Average Days Happen On Average.

Nerves and anxiety on competition day are entirely normal. Wanting to PB your total on the platform — also entirely normal. While heading in to a competition with big goals and dreams and plenty of nerves to accompany those are almost entirely universal experiences, our ability manage and channel those emotions vary a stack. It can be the difference between a stellar performance and shitting the bed.

I talk about competition day psychology with my team a lot. And while each lifter experiences competition day differently and comes to sporting competition with their own lived experiences, many of the challenges they experience are much the same. Many I have lived before too.

I feel like I’ve had these conversations hundreds of times — with my team, with my peers, with lifters that I am refereeing, with myself. So many times I have heard the sentiments of:

• I want to have something to show for all of my hard work.

• I really need this.

• I will be disappointed if I don’t at the very least achieve X.

• This competition is a really important one for me.

We all place pressure on ourselves, and this pressure can be double edged. Pressure makes diamonds. But pressure is also a cornerstone of feelings of failure and defeat, particularly when you have an average day. Average days happen on average and so as level-headed athletes, we need to be prepared to navigate those. Listen up.

Your next competition isn’t your most important one.

And your next competition need not be the culmination of your entire lifting career.

As powerlifters we train hard and we pour a lot of time, effort and energy in to our sport. It’s only to be expected then that when we get on the competition platform we want to have something to show for our efforts. If we’ve squatted 100kg in training, we want to formalise that in competition. If we’ve hit a PB total in training but haven’t managed to string that all together on one day yet, we want to nail that on comp day.

The thing is though, having "something to show" for all of your hard work does not come from placing immense pressure on yourself. Heading in to competition day with a “today is the day” or a “this is it” mentality piles on the pressure. And really brings the day tumbling down as soon as one thing goes wrong.

My best totals have come from my most relaxed competitions; my best totals have come when I finally realised that if I just get out there, have a great time with my friends and enjoy the sport for what it gives me, my anxiety settles and I am able to execute 100x better. I still want to put together a massive total and I still want to PB of course. My goals haven’t changed, I just approach it with a different mindset.

Your dream total is called a dream for a reason.

Most of us head in to competition with the goal of a 9/9 day and PBs on each lift. We don’t head in to competition gunning for a 7/9 and regression (obviously).

9/9 and a PB total is the dream day. We are well within our right to dream. But we would serve ourselves well to keep in mind that a dream is a dream; an ideal outcome; what we strive for but that we are not guaranteed.

I’ve had so many competition days that have gone like this:

I have a dream total in mind. “Today is the day” I tell myself. I am finally gonna pull it all together. PB each lift all on the same day (finally) and post that dream total.

Squat 1: nail it. Squat 2: I’m fucking on. Squat 3: miss on depth.

or 3/3 squats, PB. Bench 1: nail it. Bench 2: I’m fucking on. Bench 3: ass comes off the bench.

I’ve lived both of these scenarios. I see the red lights and immediately do the mental maths to discover the dream total isn’t possible now. That’s it. No PB total. The day is ruined. Then comes the hard emotional labour of pulling myself out of the pity party to salvage the rest of the day and post a total that I am at least not embarrassed by.

Average days happen on average and your dream total represents a dream outcome. Knowing this and really believing it can make competition days not only more successful, but more enjoyable. If you can miss a lift, shake it off and start getting ready for the next one without the need for 30 minutes of grieving — as if that isn’t going to lend itself to a more enjoyable experience and also give you a more grounded and level head to start gearing up for your next lift.

The best way to get better at competing is by competing.

Like improving your lifting technique, managing your anxiety and arousal is a skill to be developed. And these skills seldom develop without dedicated effort.

The experience of competing is like nothing else; it can’t be replicated by maxing out or testing in the gym. The stress of weigh in, the pressure of meeting your own expectations, standing up in front of an audience, having your friends and family come out to watch you, the fear of failing publicly — it’s such a unique experience.

You can get stronger in the gym, you can practice heavy singles, you can practice making your set up and technique as replicable as possible and these things will better prepare you for competition. But these things pale in comparison to simply gathering competitive experience.

Exposure to competition teaches you so much about yourself:

• What flares your nerves and anxiety

• How you can calm yourself back down

• How hyped you need to get for each lift

• Where the sweet spot is between hype and focus

• The music that best gets you fired up for squats and how that might be different for bench and deadlifts

• How to regather yourself after a failed lift

• How best to communicate your needs to your coach

• Do you prefer mingling between lifts or do you prefer to be alone?

You can only learn about this in competition, and while you can work on refining these things in the gym, your best opportunity to practice and improve these things will be on the platform.

Going back to the top — your next competition is not your most important. You don’t need to “be ready” to get on to the platform nor “be ready” to put up the total of your life. Your next competition is however a fantastic opportunity to practice your skills both physical and psychological so that you can execute even better in 1, 3 or 10 competitions from now.

Why do your participate in sport? For most of you reading this, it’s not to be the best in the world. It’s not to make a lot of money. It is because it is your preferred way to keep fit, to keep healthy, to stay in shape, to develop personally, to socialise or to make friends. Training and competition both lend themselves to those outcomes — and they lend themselves to those outcomes whether or not you fail a squat or hitch your deadlift. In fact, I’d argue failure in competition is a far better teacher and growth opportunity than success will ever be.

I love to ask my team “are you planning to retire after this competition?” Oh, you’re not? In that case, get out there and have fun. If it’s a dream day, how good. If it is not, how good. What a great growth opportunity it will be. We will learn so much about you so that we can send you out for a better day in six months from now.

Are you planning to retire after your next competition? Didn’t think so.

Other related articles I love.

Blog article. Why I compete in powerlifting.

Blog article. Intangible gains: reflections from and about my more resilient brain

Blog article. It took me five years to add 2.5kg to my total. Here is what I learned.