This might be crazy but when doing heavy squats or deadlifts, I do them in front of a mirror and pretend that my alter ego is telling me that I will fail…lol I then go on saying to myself “o, you don’t think I can lift this shit? watch me bitch”
good thing I work out alone.
I do a rain dance before each set.
[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
tpa wrote:
I scream UNCONVENTIONAL! before every set of bench press.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Are you referring to the postman who would lift in his uniform and say this after benching? That’s awesome!![/quote]
How did you know I’m a postman?
Before benching I turn the bar a little bit and slide it in the rack to center it over me.
Plates ALWAYS face in and have to match by brand, style and color. I’ll use different brands/colors but the corresponding plate has to be in the same spot on the other side of the bar. Holes in plates have to match. I actually get mildly annoyed when people mismatch plates or load them face out/numbers out.
I have to touch dumbells when pressing or the rep doesn’t count. I also have to turn the dumbells in the rack until my grip feels right.
I have to “wiggle” each piece of equipment I’m using before I use it. If it “wiggles” too much I won’t use it. I had a bad experience where an adjustable incline bench collapsed on me while doing some heavy dumbell incline presses.
If I’d doing an exercise and I can walk around the bench or rack, I will circle it until it’s time for my next set. If I can’t walk around it, I’ll walk side to side in front of it or away and back towards it.
Not a superstition, but I become a different person when lifting seriously. I either become a shit talking, hyper, lunatic or I become a poker faced, 1,000 yard stare, and silent prick.
I always park in the same spot.
I always give the smith machine dirty looks.
I always take a shit after my first set of squats or deads. That first warmup always loosens things up…
DD
[quote]withEzz wrote:
I always give the smith machine dirty looks. [/quote]
You actually acknowledge the smith machine’s presence? You should ignore the bitch.
I always stand and wait for the squat rack to open up. Sometimes the guy will say as he is curling (without a belt 'cause he hasn’t met me yet), “I’ll be done in a second”, or maybe, “you need to use this?”. As I’m just doing some bodywt stuff to loosen up, I always say, “'preciate it.”
When doing deads, I wait for the guy to move out of the pit. While I am loosening up he will say as he is curling (without a belt 'cause he hasn’t met me yet), “I’ll be done in a second”…
As I am squatting or deadlifting,I always hope they say, “How come you don’t wear a belt?”, 'cause then I can say, “Because I’m not going over 90% of my one-rep-max.” That’s what I always say.
When they say, “You’ll hurt your back”, I always say, “Curling is more dangerous than squatting or deadlifting.” And then I go into the moment arm theory (pardon the pun) and usually convince them to put on a belt to curl.
I have never given thought to screaming “unconventional” but will consider it.
Plates always facing in.
Use largest plate available. For example must be a 25ib. plate, never 2X10 and 1X5.
It dsgusts me to see somebody with 4 X 10ibs. plates and a 5 on the bar. Don’t know why it just does.
[quote]wqp3 wrote:
When they say, “You’ll hurt your back”, I always say, “Curling is more dangerous than squatting or deadlifting.” And then I go into the moment arm theory (pardon the pun) and usually convince them to put on a belt to curl.
[/quote]
Classic.
If I use the treadmill then the speed must increase by 0.5 kph each time it goes up…and I prefer to run at even kph’s like 9.0 or 10.0 etc
Also, I’m another one whose plates must face OUT!! I wanna see smooth discs of iron when I look at my plates.
[quote]IronWarrior34 wrote:
not sure if these cover superstitions…but…
anytime using a barbell, any weights i put on eiher side must be the same brand/type…some gyms have different plates hanging around, wether they are thicker or thinner, newer or older, they must be the same on both sides for me…when i bench, the bench has to be perfectly straight, if its angled it drives me up a fuckin wall…
i cant stand it when people use weights and dont strip a bar or leave dumbbells hanging around or put 40lb dbs next to 60lb dbs or some shit…i can go on and on, i got a ton but ill leave it at that…im not even sure if thats what u wanted to hear or not haha [/quote]
Im exactly the same. It freaks me out when I see someone who has a 10lbs on one side and two 5lbs on the other. What are they thinking?
[quote]IronWarrior34 wrote:
Before each set of deadlifts i kick the bar a few times, especially when it starts to get heavy…[/quote]
Yeah i’ve never thought about it but i tend to do this. I like to put one foot on the bar before the lift as well…kind of like standing over the body of defeated opponnent I suppose (except I haven’t defeated it yet).
[quote]gordonshumway wrote:
I always park in the same spot.[/quote]
Same.
Plates always facing in. A la Ronnie I say “Lightweight” when squating heavy.
The gym I go to has two kinds of bars, and I’ll only use one. All the openings in the plates have to sinc up. I will not work out with someone.
I think of bad things happening to me just before a max or near-max effort. I picture my leg breaking under the weight of the squat bar, or the bar falling out of my hands and caving in my chest just before a big bench…
Then I try to get rid of those images by picturing other people, lighter than me, lifting more weight than I can and that gets me to tell myself that I should be able to do it without a problem.
I think the kicking thing is a natural reflex embedded in us b/c when we killed an animal before lifting and carrying it we’d kick it to see if he was still alive.
In the words of Willy Wonka:
“Your really weird!”
PS, I wipe all previous skin oil and whatnot from the barbell until it shines like new, then wiggle my squat rack to make sure its still functioning, and it doesn’t matter what music I listen to, as long as it starts with the song “Fireproof” by Pillar.