Recently, we have started implementing a new tool to better communicate the intent of a workout. The problem we had run into was that as the author of the program, I knew exactly how I wanted the athlete to approach each session, but often the athletes would bring their own intent to the workout, or misunderstand my intent for the workout. On days where I needed them to be dialed in and execute their lifts, they would be trying to work on their technique, but end up overthinking and not be able to make the lifts they needed. Or on days that were supposed to be technique days, they would come in and try to attack the weights, or be in a mindset where they aren’t responding to feedback well.

To start to attack this problem, we worked out what the four basic approaches to each workout could be, then each session is titled with that approach. This allowed me to quickly communicate how they needed to approach each workout. We have also started implementing a “mood prep'“ warm up to help get them to the right headspace that they need to be for the specific intent of the workout, but I will write another article about that at some point.

Here’s an example of how this looks in someones program.

Here’s what we came up with as the four basic approaches.

Execute: Heavy days, the 2-6 weeks leading up to a competition. NO heavy technical focus. Tweak little adjustments in lighter warm up weights. These days require High Physical and Mental Effort, and Low Physical and Mental Focus. The low level of Mental and Physical Focus will help athletes eliminate overthinking and anxiety while simultaneously redirect that energy into executing the task at hand.

Grind: These are work days. A lot of weightlifting is putting in work. Not the same as execute days. DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS. On these days, you may  feel tired, or less motivated, but being able to flip the switch and make tough lifts happen is key to long term success. Some technical focus as needed, but these are still NOT technical days. Grind days require Moderate Levels across the board for Physical Effort, Physical Focus, Mental Effort and Mental Focus. This ensures that the athlete isn’t over-stressing themselves physically while also ensuring that they can make minor technical tweaks to their training as needed.

Technical days: These days require a high mental focus as well as a high level of physical focus. The athlete must be in the right head-space to receive and execute on coaching feedback. This means the athlete must approach the session with a high level of mental and physical focus, but a moderate level of physical and mental effort. This will allow the athlete to actually concentrate and make changes on their technique, as well as not have too much information to process along with the challenge of trying to push their intensity with their effort.

Mental Recovery Days: These are days where you may be lifting lighter that day, but they aren’t technical days. Technical days require as high of a mental focus as possible, so while they are not overly physically taxing, they are INCREDIBLY mentally taxing. Some days we will lift with the goal of letting the mind recover. This will be a more light hearted environment, with minimal coaching feedback. Have fun on these days.  These are most often needed after a very hard Execute day or a series of tough Grind days in a row.

Mental Effort: This is best described as when you are ready to bring every ounce of mental energy towards a lift

Mental Focus: This is different than effort in that the athlete is in a much higher state of concentration.

Physical Effort: Similar to mental effort, this is when the body cooperates with the minds effort. a great test of your body’s potential for physical effort is a simple box jump. If you feel light and springy compared to other days, you are likely to have a better day of training. If you’ve ever felt when mentally you are dialed in but just can’t get things to fire physically, you know how terrible that can be for performance.

Physical Focus: This is when the athlete is mentally focused and is ALSO able to coordinate the precision physically. A better term might be precision or coordination, but for the sake of this, we’ll call it focus.

Check the chart below to get a quick understanding of what this all looks like.

So with all that being said, we are still in the practice phase of applying all this, but personally I have seen a massive difference in everyone’s training sessions. It’s actually incredible how well and quickly it worked. If each athlete before doing this had 8/20 sessions a month that were essentially unproductive, frustrating, or ineffective due to miscommunication of intent, now maybe 3/20 are like that? That means over the span of a year, 96 workouts were essentially a loss whereas now, only 36 are! I’d like to whittle that down by implementing mood prep more often, and more effectively. I really think that this is a game changer for so many reasons. We are able to increase the amount of effective training sessions, reduce athletes stress and burnout, and increase the quality of their training sessions, as well as give them a better understanding of how to approach workouts and competitions.

Let me know if you’ve got any questions about this, and if you give it a try, let me know what you think!