There will be these periods of time where those who know me, and the gym staff will realize that I’ve spent an indefinite period of time averaging 500+ pushups a day…not caring, just doing the work.
Months back I talked my training partner into and through 400 pushups after he’d already done dips and chins.
See, volume? I’m always game to hit some more, and in addition to being good at teaching the gym, I have a coach’s eye – I’m good at reading when your intensity is lackluster, when you’re talking yourself out of ability, when you’re not consciously aware of your higher potential, and am good at snapping you out of your head to higher performance.
“Do you think I can hit 6?”
He’s hesitant, weighs 155, and is about to walk over to the dip bar, at the moment strapping 90lbs to his waist.
“You can hit at least 8.”
After rep 6, I see he’s about to step down from the bar, legs uncrossing, just about to have his feet touch the step…
“Keep going”.
You see his body language snap to attention, feet instantly recrossing – 1, 2, he gets down, now giddy realizing he hit 8 with 90lbs after a set of 6 with 70lbs which had him wondering if he could match the reps with the added weight. This happens often enough that it’s on film, on his social media, my voice in the background causing this, multiple times, and as I tend to hold as policy “I’ll film one set this session for you” it happens on the top PR sets with some regularity.
He realized that when we train together that I’m in his head.
I realized that I picked up this ability with my jacked ginger on again off again training partner of the last 7 years. That the experience of spotting the same dude daily for a year straight burned into me the ability to read people while they’re in their set.
That buddy, the redhead, to fuck with him once – he had been playing cod right before we commuted to the gym after all, just as I’m removing my hands from the lift off I gave him on his first ever attempt at either 300 or 315, I say “if you fail the rep I’m not going to put my balls in your mouth”.
Think about the spacing of giving a spot sometimes. Think about teenagers virtually tbagging virtual corpses in cod. He’d just been playing. Without a spot a failed new bench 1rm could be death. 2+2 = I had full deniability of ill intent.
He didn’t hit it that day, he got it half a week later.
(So the ability can be used for good and evil, hahahaha.)
Back to more recent anecdotes :
The 400 pushups to not crush him I made it very reasonable 20×20 in 40:00.
¾ in he’d be failing to hit 20, he’s cussing, wanting to stop, and I’m telling him the time left to finish those remaining reps before next up, and he freaks when I hit an extra small set as for myself – I’m bored with the long rests.
(I actually did the second half sets of 25 just to make it a little more interesting, I’ve never let him in on this.)
See, his problem is he thinks too much.
In the absence of positive self talk, when you’re talking yourself into worse performance, the answer is to turn off your brain, to go dumb.
Be thick headed and action taking, there’s no hamstringing, no self sabotage that way.
Many would be better served by approaching their training in this way.
A simple program, massive work, and zero thinking.
Persistence & Tenacity