In various events in life football, track, swimming, weightlifting you are familiar with the plays and your opponents, you know the event/distance, you may know the course you’re running, or you have an idea of the weights you will be lifting. Like any good teacher knows if you are being tested you need to study for the test. It is inefficient and counterproductive to study what will not be on the test even if it is interesting.
In weightlifting you are testing your ability to skillfully demonstrate power and strength. In powerlifting you are demonstrating your absolute/relative strength. In distance running you are demonstrating your mechanical efficiency. In physique and bodybuilding you are demonstrating your poise and confidence.
If you are a runner and the course has hills you simulate the course by finding routes that are similar. If it is a 5k you don’t try to become efficient at a 10k. Your goal is to be you fastest at a 5k. A treadmill doesn’t prepare you for the weather outside and the terrain.
If you are a weight lifter and your meet is in the morning you are not going to function effectively if you don’t train in the morning. It is a good idea that your body is used to being awake in the morning so your body sets it’s circadian rhythm accordingly.
If you are attempting a weight it is important to build your confidence with weights at supramaximum of a similar pattern. Clean pulls and front squat for clean and jerk. Snatch pulls and overhead squat for snatch. You should be at a phase in your training where the intensity is high and the volume has dropped to facilitate a nervous system recovery. The gym is your Petri dish. This didn’t happen overnight, this task you laid before yourself. It is not mere happenstance how you arrived.
If you are a gambler you count cards, if you are a hunter you wait up wind. You specialize for the circumstances that you can control because you understand the variables of your sport. You are just respawning on a different platform with a heavier weight. It is Deja vu because you have been here before. You have prepared, YOU ARE PREPARED.