Takano Athletics

I am not sure that athletes and coaches understand the dynamic that is taking place on the weightlifting platform during a competition.  Nor do I feel that all the parties are sure of how to prepare for it.

Coaching the technique of the lift and performing plenty of max singles is only a part of the preparation that should be taking place.

The competition is by all considerations a performance.  Of course it is a competition and the correct strategical decisions may have to be made by the coach if the athlete is to compete with other athletes, but the circumstances are such that not all meet performances are competitions.   In many cases there is no one close to a given athlete’s range of lifts and therefore the competitive aspect has been removed, but the athlete should always be striving to establish personal records (PR’s) because the meet is the situation where such lifts can be achieved.

The psychological state of the athlete in a weightlifting meet is an altered state.  The concentrations of the molecules functioning in the brain are different from other situations to a considerable degree.

From the first time that an individual steps up on a stage in a performance venue or a playing field or a competition hall, the skills necessary to use the circumstances to achieve a maximum performance should be under development.  This is why when I am developing an athlete I am going to put that athlete into a meet as soon as they’ve mastered the mechanics of the lifts to the extent that he or she will not bring embarassment to him or her self, nor to me.

Of the course the weights selected will be makeable ones for the athlete in question with the goal being that the lift will be successfully completed.  This will establish a very strong message in the psyche that the competition is an atmosphere in which success is achieved.

To prepare for the competition we will run through some mock competition lifts during the days when max or near max singles are undertaken.

Depending on the amount of previous competitive experience the athlete has, after a few meets, developed some ability to bring about the altered state in the brain.

When this is achieved, the heart rate is elevated, the tonicity of the motor nervous system is heighted and more responsive and the proprioception of the extremities is enhanced.  The elevated heart rate insures that endogenous hormones are rapidly circulated and that nutrient molecules are speeding to the muscles.

The perception of time is altered.

Visual perception is enhanced.

The athlete also finds that outside of the immediate sphere of perception, the environment is muddy and unclear.  Only the voice of the coach can be clearly heard.

When this condition is attained, the body and mind are both free to perform optimally and lift the heaviest weights.

One of the functions of the coach is to teach the athlete how to induce the state if it is not taking place after several competitions.  Autogenesis or self-hypnosis should be employed for mental rehearsal.

It is very obvious to the coach if the state is being achieved.