What if the thing standing between you and the performance of your life isn't more effort, it's the noise in your own head?
In this episode of Women Around a Table Eating Food, Lisa MacDonald—the world-record powerlifter Instagram knows as Lisa Maximus and our dear friend—has never had a work ethic problem. She's coached since she was 19, out-trains pain most of us will never fathom, and squats numbers that could stop a train. But meet after meet, she'd get to the platform and freeze, with a ready body and a mind that hijacked her moment. She'd tried the breathing drills, the sports-psych talk, the mindset hacks. None of it moved the needle.
And then, there was Nic.
Our very own resident therapist (and Lisa's friend AND coaching client) handed Lisa a recording and said listen to this at night. Barely able to stay awake for it, a handful of sleeps later, she walked up to the bar at her next record-breaking conquest calm, clear, laser-focused…and had the best powerlifting meet of her life. She thought something was wrong with her. But it was Nic’s hypnosis, and it worked.
In this episode, Lisa and Nic trade places as the strength coach becomes the student inside Nic's own practice, Tranceform Performance, where they let us watch the reversal up close. Nic explains what hypnosis actually is (a focused, relaxed state where the mind gets open to change) and what it isn't (mind control, swinging pocket watches, clucking like a chicken). They get into why insight isn't a prerequisite for change, the belt cue Lisa didn't know she'd been given, and why Nic told a powerlifter to “channel her feminine.” And because this is WTF, there's a green-drink debate, a steak-marbling metaphor for an MRI, and an impromptu pelvic-tilt clinic for Jen's cranky back.
If Nic can move a wall for Lisa Maximus, it's probably worth the rest of us leaning in. Calling all moms, managers, and anyone who's ever gone blank when it counted, you don’t have to be an athlete to add a new coping and healing tool to your toolbox. Come ready to be inspired.
Content note: this conversation touches on OCD, anxiety, and exposure therapy, and describes personal experiences with hypnosis. It's one athlete's story, not medical or psychological advice.
Zero-Hype Takeaways:
• Hypnosis, done well, is closer to being absorbed in a good book than losing control — a focused, relaxed state where the mind is open to change.
• You don't need to understand why a pattern started in order to interrupt it. Insight is not a prerequisite for change.
• The most disciplined people often hit walls that effort can't fix, because the block is in performance, not preparation.
• A tool that feels "too simple" can still be the one that finally works (and skepticism doesn't disqualify you from benefiting).
• This isn't just for elite athletes: the same nerve that freezes a lifter freezes a presenter, a parent, a beginner.
Follow these phenoms!
💪🏻 FIND Lisa MacDonald ("Lisa Maximus") and her Maximus Strong Training Program at www.lisamaximus.com
💪🏻 FOLLOW her at @lisamaximus
💪🏻 FIND Nic at https://www.tranceform-performance.com
