Write down your warm-up sets

GOAL SETTING

As you go through your warm-up sets and cross each one off, you're hitting small milestones. This builds confidence and confirms your plan is working.

It gives you more control over the moment and helps improve performance.

STRATEGY

Writing down each warm-up set is basically creating a plan. You're giving more importance to the session—even if it doesn’t feel like it.

And by being more involved in that session, your progress will accelerate.

PREPARE FOR COMPETITION

Let’s say you have a powerlifting meet in a month. You're four weeks out, running one SBD session per week with singles. If from the first session you start writing your warm-ups, you'll be better prepared to refine your attempt selection and adjust the load on meet day.

Add everything mentioned above and you’ll feel more confident—you’re building a path, and each attempt takes you closer to your goal.

COACH'S RECOMMENDATION

As a coach, I like to plan warm-ups during key SBD sessions leading up to a meet. It helps assess how the athlete feels, which jumps work best, and how to fine-tune attempts.For competition day, I recommend creating a template where you write out your warm-ups and projected attempts, including potential adjustments if things don’t go as expected—whether you need to make bigger or smaller jumps.

This helps you manage uncertainty better and react faster when things go off-script.