The Last Rep

Alright, alright, I appreciate Arnold’s quote and words on this one, but let’s just take a moment to analyze it. He’s obviously not saying work out until you tear your ligament or rip a tendon. He’s just saying to push through the fear of that last rep, which I completely understand.

Now, this is more prevalent than ever for me. It’s Monday, I am looking to knock-out a new PR on incline bench, 205 for 7 reps, 2 sets. First set is perfect. On the second set, I stopped at 6. Why? I hesitated because I wasn’t sure I could hit it. But I knew as I was racking the bar that I would regret that decision for the rest of my workout. I had it in me for that 7th rep. I knew I had it in me. Subconsciously, you knew you had it in you when you skipped that last rep. THAT is what Arnold is talking about. I wish I had hit that 7th rep. I shouldn’t have doubted myself. What’s the worst that could happen? I couldn’t lift it, and I would have had to do the roll-of- shame. I would have much rather done that than be disappointed that I didn't give it a shot.

It is going to sound so trivial, but for any routine lifter, you know what I’m talking about when this decision “follows you” for the rest of the day. It’s almost as if you lost the entire workout — that’s how disappointed you are. Ronnie Coleman once said that the only regret he had with bodybuilding and hurting his body was that he didn’t squat 800 lbs 4 times…he only squatted it 2 times, but didn’t do an additional 2 reps out of “cowardice.” That’s a little extreme, but seeing how I was disappointed that I didn’t give rep #7 out of fear, I think there’s room for mental improvement there.

With the above in mind, don’t beat yourself up missing the last rep. There’s always tomorrow :)