Psychological Aspects of Weightlifting Essay

Introduction

Weightlifting, just like any other form of sport has some psychological aspects associated with it. People generally engage in weightlifting to improve their somatotype in addition to keeping fit. This implies that in most cases as an individual starts weightlifting, he or she is trying to correct a ‘defect’ that he or she assumes to have and this expresses the psychological aspect of it for it is based on perception.

Psychological Aspects

A report on research conducted in 1982, indicates that “Apparently, the more weight training reported by the subjects, the more self-confident and satisfied they tended to be. They also tended to be significantly more sociable, impulsive, and outgoing than was the males who reported relatively few months of experience training with weights” (Tucker 553). This report indicates that weight lifting improves self-confidence and brings about satisfaction. All these feelings result from psychological processes as people change the perspective from which they observe themselves. According to Tucker, self-confidence surges because these people believe in themselves more as they slowly fix the ‘defect’ that they assumed to have (554). Consequently, they become more social and outgoing because if anything, they have something to identify with.

Apart from raising self-confidence, weightlifting improves mental health. Weight lifting like any other sport involves goal setting and self-conceptualization. For instance, taking the need to move from self-perceived ectomorph to self-perceived mesomorph as a goal, an individual will work within the stipulated period to accomplish this goal. Eventually, the skills of setting goals and achieving them set in and it becomes a psychological element for this individual to set and accomplish goals. “…increased credence must be afforded the assertion that weight training can play a significant part in the mental health and well-being…as weight-training experience increases; global self-concept, body cathexes, and extraversion tend to increase commensurately and lie-scale scores tend to decrease proportionately in males” (Weinberg and Gould 59).

Weightlifting solves psychological problems like stress, depression, and anxiety among others. This results from the concentration that an individual puts in weightlifting. This exercise engages mind and as an individual focuses on what to achieve, the mind slowly drifts from anxiety or stress and focuses on the desired results of training and this ties closely with improving self-confidence. If the anxiety or depression resulted from perceived weak body structure, then as the results emerge, the anxiety fades away. “I believe that the future of sport psychology will be found in a synthesis of cognitive-behavioral, or what I call the suppressive therapies, blending with psychoanalytic therapies which include long-term supportive treatment, modification of low self-image and ego strengthening measures, what are referred to as the expressive therapies” (Mala 9). This is all about psychology because it all lies in the mind; it is all about perception.

Conclusion

Individuals who start weightlifting because they consider themselves ectomorphs, gain self-confidence as they start acquiring more mesomorphic bodies. This is because they have a changed perception regarding who they are. Mental health improves significantly as one lifts the weight. Anxiety, depression, and stress disappear as one becomes self-confident. The most outstanding psychological aspect of weight lifting is the changed perception of oneself.

Works Cited

Mala, Elisa. “A Training Center for Medals, From Chandelier on Down.” The New York Times.

Tucker, Larry A. “Weight Training Experience and Psychological Well-Being”. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1982. Web.

Weinberg, Robert & Gould, Daniel. “Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology.” New York: Edward Brothers, 1997.