“It’s been instructive to learn that it really is possible to grind out one more rep, and then one more, and then another — even when it feels completely vile. It’s good to be taught that your physical limits are further away than you probably think, and that the two seconds of unpleasantness it takes to do that eighteenth rep (the worst rep) is eminently survivable.”
This is roughly what I try to focus on when I do back squats at the gym, but you’ve articulated it much better than I could! Just do one more…
thanks for writing this! i'm getting back into lifting after injuring my ankle at the start of this year. still a newbie to getting that proper squat form but this has inspired me to have a go at 5x5! i never liked working out or going to the gym until i started lifting.
Great read and fantastic commitment and effort! Your quote about knowing your body will survive one more unpleasant rep, is something I recognise. I feel that knowledge helps one to reach somewhere near one’s optimum, when training. Look forward to reading about your next target!
I think so much of life is (understandably!) devoted to avoiding unpleasantness, it's quite exciting to encounter some contained unpleasantness and realise it's surmountable. It reminds me a bit of the Lintillas in Hitchhiker's with their fracture simulator (if you remember that)...
This is where I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t read that!🫣 But, yes, it’s always good to say, I beat that and I still had something left in the tank!
Whew! Don’t feel so bad now!😁 When you were writing, previously, about Gray and Poor Things, I hadn’t read his work either! I started Lanark, but just couldn’t get into it! It’s still sitting unfinished in the bookcase!
Cool post! I love weight training. Have been partial to front-bar squats lately, but I could also be in a rut. When I get up to thinking I can't do any more reps, I say to myself, "this next one is what all the others were for," which also applies to life.
Actually what I do is powerlifting rather than olympic lifting, but I think you're splitting hairs unnecessarily (or maybe necessarily to you, depending on what itch is scratched for you by issuing corrections) - per wikipedia (which is of variable merit but must be taken as a fair temperature test of general usuage) the term weightlifting covers both competitive and non-competitive applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlifting
It's weightlifting James. Your distinctions may mean something to a specific cohort, but they are stunningly irrelevant to everyone else. I don't know why it's so important to you to declare yourself "inside" the sport and critique people "outside" it, but as the point of this post was to encourage people to consider trying something they might find intimidating and exclusive, it seems to me that you have entirely missed the point. (Or maybe you got the point, and you resent the idea of weightlifting being made to seem less intimidating and exclusive? Who can say.) Thanks for stopping by to be patronising and to remind me how lucky I am that your attitude is one I very rarely encounter in the strength training world.
“It’s been instructive to learn that it really is possible to grind out one more rep, and then one more, and then another — even when it feels completely vile. It’s good to be taught that your physical limits are further away than you probably think, and that the two seconds of unpleasantness it takes to do that eighteenth rep (the worst rep) is eminently survivable.”
This is roughly what I try to focus on when I do back squats at the gym, but you’ve articulated it much better than I could! Just do one more…
Awesome post, thank you!
thanks for writing this! i'm getting back into lifting after injuring my ankle at the start of this year. still a newbie to getting that proper squat form but this has inspired me to have a go at 5x5! i never liked working out or going to the gym until i started lifting.
HELLO i love every single thing about this post, smashing the subscribe now, GOOD BYE
Welcome welcome! LOVING your work x
Great read and fantastic commitment and effort! Your quote about knowing your body will survive one more unpleasant rep, is something I recognise. I feel that knowledge helps one to reach somewhere near one’s optimum, when training. Look forward to reading about your next target!
I think so much of life is (understandably!) devoted to avoiding unpleasantness, it's quite exciting to encounter some contained unpleasantness and realise it's surmountable. It reminds me a bit of the Lintillas in Hitchhiker's with their fracture simulator (if you remember that)...
This is where I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t read that!🫣 But, yes, it’s always good to say, I beat that and I still had something left in the tank!
Haha I'm enough of a nerd that this is a reference to the radio series only...
Whew! Don’t feel so bad now!😁 When you were writing, previously, about Gray and Poor Things, I hadn’t read his work either! I started Lanark, but just couldn’t get into it! It’s still sitting unfinished in the bookcase!
Lanark is brilliant, but intense. Poor Things would definitely be my recommendation for a first Gray novel, if you're still willing to try him.
I really enjoyed the movie, I thought it hilarious! I might give it a go!
“I did it because of my physical pride. I wanted to do it because it sounded hard and nasty”
YOU GET IT. YOU UNDERSTAND.
THIS IS WHY WE’RE MATES
Cool post! I love weight training. Have been partial to front-bar squats lately, but I could also be in a rut. When I get up to thinking I can't do any more reps, I say to myself, "this next one is what all the others were for," which also applies to life.
Well done for completing a squat programme.
It's not weightlifting: it's weight training. Or, lifting weights.
Weightlifting is the sport that includes the snatch and clean and jerk.
The terms are not synonyms.
Actually what I do is powerlifting rather than olympic lifting, but I think you're splitting hairs unnecessarily (or maybe necessarily to you, depending on what itch is scratched for you by issuing corrections) - per wikipedia (which is of variable merit but must be taken as a fair temperature test of general usuage) the term weightlifting covers both competitive and non-competitive applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlifting
It's weightlifting James. Your distinctions may mean something to a specific cohort, but they are stunningly irrelevant to everyone else. I don't know why it's so important to you to declare yourself "inside" the sport and critique people "outside" it, but as the point of this post was to encourage people to consider trying something they might find intimidating and exclusive, it seems to me that you have entirely missed the point. (Or maybe you got the point, and you resent the idea of weightlifting being made to seem less intimidating and exclusive? Who can say.) Thanks for stopping by to be patronising and to remind me how lucky I am that your attitude is one I very rarely encounter in the strength training world.
Maidenless behaviour