervous for the totally
how would you go about putting these elements
of cognitive and motivational into this imagery
yeah so essentially you know what i have them
do and you know i'm always happy to guide them
through it as they're writing it but i really
like for them to sit down and and think about
that moment right so what i like what i really
have them do is like i'll have them actually
have a checklist of all their sensory right so
it'll go through visual what you see right and
it'll be a little table right sense visual what
you see included question mark and then auditory
sounds included question mark right and there'll
be a little Box to check. Emotional. A factory
or, you know, smells, tastes, if relevant, obviously.
Kinesthetic. Is it included? Right. So they have
boxes to check as they're writing it. So it gives
them a parameter of like, oh, maybe I should
add in something else about how the bar feels
in my hand because I didn't get enough kinesthetic
in there. Right. So it reinforces. But just like
when we used to write essays for college, like
you just do revisions and revisions. And then
when we decide, OK, it's thorough enough, it's
specific enough, then. we can actually start.
So some people like for me to record it and read
it. And so they can listen to it. And some athletes
like to record it themselves and listen to it.
And then some just like to read it beforehand.
But essentially, we try to have them write it.
And usually when they the first time they give
it back, it's usually not descriptive enough.
And that's the expectation. I really emphasize
like, hey, I want you to be I want you to go
overboard on description. Right. I want it to
be every detail possible. Right. That you're
that comes that you feel is important in that
moment that you're expressing. So I think it
comes with trial and error and obviously having
a somebody that's educated and experienced like
myself or another CNBC or sports like like to
really guide you through that kind of stuff.
But I think really like doing a I have my athletes
set a timer like, hey, here's 20 minutes. I want
you to write down everything that comes to your
mind about that moment. And then we'll figure
out the details of where to piece them together
later. Right. But I also, you know, another another
strategy if if if an athlete has really bad writer's
block for mental imagery is. Hey, I want you
to write 10 to 15 minutes of the best competition
experience you ever had. And I want you to write
as much detail as possible, because if we write
the best competition experience we ever had with
detail, we're probably going to reinforce the
best things possible. Right. So that really helps
get them when you can relate it to a past experience
that they had. It gets their their mind flowing
a little bit more. And because it's daunting
to just get a piece of paper or notepad and to
start writing about and trying to, like, understand
how you should write it. But if I tell an athlete,
hey, tell me about that. competition you had
and where you thrived and you faced resilience
and you overcame challenges. And give me as much
detail as possible with these senses. They're
usually like, OK, awesome. I get to talk about
myself. I get to write about myself and relive
this experience. That sounds great. So that is
a really good way to get the mind flowing of
ideas of what you would want in there. But yeah,
it's a really good way to, one, reflect on what
you, sometimes athletes realize, oh, this went
really well, but this is actually something I
want to improve on, right? And so it also brings
in reflection, which I think is super powerful.
When you choose between cognitive and motivational,
is there a balance you have to strike? Is it
personal? How do you decide on that? Really depending
on the client. I think when they describe their
problem, right? Is it a, I get the yip, right?
And I clark. Or is it a, like, so for example,
I've used mental imagery for athletes that clark
with cleans or snatches, right? They pull it
and don't get underneath, right? In that aspect,
we understand that, okay, there might be more
of a motivation. aspect of confidence getting
under the bar, right? And it might be more beneficial
to do it that way and add more of that in. It
also could be said to be more cognitive because
you want to produce more force and be conscious
of that and experience that, right? So I think
it's super dependent on the athlete. That's why,
especially with weightlifting, I feel like it's
really important to incorporate both because
I think it proves very valuable to see. or to
reimagine an experience of success, right? There's
no better predictor for confidence than achievement,
right? The reality is the more frequently you
do something successfully, the more confident
you're gonna be you're gonna do it again, right?
That's just human nature. But if we can do that
in mental imagery, it's pretty beneficial, right?
So I think, but then the other aspect is like,
I think there's a lot of benefit to when you're
a new lifter, especially new lifters and new
to a sport, cognitive mental imagery can be super
beneficial. the learning process too. It gives
you opportunity to do what you want your body
to do. Right, right. It's reinforcing everything
you're learning. And it sends the same neurotransmitters,
right, that you get from doing it in person.
So I think when we're thinking about like nerves
for a competition, I do think motivational is
super beneficial, especially with the aspect
of like emphasizing the staying in control and
breathing and stuff in the back room. I think
that can be super beneficial when we're still
learning the lifts and or make it maybe you're
making technical changes i think mental imagery
cognitive can be more beneficial there there
in those instances because it's all about skill
acquisition and i think it's what's cool is it
applies to every sport too right it's because
every sport has a has a skill that's that's learned
right but i think with weightlifting especially
right such a skill -based sport that cognitive
is true does prove to be very beneficial all
right in terms of motivational could we talk
a little bit more about that, how to calm nerves,
how to feel confident on the platform, going
to this first lift or going to the third one
after to miss, you know, just how to feel, how
to use imagery to support these type of situations.
Yeah, definitely. So I think, you know, I had
someone tell me once that as a practitioner,
that they didn't use mental imagery with their
clients because it could go negatively in their
mind, right? And to me, that's avoidance of adversity,
right? So the reality is... We could do mental
imagery and still fail, right? There's no doubt
about that. But if we practice the skill of being
confident in a situation, when we get into that
situation, we're going to be more confident,
right? And so I love using mental imagery because
I think it reinforces. the positive thing happening,
right? If you train it right and develop the
skill to fully immerse yourself in that experience,
I think there's so many benefits to it. So I
think knowing that like, you know, setting the
expectation of like, hey, this doesn't guarantee
anything, but this is what this is going to guarantee
is that you're going to be more confident on
competition day, right? And you're going to be
more prepared, right? And the second biggest
predictor to confidence is preparation, right?
The more you prepare, the more confident you're
going to be. Right. And so I think right there,
that tells me how valuable mental imagery is,
especially from a motivational aspect. Right.
In terms of, you know, the details of what we
include in motivational mental imagery, I've
had athletes where it's more focused on staying
emotionally in control. Right. After a miss.
So I actually have had athletes that aren't trying
to avoid thinking about missing. Right. It's
more about, oh, I just missed. Now what? Right.
How am I going to respond? So, you know, to the
practitioners, they get worried about maybe their
clients or, you know, their athletes going south
and then thinking about missing. Yeah, that's
possible. But you also need to allow space for
adversity to exist. Right. We can't live in a
make believe land of things always going right.
So allowing the emotions to be felt of, hey,
I just missed. OK, what's my plan now? And then
using. mental imagery to kind of curate your
response to how you deal with missing a snatch
or a clean and jerk, how you walk up to the stage
on that third attempt, even if you just missed
your first two, right? I think those are super
special situations that mental imagery is actually
super beneficial for. And I mean, like, listen,
I think, you know, another thing about self -doubt
and maybe mental imagery going wrong is we don't
want to suppress that, right? The more we suppress
that, the more we're going to think about it.
it. Right. If I told somebody to not think of
missing a snatch, what are they going to do?
They're going to think of missing a snatch immediately
because that's what's going to pop into their
head. And so the more we suppress maybe failure
or making mistakes, the more we're going to worry
about it and think about it. Right. And so I
like to use the analogy of of you're a bus driver.
Right. And all these thoughts that you're having
are on the bus with you. Right. And some of them
are great thoughts of achieving success. And
some of them are saying, hey, you're going to
miss your first three attempts. Right. Neither
are going to, you know, obviously the good ones
are going to benefit you more if you give more
energy to them. And, you know, the self -defeating
ones like the missing snatches are going to probably
drag you down. But you've made space for them
on your bus and the passenger seats. But you're
the bus driver of your of your mind. Right. And
your emotional control. And so it's defining
what your values are. who you want to show up
as, as an athlete. And as outcome aside, who
do you want to show up as an athlete? And then
deciding to drive towards those values and not
letting those passengers thoughts, right? Say,
hey, stop here, pull over here, right? Because
that's what those self -doubt thoughts are trying
to do. They're trying to get you to stop the
bus here, stop the bus here, right? But you're
driving towards your values. And that's what
mental imagery is, is re -imagining experiences,
right? That are values -based and in line with
who you want to show up at. So as long as we're
making those experiences, especially the motivational
aspect, right, in line with our values of what
we want to achieve and what our goals are and
who we want to show up as, your mental imagery
isn't going to go south. I have two comments
on it. One is that sounds like a focus on process
and practicing who you want to be as a person
in general, but specifically in relation to how
you want to show up as an athlete. And the second
thought is what a cheat code for... getting good
reps in, doing the best you can, performing the
best you can. You can just repeat it again and
again. Right, right. There's no, right? It's
not going to fatigue your body, right? So it's
like, why wouldn't we use this, right? You're
right. It's exactly what you say it is. It's
a cheat code, right? And a lot of stuff with
mindset and mental performance is a cheat code,
right? Because that's the aspect of things that
people aren't usually training diligently, right?
We'll train our explosiveness and our strength
and our... our technique and our mobility, right?
Everybody will do extra body work, right? But
like how many are really doing serious, diligent,
tracked mental work, right? Like, so like when
I work with a client, it's all documented. It's
all, there's a plan to things. It's not just,
hey, we're going to meet once a week. Like it's,
hey, you're going to go home with stuff. You're
going to work on this, right? And I think, like
you said, it's a cheat code to unlocking a new
level to yourself. And so to me, it's a no -brainer,
right? But yeah, I think it really depends. Depends
on the person what you're going to put into the
script. Right. And, you know, I think you want
it to be substantial enough where they're spending
time really like if it's too short, it's very
hard to get into a flow state in mental imagery.
Right. And get into a state of really being able
to identify your senses. So I think there has
to be some some length to it, too, like at least
a couple of paragraphs. Right. And the details
matter. All right. Would you have any pointers
on what to avoid? when we create imagery script.
Yeah, I think the main thing is one, keep the
main thing the main thing, right? So don't try
to add things that are not relevant, right? So
if your challenge you're facing is feeling too
anxious for clean and jerks after snatches, like
probably don't start in warmups, right? You could
probably start after your last snatch or like,
you know, so don't make it so long that like
you're losing the idea of what you're actually
doing. you trying to work on? Right. So that's
where that first step of like identifying the
challenge you're working on is really crucial.
And then I would say the second the second piece
of advice would be keep a sensory checklist near
you as you're writing. All right. Do we cover
all the things we should be avoiding? I think
so. I think so. I would say something you should
do would be like make sure you're practicing
it. Right. So don't just write the script and
then expect to be able to like immerse yourself
in it like the day of competition. Right. Because
you want to use it before competition. and to
be able to, you know, maybe the night before,
the morning of, whatever it may be, at weigh
-ins, right? You have this at your disposal,
but don't expect yourself to be able to get into
that if you haven't practiced it, right? It's
like expecting yourself to go hit a PR clean
and jerk when you haven't been training hard.
So we have to reinforce these skills. So what
I have my clients do is, hey, we're going to
do a mental imagery script about training on
Friday, your big Friday. And we're going to start
preparing, like let's apply it in training first
so that when you get to competition, you're not
lost. Right. All right. So. Let's bring it all
together now and let's build three main points
about imagery for Olympic weightlifters. Yeah.
So I think the first main point that I would
say is identifying what goal or challenge that
you're trying to achieve or obstacle you're trying
to get past. Right. Or bounce back from. Right.
What are you trying to use mental imagery for?
Right. Identify the moment. Identify the challenge.
Then the second aspect would be obviously identifying
what aspects. of the subtypes of mental imagery
that you're going to incorporate. Is it more
cognitive? Is it more motivational? Is it a mix
of both, right? And then writing your script,
revising it, and really using that checklist
of, oh, I need more hearing. I need more auditory.
I need more kinesthetic. So those are the steps,
right? And then the second aspect would be don't
get frustrated if your mind wanders while you're
doing it, right? So a lot of times athletes will
try to listen to the script, but their mind will
wander and they're like, oh, I didn't get fully
immersed. OK, take note. Right. Mind wandered
at three minutes and 37 seconds. What were you
thinking about? What was going on? Right. And
then the next day you try again. Right. And over
time, you're able to start focusing more. Today
in society, we have extremely short attention
spans. Right. And that's just the reality of
it, because everything's at our fingertips. Right.
And everything is a lot of there's a lot of instant
gratification. So naturally, our mind is going
to wander more and the younger athletes, their
mind wanders more. Right. So learning to stay
this. not only does mental injury reinforce an
experience of competition or training or whatever
obstacle they're facing and getting past that,
but they also are practicing focus, right? And
focus on a moment. So there's multiple benefits.
But yeah, don't get frustrated. You know, I think
that's, I've seen that happen is, and also don't
get frustrated if you do mental injury and then
you don't have the success you want in competition,
right? Like there's not a direct, necessarily
like a direct correlation between if you, do
this, you're guaranteed to PR or you're guaranteed
to have success, right? This is just another
tool in the toolbox that is obviously beneficial
and to me is a cheat code to improving performance.
But I don't want people to take this as like,
hey, I did my mental imagery every night and
I didn't PR, right? And that doesn't mean to
not to stop doing it after that happens, right?
That just gives me more of a reason to do it.
Oh, I still didn't get the hang. I did my mental
imagery and I didn't have success that I wanted.
But I'm going to keep at it because if you keep
at it, you're going to have success. And also,
if you've done the work right, something's changed
within you. So you are a different person, whatever
the outcome is. So totally. Yes, 100 percent.
I'm glad you said that because I actually had
someone ask me, you know, I have a lot of athletes
where, you know, necessarily they set a very
large goal and I'm all for it. And maybe they
don't reach that large goal along the journey.
But then that doesn't mean that journey was all
for. nothing. I mean, look at all the amazing
things. I always say like, look at all the amazing
things you accomplished along the way and look
at who you became because of that goal you were
chasing. Right. So it doesn't mean necessarily
that it was all for nothing. I think athletes
tend to get in that all or nothing mindset. Like
I put in all this work and, you know, I didn't
get what I what I was trying for out of it. So
it wasn't worth it. And that couldn't be further
from the truth. Two short questions to finish.
The first one is from your expertise, what would
be the one mental skill you could give? to all
weightlifters if you could? That's a great question.
I do think, I think the ability, I think mindfulness
would probably be my first. The ability to accept
thoughts as thoughts and be able to diffuse them
while in training or in competition and be able
to control that arousal and emotional. emotional
regulation i think that would be my first one
because it's super applicable and then i think
the second one would be 1a and then 1b would
be mental imagery all right i'll give so i would
say like that you know the first one's more is
very applicable to in the moment. And then the
second one is outside of the moment, something
to practice. Awesome. We cover all the aspects.
Yeah, all the spectrums. All right. Well, people
can find you. Are you open for consultations?
Can weightlifters reach out for your help? Yeah,
absolutely. More than welcome to. You can find
me on Instagram at S2SFOF. And then my website
is www .struggleintostrength .com. Yeah, so absolutely.
Always happy to. My DMs are always open. Happy
to. answer questions. As you can see, I mean,
I just talked about this for 50 minutes. So I'm
a nerd for this stuff. I love this stuff so much.
And I just really love helping athletes become
better versions of themselves that they didn't
really necessarily think they could become. So
that's really why I got into my work at the end
of the day. Awesome, Tom. Thank you so much for
today. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me
again.