Exceed yourself, exceed your own preconceived notions of what your “limits“ are.
For example, mental blocks. When I’m back home in the states, I think I often get psyched out or intimidated by the traditional red 45 pound plates. When I am abroad, where everything is in kilograms, things seem a bit foreign, carte blanche, and uncertain in a good way. Funny enough, because I don’t really understand how to convert things into kilograms, and don’t have a certain sense of how heavy the weights are, actually end up being able to attempt more, and lift more heavier weights. And this is a huge way I’ve been able to level up my strength.
Therefore my first interventionalist thought:
We often limit ourselves, because we put certain mental blocks on ourselves.
Being prudent is for suckers
Another thought, or some thing I’ve learned from powerlifting (I call it ”hypelifting”), it is better to do bigger jumps in weight, than to be a “prudent”.
For example, a technique or a mode of doing things which I got stuck in back in the states is the notion that when powerlifting, one should be prudent and jump in weight steadily, starting with a 25 pound plate, and then jumping up to the 45 pound plates. For example, if you’re warming up with squats, starting with warming up with just the bar, then adding a 25 pound plate on one side, then taking off the 25 pound plate and putting on a 45 pound plate, then stacking on another 25 pound plate on top of the 45 pound plate, etc.
However, I personally discovered that in spending too much time warming up, and doing too many repetitions or lifts, I lose or drain my hype energy. Therefore, better to do as few repetitions as possible, in order to preserve my energy for the heaviest weight I will attempt. For example, with deadlift, starting with one plate on each side, then stacking on another plate, then stacking on another plate, until I get up to five plates.
Numbers are mental blocks
Maybe this is where numbers, and goals, and limits are bad. For example, we often psych ourselves up with round numbers.
For example, my personal goal of obtaining 10 bitcoin. Why is it that we set goals for ourselves, in round and even numbers? Maybe a better goal is to just indefinitely get more.
Or with money— the goal of $200,000 a year.
Or with men and weight, striving to obtain a certain body weight?
Or with powerlifting, we use the plate concepts to set certain goals. For example, a two plate benchpress, a four or five plate deadlift, or a four and five plate squat. Or a 500 pound that lift, which is hilarious, because it is a 5 plate and 2 1/2 pound potato chip on each side.
Or with social media, first striving to get 1000 followers, then 5000 followers, then 10,000 followers, then 100,000 followers, etc.
Then, maybe a better way to approach things is to just set an insanely high audacious goal for yourself, and steadily truck towards that. For example, I like that idea that before I die, I could do at least a 700 pound deadlift, a 600 pound squat, and a 400 pound (floor) benchpress. Or a even more robust way of doing things is to not even care about the number, but, to just keep testing your limit, and play around your limit, without fear.
For example, I am currently here in Phnom Penh Cambodia, and because I have no idea of kilograms, I test my strength. I just try a random heavy weight, and if I cannot lift it