LeCharles Bentley breaks down how players build intent, a confident mindset that translates to the field. He walks through visualizing each rep in the weight room, treating squats and shoulder presses like game scenarios, and executing with aggression. Mental rehearsal linked to physical work embeds confidence into performance.
Welcome back to Preparation 4 Performance. I'm LeCharles Bentley, and today we're going to talk about building intent. How do you go about building intent? You use your training to do so. The bulk of your time as an athlete is going to be spent where? In your developmental phase, which means that's your prime opportunity to become the player you want to be. We hear young players all the time asking questions like, how do I stop the bull rush? What happens if he puts his arm in my throat? What do I do? What do you do then? Well, I'll tell you what you do. You focus on using your time in the weight room to build a bit of an attitude about yourself. You build a bit of moxie about yourself as an athlete, and that what shows up in your performance. But if you don't spend the time investing in how you approach everything you do in your training, you will never be able to functionally and consistently approach the challenges in your performance the way that we all want to. There's a drill, there's not a skill acquisition phase that can take you down the road of greater performance the way that your training can and that focus on becoming the best player that you can be can provide. So with that said, how does it look? Well, the first thing we often see— let's just take a squat for now— the first thing we often see with players is this. You just get up under the bar. There's no attitude to it. There's nothing intentional about it. It's just, "I got the ball on my back." Well, that's great. Well, what are you going to do when you got 3 technique around your throat? Ask for a new drill? No. What you got to do— rack it— is visualize how you want this engagement to turn out. And not only visualize it, you have to attack it in that manner in which you want it to ultimately turn out. So what I'm going to have him do is this: you're going to visualize a rep. How are you going to attack that rep? How are you going to approach that defender? How are you breaking the huddle? How are you walking to that line of scrimmage? You do so with confidence and with a little attitude about yourself. This rep is your next set. This rep is your first game. This is how we're going to approach it. So let me see what it looks like now. Boom. Locked in. Good. Rack it. Don't get too excited. That's how you approach things with a bit of intent. You take that attitude and you ingrain it. It becomes a part of who you are. And all those questions that you have about the what-ifs, your training takes care of it. So here's another example. Gonna have the OLP moving crew bring some weights in. Yes, we have a moving crew here. You didn't even know that. They're not for sale, so don't be trying to reach out to us and get the guys to come in and move your furniture and stuff. We don't do that. Here's another example of what intent can do for you. We often see young players with shoulder press, and then they try to get the weight up and they just kind of casually Squirm it up and— Nah, man, that's not how you do it. Come on, man, put the weight on down. Do it how the cool kids do it, man. When you see them like just struggling to get— Eh, yeah, eh. I get it up. Okay, it's cool. I'm set now. Here I go. And then now I begin my movement. Wrong. You've gotten your ass kicked on your first rep. Sorry, it just is what it is because you've blown an opportunity to get better as a football player. So I want you now is to think about it like this. You've broken the huddle. You're walking to the line of scrimmage. Here's your first play. So I want to see you drive that weight up, drive that weight up, set yourself, and give me some violence at the top. Here we go. First one, up. Set yourself. Nice. Up. Boom. Down. Up. Good. Down. Rack it. Nice job. This is how you use your training to become a better football player. Building intent is about building the mind. If you can build your mind, you're gonna build your body. If you can build your mind and you can build your body, you can build your performance. It's really just that simple. But if you blow the time in your training, do not wonder why your performance is not increasing. Simple. The investment will always equate to the return. This is where you invest. You focus on what you're doing. You visualize the success that you want. You visualize where you want to go because that first game is coming. That big bad wolf is coming and you better be prepared for it. And that's what intent is and this is how you go about establishing it. Hope this helps you.
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