If there's one thing rowing and bodybuilding have taught me, it's that you can do more than you think you can. We all have a notion of what we are capable of. Some people stay well below that limit, some get close to it, but it's the select few people that learn to transform what they think they are capable of who take their training to the next level. In rowing, a very prevalent aspect of the sport is learning to train your mind to ignore the feelings and thoughts that literally scream at you to stop rowing because you are not capable of going on any longer. Only the athletes that are able to train their mind to ignore itself end up in winning boats.
The same lesson applies to bodybuilding. When guys go into the gym, they have a preconceived notion of what they are and are not capable of. Do not let yourselves fall into the trap of thinking there is a limit to what you can do. We see it all the time, guys shortchange themselves mentally and/or physically, settling for what they have convinced themselves is within their abilities. The body will follow what the mind tells it to.
Keep in mind I am in no way advocating going to the gym and racking up an unrealistic amount of weight and hurting yourself. What I'm trying to get at is that you can push your body past limits you did not think possible. I was in the gym the other day doing deadlifts. I started out with 265 (I'm working my way up the strength ladder still, so I know it's not a lot, but I started around 225 before Thanksgiving) and planned on doing 5 x 5. The first set was too easy, as was the second and the third, so by the fourth set I had racked up 290 lbs. I did 7 on the forth set, and prepared for the last set, getting ready to take it to failure. I stood there looking at the bar and weights thinking to myself I couldn't get more than 4 reps out of it. I thought I was too tired and that there was too much weight. I put on Rage Against the Machine "Killing in the Name of" and fast forwarded to where Zack de la Rocha wispers "fuck you I won't do what you tell me." While that part was playing I sat there thinking to myself "You can't left this much weight, you can't do it." Then the song kicks into Zack screaming "FUCK YOU I WON"T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!!" I started telling my mind that, because that's the only thing that was holding me back from a personal best. I grabbed the bar and knocked out 10 reps to full failure.
Don't ever let someone else or your own mind tell you that you can't do something. Any time that happens just think about those lyrics, realize you can do way more than you think you can, and then DO IT!!!
__________________ Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend. http://www.bodybuildingdungeon.com/f...ghlight=rowing |