Mental Amalgamation: Proven Psyche-Up Procedures
The Master’s arrow penetrates deeper than that of the student.
—18th century Korean Zen Archery Master, Li Pak
Regardless your level of athletic proficiency, psychological recalibration of your mental state for the purpose of performance enhancement will dramatically improve your training and competitive placing. Brain Train is the most overlooked and underutilized aspect of fitness as it relates to the common man and his Sisyphean effort to transform from geek into god.
I work with all levels of the athletic strata and one obvious difference between the athletically ordained and the athletically ordinary is the elite have an (innate?) ability to center and focus the mind on the athletic task at hand, whereas the civilian, the normal person, attacks weight training with the same approximate level of mental commitment they muster for watering the lawn or brushing their teeth. Training to the mortal is a chore, a bore, a bother, manual labor without compensation; whereas for the elite, training is a transcendental experience and mind prep an indispensable ingredient in the quest to excel.
Regardless the athletic battleground—ordinary training session or head-to-head competition—the elite effortlessly access the mythological Zone, a beatific mental state wherein athletic performance exceeds all realistic expectations. You can do the same.
There exist specific procedures used by Zen Masters to establish concentration and focus and specific procedures used by Iron Curtain athletes to peak the psyche immediately prior to a limit attempt. Our suggestion is to learn each and then link them. Our Mental Amalgamation uses the Zen procedure to achieve a quiet alertness, then gently segues into an intense visualization process designed to peak the psyche and pre-program you for immediate athletic success. Best of all, the techniques we relate are simple and battle-proven. These are mental tactics that obtain quantifiable results; results that separate 1st place from 9th place, or transform the ordinary, mundane training session into a mind-boggling, muscle-expanding, result-producing event.
Some applied mental fire and brimstone, as it relates to fitness training, could make a world of difference for you in terms of results; assuming you buy into the seemingly obvious conclusion that a focused, concentrated, fired-up mind is conducive to superior physical performance. The path has been blazed by Zen Masters, martial art monks, elite power men and Iron Curtain Olympic Champions. The first order of business, to echo the Zen Archery Master, is to understand when and then how to use Brain Train as it applies specifically to weight training.
The optimal time for the bodybuilder or serious fitness trainee to jack-up their psyche, to enter into what Arnold Schwarzenegger labeled the “maximal arousal mode” (hush-up your dirty minds) is just prior to performing a limit set. Before you become maximally aroused, you need to become maximally quiet. First we calm the mind then we focus the mind, we strip away extemporaneous thoughts and eliminate external distractions. This is accomplished by taking conscious control of the breathing process and applying particular techniques and tactics.
Within two minutes of commencement (using our procedure) you will achieve maximum chill: alert, centered, focused and quiet. When Stage I is complete, we rip a page out of the training logs of top Communist athletes from a bygone era and get fired-up using auto-visualization (AV).
AV teaches you to vividly imagine yourself hoisting the ponderous poundage using exquisite technique while projecting ease, power and precision. The idea is to picture oneself performing the limit lift. Imagine in your mind’s eye a movie, repeatedly shown with an ever increasing degree of detail, played in real time.
The elite use some type of psyche-up procedure and they do it for practical reasons: a proper psyche (not too over-the-top, or conversely not too reserved) will add 10% to your top set poundage. Over time this proves profoundly beneficial. Hoist bigger poundage and/or squeeze out more reps and reap maximum muscle growth. Strength simultaneously skyrockets; all by harnessing the mind.
Allow yourself a few minutes to familiarize yourself with a specific breathing procedure known in Zen meditation as Shikantaza. Understanding and implementing this technical procedure is deceptively simple; yet mastery is elusive and requires repeated and systematic practice for a protracted period of time. Use this simple and straightforward mind-centering technique to instill clarity, centeredness and quietude. Avoid a somnambulant, sleepy, groggy, dreamy state-of-mind, and instead seek a vibrant, electric, crackling alertness.
Using Shikantaza the athlete becomes wordlessly focused, internally and externally silent. Inevitably and invariably this procedure alone produces superior training results. This Zen concentration technique serves as the perfect launch pad for Iron Curtain auto-suggestive techniques, the type used by elite Communist athletes prior to World Record attempts. We link these two classical mind meld tactics together in a one-two, brain train punch. After two minutes using this procedure, open your eyes, stand up, walk to your battle station and turn internal fantasy into external reality.
1. Count from one to ten in a rhythmic fashion, syncopate counting with breathing. Sit on the floor or position yourself on the end of an exercise bench keeping the spine straight with head erect and eyes looking straight ahead. Don’t let your chin drift upward as this denotes a lack of attention. Avoid the dreamy unfocused mindset of dream sleep. Strive for razor-sharp, super-alertness. Eyes may be left open or shut; if open-eyed, fix on a particular spot and don’t let the eyes wander.
2. Inhale lightly through the nose and silently say the word “one…” When you have a full breath, mindfully hold the breath for a split second (the turnaround) before exhaling slowly through the nose. Try and sync the slow, steady breath exhalation to coincide with a slow and silently uttered “two…” At complete exhalation, pause for a split-second at the turnaround. This completes one cycle, or repetition.
3. Continue in this fashion for ten complete breath reps. A complete breath pattern has four parts: inhale, turnaround, exhalation and final turnaround. We mindfully pause at each turnaround. Often the mind wanders in the instant between in and out: these are the “gaps.”
4. Two types of thought arise during our 4 part Shikantaza breathing process: passing thoughts and clinging thoughts. Passing thoughts are just that, little unrelated mind-snippets that pop into your head and vanish as quickly as they arise. Ignored, the passing thought passes and does not interrupt or disrupt our breath counting. A passing thought appears and disappears in an instant without taking root. It doesn’t “cling” and turn into a “nen,” in Zen lingo.
5. A clinging thought is one that “takes root” and leads to further internal dialogue. The initial clinging thought hatches a whole succession of subsequent thought chains known as “nens.” When nens cling together and start to stack up, you lose count; concentration is broken and the Shikantaza breath pattern disrupted. When this occurs go back to “one’ and start over.
6. The idea is maintain an electric alertness without any internal commentary, without any internal dialogue. Just count the breaths, observe the mini-pause at the turnaround, go from 1 to 10 without allowing any clinging thoughts to take root and don’t turn passing thoughts into clinging thoughts. Sounds easy?
7. Optional: The Cosmic Mudra. Zen practitioners hold the two hands in a specific pattern, palms placed face up in the lap of the sitting practitioner, left fingers on top of the right fingers, the two thumb tips are held aloft and touch ever so lightly. If the thumbs drift apart or mash together, you’ve lost concentration. The two lightly touching thumb tips serve as a Zen biofeedback device. This is optional.
8. Inhalation starts in the pit of the stomach and expands the waist before lower lungs and finally the upper lungs fill at breath’s conclusion. Exhale using the exact opposite procedure. Deflate sequentially: upper chest, lungs, waist and navel area.
9. Rinzai Zen adherents will breathe so subtly that they make no sound inhaling or exhaling—try it—this is a lot tougher then it sounds.
10. Shoot for two uninterrupted, successful Shikantaza rounds. Then without moving or changing position or breathing pattern (cease breath counting) shift wordlessly into the Iron Curtain auto-visualization procedure.
Psychological Segue: Shikantaza leaves you are alert, centered and focused. The mind is extremely susceptible to autogenic techniques using imagery, self-visualization and autosuggestion. The Shikantaza breath control procedure provides the perfect foundation for segue into Phase II
1. With eyes closed imagine the gym. Detail and accuracy are all important. The more accurate your visualization the more intense and effective the result. View the scene as if you were looking at yourself through a movie camera and the camera is head on from about 10 feet away. Picture yourself sitting and visualize your current posture and surroundings. What color are your clothes? Mentally zoom in on the exercise equipment. We set the visual scene.
2. Assume you are doing squats and have already completed 2-3 warm up sets and are about to attempt a new personal record in the squat: 375x8 with collars. Where is the squat rack? Picture the loaded bar: six 45 pound plates, two 25’s and collars.
3. Imagine standing up and moving to the bar. Crisp details please! Place your imaginary left hand on the bar, then your right hand. Dip underneath and center the bar on your back. Feel the knurling dig into your traps. Take a huge breath and break the barbell from the squat rack. Sense how incredibly light the weight feels.
4. Imagine yourself as you step backwards; right foot, left foot and adjustment step. Picture yourself sucking in a massive breath of air in final preparation for the first rep. Imagine the exhortations of your training partners. What are they wearing? How are you feeling?
5. Visualize yourself unlocking your knees and descending to correct squat depth utilizing perfect technique and incredible control. Imagine squatting super deep, then firing the weight back to lockout without hesitation. Imagine each subsequent repetition…don’t rush through this mentally! Pay particular attention to the speed and propulsion of the final rep.
6. If the auto-visualization is detailed and realistic, upon opening your eyes there should be some sort of physical manifestation: increased heart rate or increased breathing, goose bumps might appear. Mentally, you should feel fired-up! Coach Cassidy manifested goose bumps.
7. Try one or two visualizations prior to a top set of an exercise. As with anything else in life, practice improves performance. Once you’ve completed the final visualization (the last “movie” should be far more intense and focused then the first) open your eyes and recreate your waking dream; turn internal vision into external reality.
8. Pitfalls: if you are interrupted during the psych-up procedure, the process will be demolished. The delicate mental image you were constructing is smashed to bits. Many champion athletes listen to music as they go through the psyche-up procedure. The audio stimulation actually amplifies psyche-up efforts and wearing headphones makes it impossible to be interrupted or distracted. I use music to seize control of the audio element and prevent outside intrusions.
9. Don’t overplay your hand. There is nothing holy or sacred about this exercise and don’t load it down with extemporaneous, superfluous philosophic or religious baggage. No visions, hallucinations, gods or demons will appear. This is a mind exercise, pure Brain Train; a no bullshit approach, refreshingly free of touchy feely New Ageism or Hitlerian exhortations.
10. A smart man can perform his Shikantaza procedure and follow up with a few rounds of auto-visualization without a single other person being aware of the incredible internal transformation taking place. Please don’t use this profoundly personal method egotistically.
Save the Shikantaza/auto-visualization procedure for the big sets of the day. Give the procedure a test drive on a set using the top poundage in a given exercise. The body has a limited amount of adrenaline and done correctly, every time you get seriously fired-up using our one-two, Brain Train procedure, the body will dump precious adrenaline reserves into the bloodstream. With a finite amount of adrenaline available, don’t fire your hormonal guns off on meaningless warm-ups sets. Practice makes perfect. Give our two stage, brain train tactic an extensive test run; to be fair about it, make a commitment to use the procedure for at least two or three weeks on the top set of all the core exercises. Any less and you’re really not giving the system a fair chance. The more you practice the quicker you’ll be able to rid yourself of clinging thoughts and the more vivid your visualizations will become. When that happens poundage soars, reps increase and muscles will, as if by magic, begin to burst and expand—all strictly through brain power!
Zen Training: Methods & Philosophy - Katsuki Sekida
The Marathon Monks of Mt. Hiei - John Stevens
Zen Meditation and Psychotherapy - Tomio Hirai, M.D.
Zen in Motion - Neil Claremon
Yoga for Every Athlete - Aladar Kogler PH.D
The Zen Way to the Martial Arts - Taisen Desimura
Zen and the Art of Archery - Eugen Herrigel
Nirvana Tao: Techniques of Taoist Masters - Daniel Odier
Secrets of Chinese Meditation - Lu K’uan Yu
Zen Mind, Beginners Mind- Shunryu Suzuki
The Awakening of Intelligence - Krishnamurti
On Zen Practice - Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi
1. The Power of Self-Awareness
All athletes need to keep a training log. Tracking progress through the use of a training log allows the bodybuilder to identify trends, both good and bad. Doctor Kogler wants us to take the log one step further. In addition to writing down physical and training statistics he requires we also record our psychological status. Our training diary should include detailed notes on our ongoing and ever-shifting psychological status. Body sensations, feelings, thoughts; all are considered pertinent data and all are logged. His system rests on the athlete’s ability to accurately and objectively assess (and then modify) his mind-set.
2. Autogenic Training for Sports
Autogenic Training is a highly systemized method of self-suggestion. Champion powerlifters intuitively practice a form of Autogenic Training. Watch any great champion prior to lifting a weight. They don’t just pick up a weight and start repping; they go through a mental checklist, a procedure. Dr. Kogler shows how we can develop this championship mental attribute—positive self-suggestion. Sport modified Autogenic Training is a reworking of our psychological hardwiring into a configuration more conducive to athletic success.
3. Individually Tailored Autogenic Training
Dr. Kogler’s Autogenic Training approach is further refined to help the athlete meet individualized goals. The athlete creates a series of meaningful self-suggestive phrases which are used to reinforce a desired response. Phrases are developed that increase workout intensity, encourage self-confidence and deal with specific performance problems. These phrases are practiced on a regular basis (daily) and always in conjunction with the basic heightened autogenic state. These individualized phrases are utilized in practice and competition.
4. Examining Athletic Experience
Dr. Kogler encourages the athlete to discover and develop their own “positive self-talk”, an individualized internal dialogue. Through “concentrative analysis” the athlete relives peak performances of the past. Self-talk is converted into clear and precise autogenic phrases. These phrases are applied in different athletic situations. Past experience assists future performance.
5. Self Confidence
A key factor in athletic success is redesigning the athlete’s self image. Self confidence is reinforced in Kogler’s system with several techniques. Two tried and proven Aladar Kogler tools are modeling and self-video. In the former, the athlete emulates a role model. In the latter the athlete produces a video tape of his/her best performances.
6. Autogenic Training and Self-Hypnosis
Kogler introduces the athlete to self-hypnosis. The subject is discussed and a rudimentary method of self-hypnosis is described. All aspects of this subject are discussed and reservations are dispelled through Kogler’s clinical descriptions.
7. Ideomotor Training and Vivid Imagery
The vividness of the mental movie is critical: beginners have fuzzy visualizations lacking in clarity, detail and focus. Elite Iron Curtain athletes, through repeated use, were able to generate amazingly detailed movies of themselves, succeeding in the athletic event about to happen, a clean and jerk, a bobsled pilot taking himself through the course, a high jumper, long jumper or shot putter—the better the IT image the better the results. Practice increases the amount of detail and clarity that the athlete can create.
8. Preparing for Competition
Dr. Kogler believes that each athlete needs to develop a detailed mental game plan for the day of the competition. The elite also know what to do when plans go awry. Kogler’s system incorporates specific steps for refocusing when things go wrong. Kogler insists that the athlete regularly rehearse the “game plan” prior to competition. His athletes use autogenic phrases during competition to help keep focused on the positive and simultaneously diffuse stress and anxiety.
9. Putting Together a Complete Mental Training Program
Knowledge is a wonderful thing, but results are what counts. The goal of any psychological training should be improved performance. In the gym that should trans late into more poundage handled, more reps, and quicker recovery. All of which will translate into bigger stronger muscles; which is the reason why we lift weights. Any psychological training should show real results in concrete terms. Otherwise the whole thing degenerates into a touchy-feely love fest that is delusional and ineffectual. The nice thing about the Kogler approach is that it has been battle-tested by international level Olympic athletes for over thirty years. Dr. Kogler offers up a basic template for designing a mental training program. The athlete then tailors this basic blueprint into a highly individualized game plan.
10. The Utilization of Yoga for Improving Self Control
For years top athletes have incorporated stretching into their training. Done prior to and after a training session, stretching helps prevent injury by elasticizing muscles and speeds-up recovery by forcibly circulating toxins rather than allowing them to settle. Yoga is a 5,000 year old system of stretching and Dr. Kogler uses a stripped-down, modified version of Yoga to center and focus the athlete. The athlete develops a high degree of control over their mental and physical functions. The ability to stay calm and centered in the heat of competition can be developed systematically through the use of Yoga stretching.
