50 rep discipline
I used to lift weights. Sometimes I did this with other people at various gyms across the country. Whenever I came in to a weightlifting clique I established a tradition that made a very lasting impression on anyone who took part. I called it 50 rep discipline. You see, whenever we were lifting the goal was to always maintain pristine form for every repetition, with any weight, no matter how light or heavy. You had to do the same movement every time, perfectly. If you ever began doing something that deviated from the norm and we recognized it, we would punish you. In our mind there was no sense in doing something if you were not going to do it perfectly every single time.
So, in order to give people the incentive to be consistent, I established 50 rep discipline. Here's how it worked. I will give you an example. Let's say that a guy is doing shrugs and all of a sudden he starts having seizures. He starts yanking the barbell, contracting his facial muscles, hobbling on his feet, etc. What one of us would do is take a wet towel and strike him on his ass cheeks real hard. Then someone would yell "50 rep discipline" and yank all the plates off of the barbell. We would then shove smaller amounts of plates on it and force him to do 50 repetitions. Any time he showed improper form or fatigue we would whip him with the towel all over his body. And that's how it works. Whenever you do this you begin to associate bad form with failure and punishment. Naturally, people want to avoid that. So whenever you have been subjected to this over a period of several months and years you begin to develop a different mindset every time you go in to the gym. You learn the value of being attentive and doing everything right from beginning to end. No sloppiness. Eventually good form becomes second nature, and after a period of adaptation your form actually begins to improve as the weight gets heavier. It transforms your body in to an auto-regulating motor learning machine.
Last edited by Struwwelpeter; 05-18-2012 at 06:59 AM.
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