Each and every one of your burning muscles are roaring in pain. You hear the voice of retreat screaming in anguish as you continue to work. Your face crumples into a half sob as you teeter on the edge of defeat.
"That's
it, I'm done there's nothing left". Teeth grind together and the muscles carry on working with the precious little oxygen you manage to suck in, movement is slow lackluster, you've no energy now, this is it: you're broken....
This is the point many of us know well as both the defiant beauty of trancendance and the part that makes us consider skipping the workout when we are not feeling fully fit.
This is the point where improvement happens people.
Everything we do leading up to this point pales in insignificance compared to the moments where we push on despite having already been broken. The most valuable 5 reps happen after you believe you just did the last one.
I came across a clever quote not long back that I wish I could take credit for; "Strength is not measured by how much you can endure before breaking, it is a measure of how much you can do after you have been broken" I just thought I'd share how it struck me as completely true.
I would add that whatever target you set yourself with regards to reps (In your mind you have a number you're about to set out to complete) it is a psychologically challenging thing to surprise yourself with a few extra reps at the end. This practice in itself I very effective because even if you're not broken yet, a little voice will tell you not to do any more, "This is the number we agreed why bother doing anymore a few reps wont make us any stronger" People interpret this voice in many different ways, some imagine it as their competition desperately trying to stop them growing and so find it easy to defy. Others I imagine hear a loud voice and it is the other smaller voice that whispers to them to carry on. In truth there are as many attitudes towards the inner battle that happens inside us as there are people. How do you deal with the urge to stop?
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