We have all been told at some point to “give 110%!” While in some situations, it is necessary to dig deep and perform beyond our normal capacity, it is not a sustainable goal for effort, and if one is not careful, it can lead to detrimental actions.

For me, I still struggle with the concept that I am not trying to make the starting team, so I have approached my workouts with the same desire to perform to impress that I did in my youth; however, many things have changed since then. I still love to leave a workout dripping in sweat, but my body is less forgiving than it was 25 years ago, and cheating reps can have more serious consequences.

This week at Pankow-Performance, we moved from our establishing our maximum lifts on bench, squat, and deadlift to working on a 12 week strength training program based on percentages of those weights. Monday, we worked on pressing, starting with 5 sets of 8 reps with a weight that was 60% of our max bench, so I started with 205 for the first 3 sets, and since I felt good, I moved to 215 for the final 2 sets. Next, we moved to 5 sets of overhead press followed by banded pull-ups or lat pull-downs. After 2-1/2 sets of 10 pull-ups, I moved to pull-downs. Like bench, this overhead press was at 55-60%, so I started at 115 for 3 sets and move to 125 for 2 sets. Our final set of lifts for the day were dumbbell presses. We were to do 12 reps, then 10 reps, and finally 8 reps. If we felt like we could add weight safely, we were encouraged to do so. I started with 70s for 12, 80s for 10, but when I got to the last set for 8, I tried 90, and I only got 5, and my final reps were not with strict form, so a spotter couldn’t assist me with the weight to get the final reps. I had tried giving 110%, and I ended up at only 75-80%. Dave reminded me to be more aware of how my body really feels, not just what my competitive mind is telling me to do in a non-competitive situation.

Wednesday, we were introduced to “speed-work” for squats and deadlifts, which consisted of 8 sets of 3 reps with 50-55% of our max lift. This meant that for the squat we were to aggressively lower into the full squat, then we were to explode up with control and maximum speed. I started with and stayed at 205 lbs for squat as I am still getting comfortable with it.  Because I am still a little apprehensive about the squat movement, I probably didn’t challenge myself as much as I physically could have, but I was satisfied with how the reps felt, and I had good form on almost all reps. On deadlift,I did all of my sets with 245, and Dave pointed out a few simple corrections in my form, including to not bull my neck when lifting, as it adds unnecessary pressure and stress on the neck and shoulders. His other advice was to be my shoulders and back in alignment before trying to lift. My tendency is to lift the weight then shrug at the top, but Dave said that it weakens the delivery of power, so I needed to work on that.  My following sets improved in form, and I felt good.

The lift that got me thinking about the dangers of 110% in everyday effort was the trap bar deadlift. Because the trap bar makes the deadlift easier, we did 3 sets of 5 with our last set being for as many reps as we could get. The weight was to be approximately 80-85% of our max deadlift, so I was working with 385. The first two sets went pretty well, with mostly proper form, but on the 3rd set, I wanted to get into double digits. While I lifted the bar 11 times, my partner for the lift said he would have credited me with 8 due to form and for pausing too long between my final 3 reps. His honesty made me realize that after the 8th rep (when a reminder was given to me about form), I should have stopped, but I was so intent on reaching a goal, that I missed the real objective: good, healthy lifts that make perfect form the priority so it becomes 2nd nature.

As I move through this program, I must remember quality beats quantity, especially if sub-par quality prevents any further quantity due to injury. It is good to be reminded to slow-down and to not feel like I am in competition every day; rather, I am in training. Perhaps this can apply to other parts of life as well.