Reactive Training Systems

jamwithtupac · Veteran Member

how do you guys deal with a bad attempt?

Mark Robinson · Senior Member

I'm learning to deal with it better. I find analysing whats going on around it and why it may have happened helps as well as telling myself that its just my ability to display strength thats down, not the actual strength. I actually repeat that several times and then try to put together a plan (with Mike's help) for how to fix it so that I can display the strength when I intend to.

Dano · Veteran Member

It always sucks to miss an attempt and/or goal, but you just have to chalk it up to experience and move on. Learn from it, but realize bad days happen. I always figure for every really good training session/week, you are going to hit some rough days after.

Mike Tuchscherer · Guru

I agree with Mark and Dano.
It sucks -- and it used to ruin my whole day, but that's just not acceptable to me anymore. Now, I might get frustrated for a while, but I get over it (definitely over it by the end of the workout). That's not to say that's the best way to handle it -- just how I handle it.

I justify it as well. If I can pin it on a certain cause, that helps me deal with it psychologically (as well as what Mark was saying about ability to display strength). Be careful with this, though, because it's easy to pin it on SOMETHING. It's harder to pin it on the right thing (and subsequently take corrective action).

BobW · Senior Member

I just roll with it as best I can. If there's an obvious reason, like I have an injury I'm working through, I'll chalk it up to that. If it's not immediately obvious, I don't even try to assign a "reason", there's so many variables that it becomes overwhelming to me. That's when I do the wrong (for me) thing and start obsessing.

So, worst case, I try not to obsess about it, and let it go by the time I finish my post-training walk. As silly as it might sounds, getting out for the post-training walk with my malamutes and sibe, (oh and of course my wife!), makes me realize that there are a whole lot of more important things in the world than my missed attempt. It helps give me good perspective.

I also have come to realize that progress is not about any one session, or any one lift. It's about consistently applying myself over time.

Mike Tuchscherer · Guru

Well said, Bob!

Nick U · Senior Member

One thing that hasnt been mentioned here is that its possible to have just a bad set, I have been shooting for a 2 at a 9 and after I did the first rep it was 1 at a 10. This is the same situation, I think its important to seperate whether or not the attempt was your best effort or you just didnt give you best effort. I've turned around after missing a set and done the same weight for triples after a moment of reflection. I'm an intermidiate lifter at best so this may be a fairly rookie type of issue but i feel that powerlifting is a very animalistic type of sport and you have to attack the bar with the intent of giving your maximum effort regradless of the weight that's on the bar, telling myself this shoudl be a fairly easy set only sets me up for failure.

-- Edited by Nick U on Wednesday 6th of May 2009 07:27:23 PM