All in the Mind

It's been a while! Nothing too dramatic in life, and I was feeling quite lazy the past couple of weeks.

I haven't had a leg weekend since two weeks back due to various events last week. I was dreading squats today, so I took pre-workout... which I normally never do. Also, and I know you're not supposed to when you take pre-workout, I chugged it all down instead of sipping on it (which is the part you shouldn't do) throughout my workout.

With a clear mind, I began to squat: 45 lbs, 95 lbs, 135 lbs, 155 lbs, 185 lbs, 205 lbs and 225 lbs before going on to my working set of 245 lbs. However, I was unable to do my 5 x 2 sets. I kept leaning forward, being unable to keep my core tight. After getting advice from a friend, I went back down to 225 and rep out 5.

My workout buddies for the day believed that I could do more than 5, in which I personally never done before (doing five today was also a first). After a quick discussion, one had set a goal of 8 reps!

I never done 8 reps of 2 plates before (225 lbs), and thus I was feeling quite anxious. Doing five felt like a grind for me. I gritted my teeth and tried a set. I wasn't able to do 8, but I did put in seven.

After about 5 minutes, I went back to attempt again. At around 4 reps in, I lost count and felt like I was going to black out. After completing what I thought was 7 reps, I was informed that I managed to put in 8! With that boost in confidence, I was able to count 8 reps for my next set, and without feeling like I would black out!

After 5 sets of 8 reps, I went back up to 245 lbs. It felt a lot easier to rep out sets of 2. I even managed a single 255 lbs set, which was also quite a confidence boost for me.

So all in all, I never realized how important mental strength is when it comes to lifting. You have to believe in yourself, that you're able to lift the weight (with proper form)! Or have it come crashing down onto you...

And that's that! It's hard to believe today is the first day of October! Or second day technically.

2016 went by pretty quickly!!