A little bit ago I watched the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary “Pumping Iron” on Netflix, and loved it. But a thing that I found very curious or strange:
None of these super strong and buff dudes working out are using headphones or really listening to music.
Which made me wonder:
If they can get that strong and lift so heavy weights without headphones or listening to music; what do they know/experience that I don’t know?
Which made me wonder:
I wonder if I can become stronger at the gym without listening to music/headphones?
“Light weight baby!”
Another film to watch: “King” (documentary on Gary Coleman, one of the most epic bodybuilders in history).
Anyways it is one of Gary’s sayings (before he is about to lift a fucking heavy-ass weight):
“Light weight baby!”
The phrase stuck with me. Now when I’m about to lift a heavy weight (1 repetition maximum weight), I say the same. And it helps!
Another thing: when I’m not listening to music and I’m trying to max out my strength output (for example I’m at the bottom of a squat [ass to grass, below parallel] or trying to lock-out my deadlift), I will say things outloud to myself like:
“Up! Up! Up!”
And it helps! I also like to do “power grunts” (a loud yelping noise) before lifting a heavy weight to hype/pump me up. And it works!
And the thing is when you do these auditory hype-up power-ups, when you’re listening to music through headphones you cannot hear yourself.
Thus I’ve discovered this truth for myself:
I can lift heavier weights at the gym when I’m NOT listening to music.
Then applied to other domains in life:
I wonder if music or always using headphones is somehow holding me back, or holding back my power in other domains of life?
Street gym workouts
Another random thing I noticed when doing street gym workouts in Vietnam:
Nobody uses headphones when working out.
This is great because the actual function of working out in the park in the morning (shirts off, masculine style) is for socialization! More than half the time the guys are chatting and socializing. The workout is just an excuse for them to see their friends, be out and about, and “shoot the shit” (random chattering) about anything.
The funniest thing was when I saw a random white guy come to the street gym, wearing all this silly polyester Nike gym equipment, using his wireless Bluetooth headphones while working out. All the other Vietnamese guys working out (no shirt on, random shorts, wearing slippers) are just staring at this guy like he was a Martian/alien.
So today when I went to the gym (back in America) I went without headphones and just worked out. And the benefit of not having headphones on was that I started to chat randomly with a guy I remember from a few months back. We had a really nice chat, and this “distraction” was super fun, enjoyable, and what made the whole workout worth it!
More thoughts on my mind
A tangent; some other thoughts which are on my mind:
- Are smartphones limiting our power?
- Is the internet limiting our power in some ways?
- How is social media holding back our power or productivity as creators?
- Are books or any other form of media holding us back?
- Is coffee, caffeine, sugar, and other stimulants holding us back in terms of our power potential? (In the black and white comic book of the Japanese “Akira” comic, the character Tetsuo realizes that by consuming these pills his power potential was being throttled).
More turbo thoughts to come!
ERIC