Behold a lesson in the power of the mind:
Many moons ago, I was away on a work trip so had to train in unfamiliar surroundings.
The gym was nice, swanky even, with more squat racks and lifting platforms per square foot than I have ever seen before or since.
I was due to squat that day so went about loading the bar for my warmup sets, albeit with one key difference:
Because this was a “proper” weightlifting gym, they mostly had the red 25kg plates, with only one set each of 20kg, 15kg, 10kg, and 5kg plates per rack or platform (much to the chagrin of those who like to load up the bar with light plates to pretend they are strong, I am sure).
This caused a rather large problem.
Why?
Yours Baldly is atrocious at mathematics.
So substandard am I that it is truly a miracle that I can tell time. (I am so dreadful that Jess has to handle all of our financial goings on and double-check any calculations I include in my books, newsletter, or other scribblings.)
This is relevant because I had hitherto never used 25kg plates (no gym I trained in had them in any great number). Hence, my inability to accurately add up resulted in my slapping 200kg on the bar instead of the 190kg I’d intended for that day.
Now, I had never squatted 200kg before (I don’t think I’d even attempted it) so you will not be surprised to read that just walking the weight out was a shock to the system. I actually thought I might have tweaked something during the warmup sets because I felt like I was being crushed by a weight I could confidently handle at the time.
The sensible course of action would have been to put the weight back, but I am nothing if not pigheaded so I went for the lift despite the fact I was shaking like a leaf under the load. I dropped into the hole and after what was probably the slowest, grindiest effort ever, I stood back up then re-racked the weight with a crash.
Once my senses had returned to me, I was astonished to discover I’d set a new personal best – beating my previous, lifetime PB of 195kg by a neat 5kg without even knowing.
How could this be?
Simple.
I genuinely believed the bar was loaded with an amount I could lift…
… so I lifted it.
Obviously you can’t “think” your muscles stronger so on that day I was simply expressing strength I had already built (and had possessed for some time).
But it’s certainly an interesting example of the role the mind plays in the lifting game.
All that said, I absolutely do not recommend this as an approach for setting PBs.
I was very lucky not to do myself a serious (and potentially even training-terminating) injury that day.
Much better to follow a logical, predictable, and, most importantly of all, modest approach to breaking through plateaus to set new personal bests, in my humbly correct opinion.
Such as that outlined in my latest creation “The Six Week Peak” (the first version of which I wrote not long after this escapade, partly to prevent it from ever happening again).
This is a private, six week programme and you will benefit from my (in)famous “Virtually Unlimited Support” for the duration.
It is available for the Special Launch Price of £80 until 23:59 on Saturday the 8th of February.
After that it gets more expensive.
Full details and purchase below:
https://philtyreman.co.uk/peak/
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman