For a couple of weeks now I have had the nasty problem of hitting a wall..or plateau if you like. I was stuck at a maximum of 154lbs while benching and whatever I did or did not do...I simply could not lift one single pound more.
Oddly enough I could also not increase my max weight with dumbell press (77 lbs).
Because I could still increase weight in my first sets and thus increasing overall workcapacity I still made good gains in size...so I wasn't particularly worried...as that is my primary goal. I train alone btw.
Our gym is primarilly a familly gym. Those very few BB-ers who train there are a small tight group, very good friends of the owner and keep to themselves as much as possible....and shun the general population. This makes for a classic: you can talk to us but we probably are to bussy to listen type of situation. They certainly don't like to share...so they have their "own" times they train. The gym is mostly deserted at those times and they have the run of the places and can do what they like.
Last week my work schedule was very very hectic so I could not keep to my normal training hours and I suddenly was benching during "their" time. Now as I came up to my last set I asked one of them to spot for me...which took me several minuted of persuading...because these guys are not very inclined to help anybody outside their group.
I had people spot before...but that usually just entailed that I had prepared the barbel and they would just stand there and intervene when things did not go as planned.
This guy however steps up to the bench...looks at my weight and tells me he does not agree with my assessment of my maximum weight and increased the amount of weight by 88lbs and simply stated as a matter of course that I could do that and that he would be there if I couldn't.
The simple fact that he was standing there and the fact that for some reason I trusted this guy to really be there if things went wrong....made me lift the
weight 8 times without any help.
Since then I have managed to increase maximum weight on all my exercises....and repeated the same amount today on my own.
Sometimes your mind can be a wonderful thing...on others it can be your worst advicary. I had myself convinced that the weight was too heavy for me to lift, when in fact it wasn't even near my capacity....but my body responded to what my mind was saying by refusing to lift the weight.
Anyway...feeling very proud of myself now...and just thought it could be useful info for some here...
Oddly enough I could also not increase my max weight with dumbell press (77 lbs).
Because I could still increase weight in my first sets and thus increasing overall workcapacity I still made good gains in size...so I wasn't particularly worried...as that is my primary goal. I train alone btw.
Our gym is primarilly a familly gym. Those very few BB-ers who train there are a small tight group, very good friends of the owner and keep to themselves as much as possible....and shun the general population. This makes for a classic: you can talk to us but we probably are to bussy to listen type of situation. They certainly don't like to share...so they have their "own" times they train. The gym is mostly deserted at those times and they have the run of the places and can do what they like.
Last week my work schedule was very very hectic so I could not keep to my normal training hours and I suddenly was benching during "their" time. Now as I came up to my last set I asked one of them to spot for me...which took me several minuted of persuading...because these guys are not very inclined to help anybody outside their group.
I had people spot before...but that usually just entailed that I had prepared the barbel and they would just stand there and intervene when things did not go as planned.
This guy however steps up to the bench...looks at my weight and tells me he does not agree with my assessment of my maximum weight and increased the amount of weight by 88lbs and simply stated as a matter of course that I could do that and that he would be there if I couldn't.
The simple fact that he was standing there and the fact that for some reason I trusted this guy to really be there if things went wrong....made me lift the
weight 8 times without any help.
Since then I have managed to increase maximum weight on all my exercises....and repeated the same amount today on my own.
Sometimes your mind can be a wonderful thing...on others it can be your worst advicary. I had myself convinced that the weight was too heavy for me to lift, when in fact it wasn't even near my capacity....but my body responded to what my mind was saying by refusing to lift the weight.
Anyway...feeling very proud of myself now...and just thought it could be useful info for some here...
