From Psychology to Philosophy in the Weight Room

By: Rick Huegli, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Lakeside School, Seattle WA

At the end of every sports season our Strength and Conditioning Program does strength testing. The
athletes have trained usually for 9-10 weeks and we find out what their best 1 rep max is for the Hang
Clean, the Bench Press, and the Back Squat. The weeks of training have prepared them for attempting
their best with the understanding that they are going to do their best with confidence and safety in
mind.

When we strength test I remind the athletes that gravity will ultimately win and heavy weight will reveal
the flaws in their technique. I tell them that they should pay attention to what went wrong and think
about what they need to do to correct the breakdowns when they get back to training, that technique is
present in everything. A lot of times, especially with the Hang Clean, (a highly skilled total body exercise
that develops explosive vertical force) as the weight gets heavy and they are near their maximum the
athlete changes the way he/she executes the lift. They try to “muscle” or alter their technique to “get
the weight up”. They have reached the point where they don’t trust themselves, they protect
themselves, they play it safe. An increase of five pounds completely changes their confidence and their
execution. They stop trusting themselves and their techniques. They play it safe.

Testing is a vital part of the strength and conditioning program, and a real opportunity for character
growth. I like to tell the athletes that nothing good happens when we play it safe. Rewards come when
we take a chance, when we stretch ourselves, when we get out of our comfort zone. When athletes do
this through deliberate practice they grow. During strength testing, I had a conversation with an athlete
as he was preparing to attempt a new maximum amount. We talked about confidence and taking a
chance. I told him “you’re a skillful piano player and there is technique with everything. As you were
learning your technique you weren’t skillful but you were confident that the drill and the lesson would
get you there if you practiced and let yourself go, took chances, made mistakes, kept working.
Improving your Hang Clean you need to understand your technique and practice executing it. You have
to trust the process and take chances by attempting to execute with technique and being comfortable
about missing a lift”. This chance-taking and growth is one of the intrinsic highlights of my job. I
consider it a four-year construction project with the students. They begin the program full of
enthusiasm and some anxiety and they progress through the four stages of unconscious competence,
conscious incompetence, conscious competence to unconscious competence.

Stanford Psychologist Carol Dweck’s book “Mindset”, presents the psychology of an open or “growth
mindset” as opposed to the closed or “fixed mindset”. A fixed mindset believes that their talents and
abilities are static, or fixed. There is no room to improve. You are who you are, and your fate is to go
through life avoiding challenge and failure. Those subscribing to a growth mindset believe that you are
able to develop intelligence, become smarter, develop skill, and increase talent. You see yourself as a
fluid work in progress.

University of Pennsylvania Professor of Psychology, Angela Duckworth, author of the book “Grit”, who
growing up was repeatedly told by her father that she’s no genius, ends up winning an award for being
one. The award goes to her because she has discovered that what we eventually accomplish may
depend more on our passion and perseverance than on our innate talent. Her theory that talent x
effort = skill and that skill x effort = achievement states that, “Talent is how quickly your skills improve
when you invest effort. Achievement is what happens when you take your acquired skills and use
them.” It’s about the psychology of achievement. “Talent - how fast we improve in skill – absolutely
matters. But effort factors into the calculations twice, not once. Effort builds skill. At the same time,
effort makes skill productive.”

Dweck and Duckworth’s books reinforce our process of training in Lakeside’s Strength and Conditioning
Program. We are going to try difficult things and we’re going to fail. But, we are going to try some
more. Students who embrace this process are going to grind, to practice, and, over the long term are
going to grow both physically and mentally.