73. Mona de Lacey︱Mental Game of Champions: Overcoming Challenges, Resilience and Winning

Episode Transcript
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Mona (00:00):
This is something that I felt like over time, I mastered
a lot more and more as well, andI think, even as an athlete, if
something doesn't go accordingto plan, say, for example, I
thought I'm going to be calledup in three attempts time, which
gives me roughly like threeminutes before I step on stage.
And in weightlifting there's alot of technical things that

(00:21):
happen behind the stage as welland tactical stuff.
So sometimes coaches wouldchange the numbers that the
athletes would lift on theactual platform at that time.
So then all of a sudden, if Ithought to myself, I still had
maybe one more warm-up attemptto do, now all of a sudden they
call my name because coacheshave now changed what their
athletes are starting, and as anathlete, you cannot panic.

(00:42):
So the first thing you need todo is what I've noticed over the
years is like I ground myself.
I tell myself, whatever happens, I'm ready.
So if I'm one warm-up short, itdoesn't matter, I'm gonna step
on stage and I'm gonna do thisweight.
So the first thing I do is Ialways make sure that I will
always focus on the positive.
I will always focus on thepositive.

(01:03):
I will always tell myselfreally motivational things like
I'm strong.
I did the work.
I also walk at the back with adifferent kind of presence as
well, because I find that if I'msitting there because I'm also
a very introverted person if Ijust sit in between my lips as
well and my shoulders around it,I automatically feel less

(01:24):
confident and I feel smaller andI just feel like all these
other girls around me arelifting all these big weights.
Am I actually worthy of beinghere?
So I walk into that backstageand not arrogant, but I walk in
there knowing that I'm ready.
Whatever weight's going to beput on the bar, it's me and the
bar.

Klara (01:42):
Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the
Grand Slam Journey, where wediscuss the Grand Slam journey
of our lives sports and lifeafter sports, including lessons
we have learned from sports andhow we apply them in the next
chapter of our lives.
My guest today is Mona de Lacey.
Mona holds an honors degree insports psychology and has spent

(02:06):
22 years of her liferepresenting South Africa on the
world stage.
She's competed at the elitelevels in three sports karate,
crossfit and olympicweightlifting.
She is a six-time karate worldchampion, crossfit games
competitor and CommonwealthGames medalist in Olympic

(02:27):
weightlifting, which is Mona'sfavorite sport, and has competed
in the longest, having won manymajor international
competitions such as the Africanand Commonwealth Championships.
Through her this time, mona hasalso worked as a weightlifting
coach and sports psychologist.
Throughout this time, mona hasalso worked as a weightlifting
coach and sports psychologist.
Sharing her expertise andhelping her clients work through

(02:49):
difficult mental barriers iswhat drives her, and that's
exactly what we're diving intoin this episode.
We talk about Mona's journeythrough sports Olympic
weightlifting and wespecifically dive into the
mental aspect and what it meansto be a female athlete.
If you enjoyed thisconversation, please share it

(03:09):
with someone you believe mayenjoy it as well, don't forget
to subscribe so you don't missthe next episode, and consider
leaving a review on ApplePodcasts, spotify or any other
platform you use to listen tothis episode.
This episode is also availableon my YouTube channel, grand
Slam Journey.
This is your host, Kl araJagosova .

(03:30):
Thank you for tuning in, andnow I bring you Mona de Lacey.
Hello, mona, welcome to theGrand Slam Journey podcast.
Great to have you.
How are you, hi Klara?

Mona (03:42):
Thank you for having me.
I'm doing really well, thanks,how are you?

Klara (03:45):
All good here and I'm so thrilled to dive into so many
topics with you.
I've been privileged to havemany strong women in my life and
I love meeting strong womenlike you actually not only
physically, but also mentallythrough all the sporting things
you have achieved and alsohaving a degree in sports
psychology, and you're helpingathletes achieve and maximize

(04:08):
their potential through strength, but also mental skills and
mindset.
So I would love to dive intoall of that, including,
obviously, you being a six-timekarate world champion, crossfit
Games competitor, commonwealthGames medalist in Olympic
weightlifting and, as Imentioned, having a degree in

(04:31):
sports psychology.
So that's a quick intro for meas far as what listeners may
expect, but I'm curious wherethis conversation takes us.
Anything you want to add, mona,in regards to your background
and you would like listeners toknow about you?

Mona (04:46):
Well, regarding my background, you pretty much
nailed it.
If I had to put it all in anutshell, I've been doing sport
my whole life.
I grew up in quite a sportyhome.
I had a dad that guided me froma very young age, because I've
had a lot of people in my lifesay to me how did you start

(05:06):
Olympic weightlifting at likethe age of 12?
And I'm like, yeah, I wouldhave never, ever have chosen it
or found it or anything likethat.
I was quite happy, just likedoing my own thing and being
like a sporty child.
But it was through me trainingfor my karate and competing at a
high level that my dad thenfound Olympic weightlifting as a

(05:27):
sport to help enhance my power,my strength and just kind of
take me to that next level,which it actually did.
And then it was through sometime that I actually started to
fall in love with the sport whenI got chosen to compete for the
South African team.
That's when kind of the wholeOlympic weightlifting door

(05:47):
opened for me and I kind of hadlike a bit of a switch over from
the karate to the Olympicweightlifting side.
But I also wanted to add like,with all of that as part of my
background.
I'm also a mom.
So I'm a mom to a beautifullittle girl.
She's 13 months old now and I'malso currently pregnant now
with baby number two.
So that's quite an adventure.

(06:08):
We're going to have two undertwo, so it's going to be crazy
but amazing, and I think thatalso kind of all just ties
everything in together with mysporting background and then
being a mom and the differentchallenges and you know, also
coming back from pregnancy totraining again.

Klara (06:27):
Yeah, and hopefully we have some time to touch on that,
because I love that addition.
Thank you, congratulations onthe second baby.
I had a chance to meet yourlittle girl virtually last time
and seems like she has plenty ofenergy and you're leading her
to sports early on.
Actually, at 13 months Seemslike she's already involved with
gymnastics.

Mona (06:47):
Yes, that's right.
Both my husband and I, you know,are big believers in teaching
our little ones from a veryyoung age, and not to a point
where we want to push them intoa competitive sport at that age,
but just helping them learn thevaluable skill of using their
body learning how to climbthings, learning how to roll,

(07:11):
learning how to, you know, evenwhen they fall off certain
obstacles and things, which,with Mia, she's extremely active
.
She's walked since before shewas one.
So it's stressful as a parentto see when you kind of know
that, okay, they can climb offthings and do it properly and
their body is kind of strongenough to handle it.

(07:31):
It definitely helps a littlebit with the stress not a lot,
but it it does help, um, andit's also a great way for them
to just kind of get rid of alltheir energy.
Um, and like now she's becauseshe's so active, like it's been
amazing She'll do the gymnasticsand then she'll nap after and
that gives me a time to dothings like this like a podcast

(07:53):
or fit in some training andstuff like that.

Klara (07:56):
Yeah, I often think about happy child is also exhausted
child.
That is reflecting on my ownupbringing.
I've had so many differentsports, including tennis, which
I never realized how demandingtennis is because you run a lot
on the court.
The yellow tennis ball is agreat distraction to forget how
many miles you actually put inchasing it.

(08:16):
And I always say I've neverbeen a teenager because I've
been always so tired and so whenyou get your energy out doing
whatever sport, I feel like thegrownup is so much easier.
And so, yeah, just reflectingback, I've been grateful for my
parents leading me throughsports as well and not really
having any other energy, evenmind energy, to think about

(08:39):
other things like trouble,things that I could get to and
that other people or kids mayhave, if you don't have full
schedule of activities.

Mona (08:48):
Yeah, I definitely agree with that.
I've seen this a lot as a coachand I've seen this a lot.
Even when I used to do Olympicweightlifting back in South
Africa, there were a lot of kidsthat came from underprivileged
homes and a lot of them are insituations where they could go
either way.
They could go the sportingroute and create a future for

(09:10):
themselves, or they could gointo gangs.
That's what ended up happeninga lot of the times.
Or some of them might startsport, but because there's not a
lot of support and help inespecially, uh, south africa
when it comes to the financialsupport and even with nutrition
etc.
These kids end up starting sport.
They are extremely talented andthen they end up because of

(09:34):
what's going on.
They end up having to maybefind a job or quit school early
or, um, you know, they fall intothe trap of like doing bad
things, like what their siblingsdid and potentially going into
drugs, etc.
But I've always said that sportis an amazing place.
If it's done properly, it canbe a safe place for these kind

(09:56):
of kids.
It can be a place where kidscan come together and they can
learn valuable, valuable skills,not just how to be an athlete,
but you learn communicationskills and leadership skills,
and skills that I think youdon't just use in sport, but
then you end up using in youreducation and in your work one
day, and some of these kidsbecome extremely good with

(10:20):
working with other peoplethemselves and they create
opportunities and open up doorsthrough sport, and that's the
amazing thing that I love to seethat sport does for kids.

Klara (10:32):
Yeah, 100% agree, and actually this podcast is just
about that.
I've had my tennis is what Icall my first career.
I've done it for 15 years.
One could say that I've learnedmuch more from the sport than
from anything else, includingschool.
I have my undergrad and graddegree, but I would say taking
the skills.

(10:52):
I don't know why this.
I want to say thumbs up.
I saw the thumbs down.
Taking the skills I've learnedfrom my athletic has really been
the thing that helped propel mein my second career and conquer
with everything you said, evengaining confidence being a big
kid early on.
I've never been big like size,big but tall, so I never really

(11:15):
fit in, so that confidence fromthe tennis court or whatever
sport you practice kind oftranslates over to the next
chapter, including like schools,kind of translates over to the
next chapter, including likeschools.
Standing wasn't always easy,and you mentioned cultural
diversity and just awareness,whether I've been traveling

(11:35):
internationally, or just thediversity of kids.
When you're at a sporting eventit's beautiful because there's
people and kids from all walksof life.
So that literally sparked myenthusiasm for just having
international friends, includinginternational guests, on this
podcast, like you, and so I lovethat.
You brought up that point and Iwant to dive in maybe even a

(11:56):
little bit deeper to yourbackground.
How was it?
Growing up in South Africa?
It seems like your dad led youthrough that sporting route.
But what made you uncover yourpassion in karate?
It seems like that was yourfirst sport and then, if you can
explain a little bit more and Ifind it actually it's hard for

(12:17):
people to explain how they findtheir passion.
But how did you kind oftransition through the different
sports?

Mona (12:23):
I love this question because it kind of takes me back
to my childhood as well and theway I started karate is I've
always been a person, like Isaid, I've been really active
and I just remember my dadhaving a whole bunch of books in
his like.
He had this library of booksthat was just like either

(12:43):
bodybuilding or some sort of asport, and I remember finding
these martial art books that hehad and it was of Bruce Lee
actually and I started goingthrough them and I was about
like seven years old, because Istarted karate when I was eight
and I just remember goingthrough them and showing my one

(13:04):
friend that lived next door,because he actually started
karate the same time as me aswell, and we were just like how
cool would this be to learn amartial art?
And I don't actually even knowhow it came about.
But then, you know, we bothwent to our parents.
We were like, you know, we wantto start karate.
We ended up starting karate atthe same club as well.

(13:25):
It was one of those things thatI loved doing.
I loved, again, the culturebehind karate.
It just looked really cool.
Like I said, from a young age Iwould either read the books, or
I would watch martial artmovies with my family and stuff.
I actually started my karatecareer then when I was eight
years old, and actually itwasn't as amazing as what I

(13:52):
maybe thought it would have been, and I ended up actually
failing my very first gradingthat I ever did.
Now, for those that don't reallyknow karate, it's like a belt
system.
So you'll start off witheveryone starts off with a white
belt and then you'll go from awhite belt to a yellow belt and
from a yellow to orange andgreen, et cetera, et cetera, and

(14:13):
it's very rare for a kid to notpass a belt.
So I must have been extremelybad to not even get my yellow
belt.
And that actually led my dadinto saying that, okay, listen,
if you want to do a sport, youknow he's extremely competitive

(14:35):
himself.
He's very driven, like he wantshis children to do good in
sport.
So he was like, okay, I'm goingto take you under my wing, I'm
going to start training you.
This is the last time you'reever going to fail a belt.
And that's kind of when myserious training started, and
even though I was just eightyears old at the time, it taught

(14:57):
me many valuable lessons thatI've now carried over into my
life as well.
Training under my dad, it wastough.
I didn't have a chance to say,oh, I'm tired or I want to quit.
It was like now we're going tostart sacrificing.
So when your friends areplaying, like if I had to be

(15:30):
forced into doing something likethat, like I actually ended up
loving the training and I loveddoing well, I loved competing
and, like you mentioned, youknow, with all of that then I
became a six-time karate worldchampion.
And then, with all of thattraining, came then when I
started the Olympicweightlifting that my dad found

(15:52):
or he actually found a coach forme.
And again it was really hardbecause in South Africa,
especially at that time, it wasaround the year 2000.
Especially at that time, it wasaround the year 2000.
It was also the very first yearthat females competed at the
Olympic Games in Olympicweightlifting and it wasn't a

(16:13):
sport known for girls to do.
It was like a male dominantsport.
So if you did it, people lookedat you like why are you doing a
male sport?
So there was a lot of stigmaaround it.
When I started off, people wouldtell me you're going to start

(16:34):
looking like a man and you'regoing to build these insane
muscles and, like what you werementioning earlier, then fitting
in became really hard to apoint where I felt like when I
was at school I didn't fit inwith the normal school kids, but
when I competed and I traveledoverseas and we were on training
camps, it felt like this ishome.

(16:56):
I felt like this is where Ibelong, this is where I'm
thriving, this is the place thatI feel like this is my safe
place and I think if I didn'thave that my safe place and
going on training camps andtraveling overseas, I might have
not liked Olympic weightliftingas much as what I did, just

(17:19):
because as soon as I went backto school, it was teachers and
kids that were teasing me doinga boy sport, etc.
So it was really hard for menavigating the two at the end of
the day, and to a point whereeven when I won medals, when I
would be called up stage forthem to hand over my medals at
school, I felt shy about it andI felt embarrassed about it,

(17:44):
because every time I would winmedals it would feel like I'm
putting myself in a positionwhere people could tease me and
people could pick on me and,like I said, especially the boys
, and even the teachersmentioned it too they were like
what kind of parents would puttheir kid into Olympic
weightlifting?
Like she's going to break herback by the age of 18.
Like it's so bad, et cetera.

(18:06):
And it's so crazy to think howtime has evolved, because now
it's such a popular thing forfemales to lift weights.
Like females want to be strong,females want to feel powerful.
Like I even remember when Iopened up my own gym back in
South Africa, I had a bunch ofwomen that started and they were
saying we love the CrossFitside of things, but we just

(18:29):
don't want to lift the heavyweights.
And at the end of the day theywere the ones that came to me
and said Mona, we want to startOlympic weightlifting, we want
to start lifting heavy weights,we want to feel that powerful
feeling.
And every time they did andthey would hit a new PR or they
would compete, they would loveit even more.
So, yeah, that's just kind ofhow I grew up and how I've had

(18:50):
to navigate, growing up in asituation where I loved my sport
.
It was amazing, I achieved alot, but then, as a kid, it was
a struggle because you have todeal with people teasing you or
bullies and, like you werementioning earlier, like then,
fitting in was hard.

Klara (19:10):
I love so much of what you mentioned and I resonate
with a lot of it.
But first I want to ask wasyour dad an athlete?
Because it's so impressive thathe led you early on through
actually something like.
You mentioned Olympicweightlifting and I want to dive
into the aspect of what youmentioned more.
But yeah, did he have anathletic background?

Mona (19:30):
Yes, yes, my dad was actually quite a good rugby
player himself.
He played like provincial rugbyback in South Africa, which is
really big, and he's always beenvery good at what he does and
he was very talented.
So for him, because he was sucha big sport lover, he wanted to

(19:51):
make sure his kids would dogood in sport as well.
And my dad was a bit extreme toa point where he would be like,
okay, if my child comes likesecond or third, he's like don't
even say you're my child, likeyou need to be a champion.
Some people are like, how couldyour dad be like that?
But you know I now I like overthe years I've come to notice,

(20:15):
you know, like this was my dad,this was his personality, but
it's also it opened up a lot ofdoors for me again and he guided
me into situations where, like,if there were ever situations
where I did fail, quitting won'teven be an option for me, I
would just be like, okay, I'mjust gonna pick it up straight

(20:35):
again, I'm gonna go back to thedrawing board and I'm gonna see
what I did wrong and I'm gonnafix it for next time.

Klara (20:44):
And I love the aspect of resilience.
I've read and listened to someof your podcasts.
You talk about that and I dowant to tie into what I would
call the tough love upbringing,because I've had sort of the
same thing.
My parents, I feel like, werealways tougher on me than
anybody else.
They were like the first topoint out what I could do better

(21:05):
.
We actually still laugh at it.
I just came home from CzechRepublic yesterday and my mom
always got to remind us thisisn't perfect or this isn't, but
it's her way of showing us herlove.
And it can be hard for people atsome point, but once you kind
of grow through that point, I'mso grateful for it, because that
resilience and not being evenafraid of feedback and what

(21:27):
other people tell you it'salways how it's been framed in
our family.
If somebody's telling youtruthfully what they mean and
what you can improve, it meansthey care about you.
So I always had coaches whoyelled at me.
There were many kids thatcouldn't handle the coaches I've
had and they would scream andyell at you, sometimes like bad
words, to kind of push you toand pass 100%.

(21:50):
But I find it is so helpful asyou kind of grow through the
life and then it does need somerefining, I find, later on in
life.
So I'm curious how you've takenthat concept to more of like.
I think at some age you got tobe able to switch to I don't
know if I would call it likethis kindness and appreciation

(22:11):
of your body and yourself to notpush through pain and train
accurately, because I think itcan create more injuries if you
constantly have that mindsetpushing your body through and
past limits at.
I do love also what youmentioned about the
weightlifting.
I do Olympic sorry, not Olympiclifting, more powerlifting for

(22:34):
a workout, and my mom and dadalways were reminding me you're
going to be so big.
There's this stigma associatedwith once.
Instead lifting heavy weights,you're going hard to grow muscle
and be strong and it requiresdiscipline and daily repetition
and refinement of skills,including nutrition.

(22:56):
There are so many aspects thatgoes into building strengths and
so I also love your perspectiveand background and I find there
is more women now.
For sure they're open to it.
I still think we need to push alittle bit more and explain
women that getting strong isimportant, especially as we age
through life, because that's onething I found.
I can't run as much anymore,being close to 40.

(23:20):
And so I've been addingincrementally more the several
years, more weightlifting to myroutine.
To now, I actually mostly liftweights and do some like four
five zone cardio now and then,but weightlifting has now become
my primary way of how I stay inshape.

(23:40):
So I want to just hand it backto you and I know I said a lot,
but whatever comes to mind,what's your view on that?

Mona (23:47):
Yes, firstly, I love it that you are into a strength
sport now because, like youmentioned, a lot of people don't
know the benefits of strengthtraining, especially as you get
older, because then that's whenit becomes even more important
to do those kinds of things,especially for females.
As we age, you know, our bonedensity decreases and things

(24:08):
like osteoporosis is, you know,on the table.
So it's like you need to dothose kinds of things to
actually help increase bonedensity and to be strong in
general.
Like the woman that I've seenwho has done some sort of a
strength training their wholelife, like some of them are like
in their eighties now and youwon't even say it, like they are

(24:30):
walking around, running around.
They look really good.
You can see a difference in theway they present themselves, in
their posture.
Everything about them justlooks strong compared to if
you've seen someone whopotentially haven't lifted
weights for maybe their wholelife, maybe they've been

(24:51):
sedentary.
You can see how those kind ofpeople age compared to the ones
who's done strength training andwhat you also mentioned earlier
about as you get into thosecertain stages of life.
I know this is kind of like whatyou mentioned in the beginning.
You know, as you said, you kindof have to get into a point
where you have to have more likeself-love for your body and,

(25:15):
like you said, if you over pushyourself, you can push yourself
into injuries etc.
And I find that, as an athletewho's been competing for over 20
years at an international level, it's definitely something that
I've struggled with and it'ssomething that you know.
I find like I would be able toget to a point where I'm like,

(25:36):
okay, I'm showing my bodyself-love, I'm doing the right
stuff, my body's recoveringreally well, and then all of a
sudden, you know I would have amindset shift and then I would
like really push my body againand you kind of just go through
these like ups and downs in yoursport.
And I think, push my body againand you kind of just go through
these like ups and downs inyour sport.
And I think you know that'skind of the beauty of being an
athlete as well like it's notjust linear.

(26:00):
You know linear progression itis you go through ups, you go
through downs.
The same thing with your, yourmental side of things as well.
You know these are kind ofthings that you just you have to
learn to navigate.
These are kind of things thatyou just you have to learn to
navigate and these are kind ofthe things that creates those
like extra challenges as well.
But then I think it's alsoimportant to have the right
people in your corner as well,and I must say I've had the most

(26:23):
amazing people in my cornergrowing up, as you know a kid
going into then adulthood, andthen also the same thing with
just developing, and as a femaleas well, your body starts to
change, you go through puberty,so there's a lot more.
I think that comes into playwhen those kind of things happen

(26:45):
as well, and I've seen thismyself as a coach.
I've seen female athletes orgirls how they mentally change
during that kind of time.
And as a coach, you have to beable to be very sensitive around
those times as well.
And, like you mentioned, youcan be a hardcore coach and

(27:06):
there's some athletes who willbe able to be resilient and
they'll be able to push through.
So you were one of thoseathletes.
I feel like I were one of thoseathletes.
I feel like I was one of thoseathletes as well.
You know, I was always treatedas if I was part of the boys, so
I was constantly pushed.
You know there was no suchthing as like oh, your menstrual
cycle started, so let's go alittle lighter.

(27:27):
I mean, I wouldn't even tellanyone, you know, I would just
train through it.
If let's go a little lighter, Imean, I wouldn't even tell
anyone, you know, I would justtrain through it.
If I felt like junk, itwouldn't matter, you know, I
would just show up, I would domy best, I would just come back
to the gym the next day and, youknow, do better, et cetera.
And that's the kind of mindsetI had, but that was also because
there was a lack of informationback in the day as well.

(27:49):
I feel like it's becoming alittle better, where athletes,
especially female athletes, arestarting to talk about this more
as well.
They're starting to talk aboutmenstrual cycles and they're
starting to talk about theimportance of how you need to
take care of your body alsoduring those kinds of times as
well.
Honestly, I was one of thoseathletes who overpushed my body

(28:13):
so much because I always wantedto be the best and, again, I
wasn't educated and competing inOlympic weightlifting.
You compete in weight classesas well, so I ended up and it
might be around 2010, that Iended up losing my menstrual
cycle.
So for two or three years Ididn't have a menstrual cycle at

(28:35):
all, and at that time I justthought and this was because my
body fat percentage was so lowand I was competing in a weight
class and again, I had no oneguiding me at that time.
I had no one telling me this isunhealthy For me.
I just saw it as oh, that'snice, I don't have to deal with
this now monthly, but withouteven knowing how I've educated

(28:59):
myself over the years and thingsthat I've learned about the
body, et cetera.
Now I know how important thatpart of the body actually is.
That is a way of showing youare either healthy or you are
unhealthy.
And when this starts to becometroubles and this is what I
picked up later in life, becausethen I struggled to fall
pregnant I ended up withendometrial polyps, I had to go

(29:21):
for surgery, those kinds ofthings, and those are the kinds
of things that I only yearslater realized that how much
damage I was doing to my body.
But again, if there was theproper forms of education and
females were educated andcoaches were educated, because
back in the day we only had malecoaches.

(29:42):
So men, naturally, it's not atopic they feel comfortable with
.
I feel like nowadays, somemales are a bit more inclined to
know a bit more of it, and Iwas actually lucky my
weightlifting coach that I foundI think it was around 2011,
2012 as well he would ask methese questions.

(30:03):
He would say to me is it thattime of the month, especially if
I was hitting really highnumbers and potentially my
technique wasn't looking good orI was feeling a little off?
I started to realize then, okay, this is actually important and
it does play an important rolein my performance as well.
But, like I said, I just feellike there needs to be a lot

(30:24):
more education out there.
And female athletes they aretrying, they are talking about
it, but I feel like it stillisn't taken very seriously
Because, again, it's a way ofshowing your body is either
healthy, you are on track, likeyou know, when a female ovulates
, like that's the time, she'salso the strongest, but we don't

(30:45):
know these things.
I only started knowing thesethings when I started to, when
my husband and I were trying fora baby, and it blows my mind
because there's so littleresearch out there and there
definitely should be more.

Klara (31:00):
Yeah, I agree, I've also recently started seeing some of
my friends now that are retiringin tennis, talk about it just
because they're having babiesand actually conquer with
everything you said.
I haven't had a regularmenstrual cycle, I think all the
way through college and Ialways seen it like you, I was
like good, I don't have to dealwith it and just the amount of

(31:22):
training you put in, right, itjust kind of changes the body
and the tiredness and what itneeds to focus on the body and
the tiredness and what it needsto focus on.
But I also think about theconnection of the menstrual
cycle to mindset and think aboutlike peak performance and so,

(31:42):
looking at it back then I thinkagain I'm really grateful that
we've been kind of pushing andtraining through it because in
some ways when it comes tocompetition, you don't pick on
which day the competition is andI actually truly believe my
hypothesis.
Sometimes, when you look atwomen's sports at least,
especially in tennis, there seemto be more ups and downs on the

(32:05):
women's side than on the men'ssite, and I actually truly think
that there is this aspect oflike recovery and readiness.
Obviously that's on both sides,but that menstrual cycle and
where we're at at certain pointcan create much more variability
.
There are people that arestarting investing in the apps

(32:27):
or in some more research aboutkind of that, including now kind
of the menopause, which isreally great that I see more
books and more things come out.
Hopefully more and more willcontinue to come up to kind of
see that there's the biologicaland hormonal differences that
require us to pay more attentionto certain things.

Mona (32:47):
I definitely agree with you.
I think again, it's a struggle,I think, for females, and
people don't actually realizethe things that we have to deal
with because, like you mentioned, there's a positive to it that
we never made it a mental thingso when we would compete we
wouldn't mentally psychourselves out because we knew we

(33:08):
were going to potentially haveour cycle at that time.
And there was a time and it wasso funny because I felt like
every single internationalcompetition I had was the exact
same time my menstrual cyclestarted and I was just like man.
You know, it's just somethingyou have to deal with.
Like you said, if it'scompetition day, you can't be

(33:31):
rocking up there and just beinglike, oh, you know, I've got my
cycle, so it's okay if I'm notperforming at my best.
You know you can't have thatmindset Like.
You have to compete and giveyour best, especially if it's at
such a high level and you'vegot so much at stake.
You've got potentially sponsors, you've got your coaches.
You just have so many peoplebehind you, and yourself as well

(33:54):
, in order to show up.
Like you said, you can't choosethe day that it's going to be
your competition day, sosometimes you just have to put
it aside and be like okay, Ihave my menstrual cycle.
Normally it is a time where Idon't feel my best, but I've
personally, as an athlete aswell, I've had some of my best

(34:15):
competitions during that time.
And again then it causes thismental conflict of like okay,
does it become a mental thing,like you said, because you
mentally start telling yourselfokay, when I have my cycle, I
know I already feel off and Ithink you start to train
yourself that during that timeyou're mentally going to feel

(34:39):
off.
But as an athlete, I think it'salso important to, during even
like training sessions and whenyou're building up towards
competitions, to just make surethat even if it happens on a
training day, you can stilltrain through it.
You might not feel the bestthat you possibly could be

(35:00):
feeling and again it could evenbe affecting your confidence or
just even how you presentyourself, because you might just
not feel as strong and powerful.
But again, when it comes to themental side of things, you have
to in your mind, you have torephrase it, you have to turn it

(35:20):
into a positive.
It's competition day, I have toshow up, I have to give my best
, I'm fully prepared, I dideverything I needed to do.
So just think of all the thingsthat were in your control
leading up to that competition.
So I think those kinds ofthings help as well.
And again, having your menstrualcycle that's an uncontrollable.
I know there's doctors outthere who's given athletes you

(35:43):
know, who'll put them on thepole and they'll be able to,
like, skip their cycle and etcetera, et cetera.
But again, I'm not an expert inthat field and I'm not one to
want to promote doing thosekinds of things, just because I
know hormonally, when athletesstart messing with their
hormones, how it can affectthings later on in their life.

(36:05):
Like I mentioned, I onlystarted taking the hormones and
stuff like that seriously whenmy husband and I were starting
to try for Mia, and it took us ayear and a half to fall
pregnant, with two miscarriagesin between as well.
So it really opens up your eyesto how important those kinds of

(36:25):
things are.
But again, as an athlete, you dopush your body to the limits
and you do do things that anormal person would look at and
be like.
Why are you doing this toyourself and that, again,
sometimes make the champion?
They sacrifice certain things.
Like I said, they pushthemselves to the limits.

(36:47):
They are resilient when itcomes to certain things.
If there's certain downs intheir life, you know like they,
they use it to feed themselves,to become better athletes, etc.
So there's there's that.
I guess that there's a positiveto it and a negative to
becoming more educated aboutthese things.

Klara (37:07):
Yes, yeah, on that note and the note of resilience, I've
been reading on your Olympicweightlifting journey and I know
it has taken you 18 years toactually stand on the podium of
the Commonwealth and you'vetried many times.
And on the note of overtraining, it seems like maybe the couple
of times before you had theopportunity and competed in it,

(37:32):
you had injuries, and so I'mcurious if you could share a
little bit about your journeyfor listeners who obviously
haven't heard it yet.
But also, what are some of thekey things that you have taken
away?
Like when you compare the firsttwo times that you qualified
and you competed with an injuryand then the third time, it

(37:53):
seems like you actually changedand tweaked your mindset a
little bit.
That then helped you get to themedal.

Mona (38:01):
Actually that was the fourth time.
So yes, you are exactly right.
Like it took me 18 years tostand on the podium to win a
Commonwealth Games medal, andespecially for those that are
based in the USA.
Just to kind of explain whatthe Commonwealth Games is Now,

(38:24):
like you have the Olympic Gamesin.
You know all sports compete,etc.
Commonwealth Games is thesecond biggest event to the
Olympics, so it's one step downto the Olympics and it's
normally the athletes who alsoend up doing really well at
Commonwealth are also theathletes who end up doing really
well at things like Olympics,et cetera, and Worlds.

(38:45):
So it's a very big competition.
It's really tough.
It's only once every four years, so if something ends up
happening and you are eitherinjured or things doesn't go
well on the day, it's anotherfour year build up towards the
next Commonwealth Games.
And what ended happening with mewas in 2006,.

(39:07):
It was my very firstCommonwealth Games.
I might have been 18 at thetime, or 17, but I was really
young, I was still a juniorathlete.
I ended up coming either fourthor fifth and they kind of put
me like on quite a pedestalbecause I competed.
I was still a junior, Icompeted against senior athletes
.
I was beating most of thesenior athletes as well.

(39:30):
I was holding South Africanrecords in both the junior
weight classes and the seniorweight classes and winning a
whole bunch of internationalmedals in between as well.
I won University World's medal.
I won at the Youth Olympics, Iended up winning silver and I
became the first South Africanto ever have done this at such a
young age, and still the onlyathlete who's ever won a medal

(39:52):
at a world event.
So there was a lot of hope forme going into the next
commonwealth games and with thatfour-year build-up going from
the 2006 commonwealth games tothe 2010 commonwealth games, the
build-up itself was really good.
I'd, but that was also the timeI was studying to become a

(40:15):
sports psychologist.
Like you mentioned, I've got myhonors degree in sports
psychology and I had a lot on myplate.
I had my studies, I had myinternship, we had our thesis
that we had to do Um and I hadto work as well during that time
to get like intern kind ofhours so that I can become a

(40:35):
sports psychologist.
After my studies, et cetera, andleading up to the 2010
Commonwealth Games, like I said,the preparation itself felt
really good.
I just I had a lot going on atthat time, but I've always been
one to be like.
I thrive under pressure, so Ididn't even use it as an excuse.
I didn't see it as anything bad.
I just knew I had to wake upearlier in the morning If I

(40:57):
wanted to get two sessions in aday.
I have to train at five o'clockin the mornings and then come
home and sometimes at like sixseven o'clock at night do my
second session and it was fullon day, seven days a week.
Second session, and it wasfull-on days, seven days a week.
And my 2010 Commonwealth Games.
I ended up going into thecompetition feeling really good

(41:22):
and I pulled my calf muscle.
I think it was the 2010 onethat I ended up pulling my calf
muscle on the day.
Yes, we were in India for thatGames and I ended up getting my
snatches.
But in Olympic weightlifting,if you don't get either your
snatches or your clean and jerk,you end up bombing.
So they give you a total ofzero and, because it's one of
those competitions as well, it'son national tv.

(41:42):
You have the whole countrysupporting you.
Um, it was a very big thing for, like my family and my sponsors
etc.
And bombing at the 2010commonwealth games was mentally
extremely hard for me.
I felt like a failure.
I felt like I couldn't show myface.
I felt like my whole world kindof collapsed and I I went

(42:05):
through this.
You know, I had my calf injury.
I immediately got back fromindia and I started my rehab and
I got straight back intotraining and it took me a little
while of just mentally havingto like kind of deal with what
happened, but I went straightback to the drawing board and
got straight back to trainingand I saw myself as not, like I

(42:25):
said earlier, like I don't seemyself as a quitter.
And then I ended up training forthe 2014 Commonwealth Games and
again, leading up to thatCommonwealth Games, things again
went really well.
My training went good.
I might have had quite a fewlittle niggles at that time as

(42:46):
well, but again, I would justpush through it and I think I
was battling with a wrist injuryat that time and, very similar
to what happened to the 2010Commonwealth Games went into it
over, pushed my body justmentally.
I was just depleted when itcame to the 2014 Commonwealth

(43:06):
Games.
So I didn't even end upenjoying the competition.
I felt like mentally it was astruggle.
Physically it was a struggle.
The weight cut was a struggle,but again I said to myself I'm
not going to use this as anexcuse.
But then my body ended upfailing me on competition day.
Like I said I mentioned, I hadanother injury, as well in 2014.

(43:27):
And then between 2014 and 2018,as well in 2014.
And then between 2014 and 2018,I went through a big mental
shift, and more so because Ialso then ended up deciding in
2015 that my coach is American.
I'm going to prepare with himin America for three months for
the world championships in 2015.

(43:49):
I want to give it a try.
I want to train with him.
I've barely ever trained withmy coaches, unless I was in
training camps, so I I saw it aslike this is an opportunity
that if I don't take this now, II'm probably never going to be
able to do this.
And as an athlete as well, asyou get older, your career only
gets shorter and shorter.

(44:10):
So I knew this was the time.
I also had a crossfit gym thatI owned back in South Africa at
the time crossfit andweightlifting gym.
So I had to just make sure Ihad good coaches running the gym
.
I had a good manager, thingswere still gonna go as planned,
so that when I go to America forthree months to prepare for my
competition, that my gym wasn'tgoing to fail.

(44:31):
So you kind of have the wholestress of the business side.
But then you are also anathlete at that time, and
preparing in America with mycoach was probably the best
thing that I could have done.
It made the world of difference.
I competed in the 2015 Worlds.
I got six out of six.
I broke South African records.
I made a huge total.
I actually ended up going up awhite class as well, which was

(44:55):
the best thing I could have done.
I just felt so much stronger andthe environment itself was so
amazing, to a point where, whenI came back in 2015, I knew that
I wanted to move to America.
I just saw it as this is aplace where there's so much
opportunity.
This is a place where I can seesaw it as this is a place where
there's so much opportunity.
This is a place where I can seemyself growing.
This is a place where I canjust see myself evolving.

(45:18):
And because they took sports somuch more seriously than what
they do in South Africa,especially when it comes to
Olympic weightlifting.
I wanted to give myself thatopportunity and I knew if I
didn't, I'd probably end upregretting it, even though I'm a
very introverted person, when Iknow in my heart that this is
something I need to do in orderto grow or to get to that next

(45:41):
level, either in my sport or inmy career or in life, I need to
do it.
I put my mind to it and I'mlike nothing's going to stop me.
I'm just going to do it to itand I'm like nothing's gonna
stop me.
I'm just gonna do it.
And, yes, I ended up moving toAmerica.
I then opened up a weightliftinggym in a CrossFit gym as well,
in Austin, texas, and I ended upworking with quite a few

(46:01):
special forces athletes, specialforces guys, and I ended up
also opening up a youthweightlifting section as well,
and that's when I created, likethis whole youth weightlifting
program, which again was amazing, because training kids is just
one of my big passions and justbeing in that atmosphere and I

(46:23):
think, taking that next step, itput me in a place where I was
closer to my coach and we couldwork more closer towards, you
know, my actual goals.
And during that time heactually said to me that, mona,
I think instead of trainingtwice a day because you always
have so much on your plate,you're always so busy, because

(46:43):
you've been injured the wholetime, you're constantly sick we
need to take it down a notch.
I think we need to train once aday and we need to trust in the
process that you are going tostill perform as well or even
better, by just being able torecover more.
And it was a big mental shiftbecause I was always a believer

(47:04):
of, like, yes, quantity overquality.
But for an athlete going fromtwo trainings a day to just one
I mean, you go from like howmany sessions I had about like
10 sessions a week, from 10sessions a week to now doing
potentially just six it was abig change for me.
And mentally I didn't know if Iwas ready in the beginning

(47:27):
because I thought you know whatif I get weaker?
You know I need to put in theextra work, et cetera.
But I also knew that I 100%trusted my coach and I trusted
in the process and I said youknow what, let's do this, we've
got nothing to lose.
And immediately I started tofeel so much more energized, I
started to feel mentally so muchmore like recovered.

(47:49):
Feel mentally so much more likerecovered.
I started to feel like I couldfocus more on like my body and
my recovery and just being moreme and enjoying my sport instead
of actually just like breakingmy body down every single time.
And, like I mentioned, leadingup into that 2018 Commonwealth
Games, I went into theCommonwealth Games with no

(48:12):
niggles.
Mentally, I just felt so muchmore ready.
I felt excited to compete.
I felt that hunger again and Ijust had a different feeling
going into it.
I was like, whatever happens, Ijust feel ready and I went
there.
I felt so much more confident.
I wasn't just fatigued allaround and, yeah, I ended up

(48:36):
having my base competition day,got six for six again broke
South African record, stood onthe podium, probably like made
history for South Africa,because I was the second female
ever in Olympic weightlifting towin a medal at a Commonwealth
Games.
So it was an amazing moment andI always forget, unless I look

(48:58):
back at what I've achieved andit was just such a special
moment.
But, like you mentioned, ittook a lot of resilience and
hard work.
But also there's a time in yourlife where, if something isn't
working.
You have to change things andyou have to have that mindset
shift and you have to do thingsdifferently, because otherwise

(49:20):
you just do the same thing overand over again and get the same
result, and that's just when youknow, okay, things need to
change.

Klara (49:28):
I love so many things about your story and what you
shared.
Curious, curious though, howold were you when you were
training for the last one andyou realized you need to dial
down the amount of training I?

Mona (49:40):
think I might've been 28 or 29.
I was close to 30.
I've already then been doingthe sport for close to 20 years.
And you know, in my 20 years oftraining, close to 20 years,
and you know, in my 20 years oftraining, I never changed the
way I trained.
I just pushed, push, push.
And you don't realize, liketraining the way you did when
you were 12.
Comparing training, you know,the same way at 27 it's just not

(50:04):
the same thing.
Mentally, physically, recoverytakes 10 times as long.
So there's just so many morefactors to look at.

Klara (50:12):
I laugh because I've gone exactly the same route.
I think mine actually startedearlier my hypothesis and kind
of would love your opinion on itespecially women because we
start I say we start agingsooner, because we stop growing
a little bit sooner.
Right, I actually think thatthe re-evaluation of the amount
of work that needs to happenshould start at least in already

(50:36):
, like early twenties, that'swhere.
I actually over-train a lotbecause I would be used to
training six, seven hours a dayfrom 13 to 20 in a tennis
academy and in tennis there'slike a lot of things.
So it's not just obviouslytennis skills, but you have the
conditioning, you have somestrength, agility, like there's
many components of the game thatyou can train individually,

(50:57):
separately.
And then when I came to collegeI was like, oh, this is like
normal.
I used to train this much andyou don't realize how much more
where you're getting, includingif you're not getting enough
sleep because you're studying,so your body can recover,
because you're up and you haveexams, and so you have to take
all of that into account.
And the recovery at theuniversity actually wasn't as

(51:18):
good as what I was used tobefore.
So what I'm trying to say, it'sreally important also what it
seems you had in this instance,a coach and people who pointed
out to you and help you navigatethat mindset shift, because
I've gone through it myself andI was like I was so stupid If I
trained less, I could have beensuch a better athlete because I

(51:40):
wouldn't have all the injuries.
So I always had in my mind Ineed to push the body to and
past the limit, and when itstarted breaking down, it
usually breaks down when you'reclose to at least your level of
perfection, right, when youthink everything is going good
and you push just a little bit,it's typically as you actually
had experience before thebiggest competitions because

(52:02):
you're trying to be perfect oras good as you can to build up
towards that.
Because you're trying to beperfect or as good as you can to
build up towards that, it'sjust one little thing that
happens and it kind of breaks,so you almost feel it like your
body broke down and you're madat the body.
Instead of just reflecting,maybe I should dial it down.
And so it was really great thatyou had that coach next to you

(52:23):
and, again, you train with himso he could observe that and
help you navigate.
Less is more.

Mona (52:30):
You need to step back, and I think, especially for
athletes or people who are usedto driving, that pulling back is
so hard it is and I feel likeit's something that you, as the
athlete, it's much easier if acoach tells you to do that, and
that's why I always say you knowit's something that you, as the
athlete, it's much easier if acoach tells you to do that, and
that's why I always say you knowit's so important.
It doesn't matter how good youare in your sport, you need a

(52:53):
coach.
Because I feel like if wedidn't have coaches, if we had
to take control of the wheel,like you mentioned, like we
would just be going full forceall the time until our body just
physically and mentally, wejust break down and our bodies
is just like nope, we just can'tcarry on yeah, and so maybe

(53:13):
going back a little bit more tothe mindset, because you
described quite a bit of themindset and changing mindset in
many different ways, butespecially in olympic lifting.

Klara (53:23):
I love watching o Olympic lifting.
It's just so impressive theamount of weight you are able to
lift in just such an elegantway.
But, like, what I'm watching islike, oh my God, like how can
they snatch or clean and jerkthat amount and from my own,
more of a powerlifting.
Now I've done some Olympiclifting.

(53:43):
Actually, when I was at aCrossFit gym you may know Joanne
Ada and Max Ada.
They were part of a CrossFitCSA, so they taught me Olympic
lifting technique.
I find it's a beautiful sportto move the bar in such an
elegant way.
But you also only have that onelift.
So when you get on the stage, Ialways look at the facial

(54:07):
expression and the bodyexpression, like everybody.
When they walk, they have theirlittle different routine, even
how they grab the bar, or itseems like you're going through
so much in your mind so thatprobably translates to all
different parts of your life.
What do you want to share, mona, about that?
Your preparation for for it,the mental side, and how you've

(54:28):
taken that to different aspectsas well, or to your other
athletes that you now coach?

Mona (54:33):
yes, I, I think that's such an important question, uh,
clara, because you know, I alsothink that especially when
people start the sport ofolympic weightlifting them
starting it, like you know theyhave this like thing in their
mind of like what they want toachieve.
And then they realize, well,olympic weightlifting is
actually really hard.

(54:54):
And I always say, you know it'sreally hard, but you know you
have to break down the movementsand once you start mastering
the skill of doing the movements, then automatically your body
starts remembering and that'swhen you also start to feel like
super proud of yourself.
You're like, wow, I actuallyknow now how to snatch, I know
how to get under the bar, andeven as an athlete, it's

(55:17):
constant growth.
It's constantly like technicalthings will come up.
So you will find that, even ifyou've done the sport for 10 or
20 years, like your coach willalways pick something out and be
like, oh no, you need to pullcloser, or you need to push more
with your legs, or you need toget full extension, or you need
to be more aggressive with yourpunch or something.
Um, but it's also, again, it'sthe beauty of the sport, because

(55:41):
there's all these like littlechallenges as well.
But when it comes to the mentalside of Olympic weightlifting,
I feel like it teaches a lot ofpatience.
It teaches you to also havethat mind muscle connection.
But then again, when it comes totraining and competing and I
think this is sometimes whereathletes tend to go wrong or

(56:04):
when they start to compete theyhave a whole different approach
when it comes to routine thanwhat they do in training.
Now I always say you know, theway you train is the way you
compete.
So you need to make sure thatmentally, you do the same thing
that you are going to do incompetition.
Physically, you need to do thesame thing as what you're going
to do in competition, becausethe end of the day, when you

(56:27):
compete, there's a lot morethings that come to play.
Like there's there's nerves andthere's adrenaline and there's
now you are the only person on astage, potentially with a whole
bunch of people in front of you, like now there's judges and
you need to know where to lookand not get distracted.
And you need to know where tolook and not get distracted and
you need to walk onto thatplatform and a hundred percent

(56:49):
believe that you know you can dothis weight.
I think we spoke about it alittle bit in our conversation
that we had prior to the podcastwe talked about.
You know like if you go and dothat weight, you can't have an
ounce of doubt.
You need to 100% believe.
And the thing also aboutweightlifting is, even though

(57:09):
there's so many components to it, you can't overthink it.
So then when you step onto thatplatform, you might have one or
two cues that you think about,but that's it.
What I normally do is, when Istep onto the platform at
international competitions, etcetera, I'll chalk my hands up

(57:30):
and stuff, and I've got mylittle like routine.
That I do is like I'll walk upand down, but during that time,
even when I walk up and down, Iwill literally just focus on my
breathing.
And this is something thatbetween 2014 and 2018, I really
started to focus on as well,because I'm an athlete that I
can do really well in training,and then sometimes, when I would
compete, my nerves would justtake over that when I stepped on

(57:53):
the platform, I would literallyfeel numb, I would feel like
I'm not in my body and when Itouched the bar, things would
just feel out of sync.
And I then learned over timethat that was also because then
when I walked onto the platformand I was so nervous, my
breathing wasn't in sync.
So that was one thing that Ireally focused on going into the

(58:16):
Commonwealth Games was focusingon grounding myself, focusing
on getting my breathing properly, and that helped me not just
feel more focused, but it alsohelped me feel stronger when I
did my actual lift.
But again, that's somethingthat it took years and years and
years for me to be able tomaster and even once I mastered

(58:41):
it, there's still competitionsafter that where I wouldn't get
it perfectly.
But again, it again starts withtraining.
So if you find something thatworks, I always say stick to
your routine.
Make sure you do it in trainingso that when competition time
comes you're not doing newthings, you're not all of a
sudden now, because it'scompetition time, you're eating

(59:03):
different, you need to sleepmore, you need to focus on
different things.
If you're not used to listeningto music in training, don't go
into competition now all of asudden listening to music,
because it could distract you,it could mess with your whole
way of doing things andsometimes when athletes do that,
they end up over-psychingthemselves and then, like I

(59:23):
mentioned earlier, you go intothe platform and the energy that
you were supposed to use forthat lift at that moment tends
to be gone.
So you need to make sure thatyou reserve all that energy for
that split second that you aregoing to do that snatch and
everything is just going to cometogether.
So, yeah, that's a little bitabout the mental side of the
training versus competing.

Klara (59:45):
Yeah, love it.
And again, as I listened tosome other podcasts you were on,
it seems like you had quiteelaborate routine.
I actually used to have quiteelaborate routine in tennis too,
to a point where I think maybeit was just way too much like a
whole two, two and a half hourthing that I kind of had to go
through and then I found, oh,two and a half hour is not
effective in college, because incollege you're like the whole

(01:00:07):
team and the whole team can'tadjust to like my own routines.
I had to figure out how torefine it and make it shorter
and more effective.
But I would love to dive ineven a little bit more to your
routine on stage.
Can you lead us in?
You said you put a chalk in.
What do you do from breathingtechnique?
What do you tell yourself?
Do you have some cues thatreally helped you focus?

(01:00:29):
I'm curious about it.

Mona (01:00:30):
Yes, and again, this is something that I felt like over
time, I mastered a lot more andmore as well, and I think even
as an athlete as well.
If something doesn't goaccording to plan, say, for
example, I thought I'm going tobe called up in three attempts
time, which gives me roughlylike three minutes before I step

(01:00:52):
on stage.
And in weightlifting there's alot of technical things that
happen behind the stage as welland tactical stuff.
So sometimes coaches wouldchange the numbers that you know
the athletes would lift on theactual platform at that time.
So then, all of a sudden, if Ithought to myself, I still had
maybe one more warmup attempt todo.
Now all of a sudden they callmy name because coaches have now

(01:01:13):
changed what their athletes arestarting, and as an athlete,
you cannot panic.
So the first thing you need todo is you need to like.
What I've noticed over theyears is like I ground myself.
You know, what I've noticedover the years is I ground
myself.
I tell myself, whatever happens, I'm ready.
So if I'm one warm-up short, itdoesn't matter, I'm going to

(01:01:33):
step on stage and I'm going todo this weight.
So the first thing I do is Ialways make sure that when I'm
at the back, I will always focuson the positive.
I will always tell myself youknow, really motivational things
.
Like you know, I'm strong, Idid the work.
I also walk at the back with adifferent kind of presence as

(01:02:01):
well, because I find that if I'msitting there because I'm also
a very introverted person if Ijust sit in between my lips as
well and my shoulders around it,I automatically feel less
confident and I feel smaller andI just feel like all these
other girls around me arelifting all these big weights.
Am I actually worthy of beinghere?
So I walk into that backstageand not arrogant, but I walk in

(01:02:23):
there knowing that, like I'mready, Whatever weight's going
to be put on the bar, it's meand the bar.
I don't care about what anyonedoes around me, because my coach
is the one who will say to meokay, it's now time to do this
warmup lift or that warmup lift,etc.
So I only focus on the weightitself.
Now, one thing I also do is I'vegot like a training playlist

(01:02:45):
that I listen to, and sometimesI will only have like one or two
songs that I will choose andI'll play them on repeat, over
and, over and over again and Idon't get bored of them.
They always motivate me.
It's so funny, but those arethe songs that even when I walk
onto the platform at the back,I'll play those songs in my mind

(01:03:07):
, because it tends to make mefeel confident, it makes me feel
happy and it makes me feel likeman.
I'm going to do this weight andit's so crazy what music can do
.
And I know there's someathletes out there that they
don't listen to music.
They're perfectly fine justsitting with their own thoughts.
But I don't want to sit with mythoughts because I don't want a

(01:03:28):
negative thought to creep in.
So I'll listen to my musicuntil I step on stage.
Like I mentioned earlier, theway I walk onto that stage, I
already try and walk on there asif I know I've already got this
weight.
You can't walk onto thatplatform having any doubts.
I visualize as if I've alreadydone the weight as well.

(01:03:51):
So I'll chalk my hands up.
I do my little well, walk atthe back, like once or twice.
I then will close my eyes.
I'll do a quick visualization ofme actually completing the lift
and seeing how I want that liftto be done.
I speed it up a bit becauseobviously I don't have.
You only have a minute to walkonto the platform and do your
lift and I go to that bar.

(01:04:14):
I, again, when it comes to mybreathing, I do nose breathing
in by my nose, out by my mouth,and I tend to just wait until I
feel like, okay, my heart rateis regulated, and then I go and
I do that lift.
So, again, there's not a lot ofthoughts that happen between me

(01:04:34):
and doing that lift.
I have maybe one or two things,but it's more my approach, my
breathing, and then just likebeing super aggressive when I do
that weight.

Klara (01:04:48):
I love that because I've had similar kind of routine in
tennis and perspective and Ifind in those moments, the less
you can think the better.
So if you can actually get toyour zone of just having no
thoughts, it's almost the best.
And it seems like you've alsostudied the mindfulness and just
trusting that movement andtrusting that body.
It knows how to move.

(01:05:10):
So if you just get in and letit do its thing without any
doubts, that's when you can bethe best.
Just think positive.
And you also talked, um, aboutvisualization and the power of
visualizing, which, um, I'vealso done in tennis.
So actually, on that note, Ifind it's really important for

(01:05:31):
coach and athlete to find thisfit.
You've given some examples fromyour career and I think it's
important in the skill of thesport, but I think in the mental
aspect even more so, becauseeverybody is a little bit
different, everybody's mindworks a little bit differently,
and so we need to find almostour own routines and things that

(01:05:53):
work for us to rewire ourthoughts from the negative or
restrictions and anxiety toperformance and this almost
empty space of letting ourbodies just flow to perform the
movement accurately.
Do you have any tips on that,mona, or how do you find that

(01:06:14):
athlete match, kind of coachmatch, and how do you coach your
athletes through that mindsetshift.

Mona (01:06:21):
Yes, definitely.
Again, through my years, eventhough my coach wasn't like a
mental performance coach or asports psychologist, he was
really good with knowing how toground me and he didn't panic.
And again, for me I feel likethat's really important with a
coach that you know thingsaren't always going to go

(01:06:42):
according to plan.
You're not always going to winall the medals, so when that
happens you and the coach needto be in sync.
But I think the first thingthat needs to happen, there
should be a really strong trustbond between you and your coach,
because that's when you believethat if your coach tells you
you can do this weight, even ifyour coach isn't a sports

(01:07:02):
psychologist, you need to knowthat my coach won't tell me I'm
going to do a weight if hedoesn't really believe I'm not
going to do that.
I still remember there was onecompetition where I almost clean
and jerk double body weight.
I clean and jerked 120 kilosand it was the first time I've
ever done that weight.
The plan was to go into thatcompetition and do 115.

(01:07:23):
My coach said you know,we're're just gonna go up to
like 90 95 percent super lightcompete.
And then my coach just said tome like you're looking really
strong today.
Let's just put 120.
And at first I was like,because my coach's name was
Dutch, I was like Dutch, that'sfirstly, that's not 90 percent
like that.
That means like we're gonna doa super heavy competition day

(01:07:46):
because.
And then my coach is like youknow how to clean and do it,
like you know what's the issue.
I was like, yep, he's right,I'm just going to, you know,
psych myself up.
I know I can do this.
That won't tell me I can do 120.
If he doesn't believe I can do120, even though afterwards he
was like he took a big chancebut he also knows that I'm a

(01:08:06):
very gutsy lifter.
So if he shows a lot ofconfidence in the fact that he
knows I can do it, I grab fromthat confidence and I
automatically believe then thatI can do it and I think that's a
really strong dynamic that ifyou have that with a coach, you,
you guys, are probably going togo a long way for a really long

(01:08:28):
time.
I think the problem is when youfind a coach and maybe you are
dealing with some mental thingsand maybe you don't have a
sports psychologist that you see, but you are looking for the
mental help from your coach andyour coach isn't able to give
that to you.
Or maybe you you are lookingfor someone that you could

(01:08:51):
potentially trust and in like acompetition time where your
coach said one thing and thenall of a sudden he changes to
another thing and you maybe, asan athlete, picked up like there
was doubt or your coach didn'tbelieve that you could do that.
I think that's where troublenormally comes.
But yeah, I also think thateven though a coach should be

(01:09:11):
really good on the mental sideas well, I also believe that if
the coach is not an expert insports psychology or mindset
training, you shouldn't bescared to refer your client to a
sports psychologist, because,at the end of the day, he's an
expert in his field and a sportspsychologist because, at the
end of the day, he's an expertin his field and a sports
psychologist is an expert intheir field.
Sometimes just having the twoof them could make a really good

(01:09:35):
team.
I've seen some really gooddynamics where there are
athletes who have sportspsychologists and having the
sports psychologist on the sidehas made a huge difference in
the way they perform.
It's made a huge difference ineven their communication with
their coaches, because I thinkoften what ends up happening as,
like an athlete, you don'tshare every single thing with

(01:09:58):
your coach.
And it's important if you dowant to have that really strong
bond and you do want to get tothe next stage, like in
competition, or you want toreach high levels, you and your
coach need to have, like Imentioned, that trust bond and
you need to be able to sharecertain things with your coach.
And I think if you can do thatand there's a really good way of

(01:10:21):
you know just being able tocommunicate with your coach,
then I think you're going to goquite far with your coach.
But it's definitely it's uniqueto everyone else.
You need to kind of just assesshow things go.
Sometimes you find a coach andit's a perfect match, and
sometimes you find a coach andit just isn't.
I mean, I've gone through a fewcoaches, like in my sporting
career as well.

(01:10:41):
Luckily, I didn't have toactually like leave coaches, but
going from national team tonational team, like coaches just
changed, so it was like anormal thing.
But when I ended up choosing myamerican coach, I knew like the
first agreement we had is likehe said to me I will be your
coach and I will be there 1000,just because we, because we are

(01:11:05):
so far from each other.
I'm in south africa and he's inamerica.
He said I don't want you to faround on the program.
He's like if this is what I'msaying, you are doing, you need
to do exactly this, and if youcan't, we communicate about it.
But that's the only way this isgonna work.

Klara (01:11:21):
yeah, I love you highlighting the trust and just
having great communication, orsomething I definitely reflect
on and conquer from experience.
You can't push somebody orinspire somebody to go and pass
their limits or potentialwithout really them trusting the
coach, trusting in the athleteas well chest thing in the

(01:11:48):
athlete as well.
Anything else you want tohighlight, mona, when it comes
to that connection, psychology Iknow we're running kind of on
time here, but I just love yourexperience and you've talked
about again the resiliencyroutines.
What comes to mind that youthink people might want to focus
on more in even 2024, as we'recoming to turbulent times, that

(01:12:10):
you think they can take from theathletic mindset and
performance of a top athletelike you to their personal lives
.

Mona (01:12:16):
I think you know one of the important things is, like
you have to realize that when itcomes to your mindset, you have
to train it the exact same wayas what you would train your
physical side mindset.
You have to train it the exactsame way as what you would train
your physical side.
I think a lot of people thinkautomatically you are just going
to have this either really goodmindset and it's going to stay
good, and you're going to stayconfident.

(01:12:36):
And that's one of the things asan athlete that I learned.
You go through a lot of ups anddowns.
You go through stages whereyou're confident.
Then you go through stageswhere you just really doubt
yourself, especially wheninjuries come or there's certain
obstacles in your way.
Then you go through stageswhere you just really doubt
yourself, especially wheninjuries come or there's certain
obstacles in your way.
But again, you need to takethose as learning experiences
and when it happens, like Imentioned, you have to

(01:12:56):
continually train your mind.
So if you want to learn how tovisualize, you need to train
visualization the same way asyou would train your physical
skills.
If a certain situation happens,like, say, you are an athlete
who have to think really fast,if you have to quickly change
your mindset, there's certainlike little techniques and
things that you can do to helpyou quickly change your mindset,

(01:13:19):
but again, you have to train it.
And then again you have to makesure that all of this happens
in training so that when itcomes competition time you've
already mastered those skillsthe physical and the mental side
of things so that when you cometo competition time you can
just literally take all of thoseskills and be like okay, I'm

(01:13:40):
taking the whole package and nowI'm just putting it all to the
test.
And, like I said, sometimes itwill work.
Sometimes you will getcompetitions where it just won't
go as good, but it's reallygood to reflect afterwards.
Go back to the drawing boardand you know sport, like
anything in life, it's alearning experience.
Like I said, you're going to gothrough ups, you're going to go

(01:14:00):
through downs, but sometimes,when the bad things happen, you
have to take it with a grain ofsalt.
Sometimes, when the bad thingshappen, you have to take it with
a grain of salt.
You have to move on and youjust have to believe that these
obstacles are there to make youstronger yeah, 100% and conquer
with all you said.

Klara (01:14:13):
Even reflect on my time is the hardest time.
That always refine my skillsthe best and seems like what
you've shared from thatexperience.
When it came to my competition,I had a similar approach to
where, when I got to thetournament or the court,
obviously that it counted themost.
All I had to do is like I justwant to play the same way in

(01:14:34):
practice.
So if you're, you make yourpractice the same way like the
competition and you go in withthe same mindset.
My goal's always been if I justdo the same thing like in
practice, I'm good, so that itseems like you had the same
approach in life.

Mona (01:14:49):
Yes, that's great.

Klara (01:14:51):
Anything else for people who want to reach out to you,
maybe have some tips for how tonavigate their mind and even
their weight training to grow onall aspects.
What's the best way to reachout or follow you?

Mona (01:15:06):
Mona grow on all aspects.
What's the best way to reachout or follow you, mona?
Yeah, so, um, I, a little whileago, I just changed quite a few
of my uh social media accountnames, just so it's more in sync
, um.
So if you want to find me oninstagram, I'm um strong by mona
, um, the same thing with mytiktok.
The same thing with my youtube,where I post you, you know, I
post training tips.

(01:15:26):
I post a lot of thingspostpartum now as well, um, and
getting back into training,obviously, post baby, but I post
a lot of mindset things as well.
Uh, and yeah, those areprobably the three main
platforms that you can reach me.
Um, and if someone wants topersonally contact me, they can
either send me a DM or they canemail me me at mona, at liftbig
eat big dot com.

(01:15:46):
Um, because lift big eat big isthe website that my husband and
I have as our, as our business.
Um, so, yeah, that's the way tocontact me excellent thank you.

Klara (01:15:56):
I'll add those to the episode notes so people can
easily find you.
And thank you so much.
It seems like we could talk forhours.
Maybe we can do a round two atsome point, mona, because we
didn't get everything.
I wanted to into this timeAwesome.
Thank you, Laura.

Mona (01:16:09):
I love being on your podcast.

Klara (01:16:10):
I want to ask you to please do two things that would
help me greatly.
One, please consider leaving areview on Apple Podcasts,
spotify or any other podcastingplatform that you use to listen
to this episode.
Two, please share this podcastwith a friend who you believe
might enjoy it as well.
It is a great way to remindsomeone you care about them by

(01:16:31):
sharing a conversation theymight be interested in.
Thank you for listening.

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Klara Jagosova

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}73. Mona de Lacey︱Mental Game of Champions: Overcoming Challenges, Resilience and Winning