Friday, December 3, 2010

Having a Breakdown

Wednesday Becky and I were doing a series of breakdowns. Breakdowns are when you do one set with either your usual weight or a little more weight than usual, then immediately take a little weight off and do a second set, then immediately take a little weight off and do a third set – no breaks between sets. That third set is really hard, even though it is less weight than you usually lift!


When we came to the lat pull down machine, Becky started on her first set and I realized she had set the weight at 87.5 pounds. 87.5 pounds! The most we ever start with is 75. So what flies out of my mouth? “OH MY GOSH, BECKY, ARE YOU SERIOUS???” She looked at me in complete innocence, then looked at the weight and said, “Oh, I thought it felt heavy!”

Becky’s determination always amazes me. I would have stopped right then and lowered the weight. But did she stop? No. She completed 8 reps. Who knows what might have happened if I had kept my mouth shut? So much of this is about what you think you can do. Becky thinks she can, so she does.

This was a really good lesson for me (but I still did not think I could do 87.5 pounds, so although I was quite impressed with Becky’s achievement, I did not try to compete. You can call me a wuss if you want. I won’t mind).

No comments:

Post a Comment