Meditation for Athletes — How to Start, Benefits, Types of Meditation

Even if sitting still feels nightmarish for you, you can still learn to meditate to boost your gym gains.

When strength athletes think about gains, the first thing that comes to mind tends to be picking up heavy weights and putting them back down. Lifters — perhaps especially bodybuilders — also tend to consider nutrition to be a crucial part of their programming. Mobility, sleep, and physical recovery-related aspects of strength sports sometimes get their dues, too.

But too rarely do most strength athletes consider what is arguably one of the most crucial tenets of lifting heavy — mindset. Meditation can be an incredibly impactful way to improve your recovery, reduce your stress, and even help you get stronger and build more muscle in the gym. And while meditation for strength athletes isn’t a replacement for getting help with your mental health if you need it, it can be a good supplement to professional assistance.

Meditation might not be the first place lifters turn to when they need to improve their training game or bust through plateaus. But learning to meditate — and making it a consistent practice — can help elevate strength athletes to the top of their class. Learning to meditate when you hate meditation or when meditation has given you anxiety in the past can be difficult — but so is perfecting your barbell snatch or learning to squat heavy.