Anyone who’s seen his videos knows he’s not one to keep his mouth closed both when he is working out and when others are working out. “Don’t stop until you’re the biggest sidewalk cracking mother f***er” and “No matter what you do it’s still your mother f***ing set” are a few examples of the motivational self-talk CT preaches.

Hardy et al. (2001) outlines self-talk's multiple functions. CT uses self-talk for motivational arousal to psych-up before lifts and motivational drive to regulate effort and drive.

CT does not lift anything light meaning he has a high level of confidence in his ability to lift heavy weight for a ridiculous number of repetitions. His self-talk can be used as a source to enhance this confidence. Although less relevant to resistance training, a study by Hatzigeorgiadis et al. (2008) found self-talk significantly increased tennis players confidence in performing a forehand drive, and significantly improved their performance of the skill.

More relevant research to CT is Theodorakis et al. (2000) who showed those who used motivational self-talk (e.g. “I can do this”) were significantly better at lifting their 3-rep max (highest amount of weight where an individual can lift it 3 times) for a leg extension task. Additionally, Hatzigeorgiadis et al. (2004) showed this self-talk significantly improved power performance in water polo (i.e. players threw the ball at further distances). Finally, a systematic review by Tod et al. (2015) found motivational self-talk had significantly increased muscular strength in 70% of studies reviewed.

The research supports the view that CT Fletcher’s self-talk is an important asset to his inhuman strength within the gym. It also explains how he is able to concur unbelievable feats through its positive impact on confidence, as this greater confidence consequently enhances effort given while reducing how much perceived effort is given, and enhances task performance (Bandura, 1997).

What’s more impressive than his fitness accolades is his perseverance following extreme adversity. In 2001 he suffered life threatening hypertension, in 2004 his mother died of congestive heart failure, in 2005 he had open heart surgery where he lost a lot of hard-earned muscle and was wheelchair bound for 18 months, and most recently has had a heart transplant. What makes someone go through all of this and still preach “it’s still your mother f***ing set”?

An explanation for this is through post-traumatic growth research, where people experience psychological growth through trauma. Linley & Joseph (2004) found positively reframing situations is associated with growth, which is seen by CT stating in his video ‘Beaten Not Broken’ that “you don’t know when your last minute might be, so you have to take advantage of every second” where he explained why he continued to train despite recently receiving a heart transplant.