With only 15 days left to spring team WB Fitness goes into its third week. How are you all feeling? I have to say, other than some minor hand cramping and a short lived head cold, I am feeling great.

Did you smash the WB challenge this weekend? If so, let me know what you thought.

So today I want to talk to you about something I am only now noticing in the gym (just goes to show that after 10 years you still can pick up on stuff). When I lift, when I am really keyed in, I have two distinct modes.

The first of these modes I call the Berserker. In Old Norse Berserkers were warriors who

That Feeling When

were said to fight in a trance that allowed for an insane fury. This mode of lifting is when the world falls away. I lose all situational awareness. It is just the iron and me. There are times I have noticed, after putting down a big deadlift or some other large feat, that i am growling or banging my fist into my chest. I usually need to walk off the intensity even more than the lift between sets.

The Berserker mode of lifting comes when everything is out there. There is so much intensity that the strength goes through the roof and all conscious thought leaves the mind. This feeling is what first got me into lifting. The ability to break away from myself so intensely is what first made me say “this is the life for me.” However, I have noticed, it is not the only way that I lift. I also lift in a way that is very much different from the Berserker — The Assassin.

Unlike the Berserker, the Assassin has total situational awareness. In this mode I know

Arnold Could Be A Deadly Focused Assassin Lifter

every drop of sweat on every person in the gym. I know what the weight will feel like. I am Confident in my lift. I approach the bar calmly. The rage is there, but entirely controlled and focused. When I set up my stance and my lift I am cold and everything is in slow motion. There is no grunting or screaming or chest banging for the Assassin, he is there to do his job as proficiently as possible and then walk away as if nothing happened. Form set to perfect, focus dialed in, lift, rep, rep, rep, rep to end of set drop weight and walk off pure perfect control.

…But He Also Knew When To Let Go And Be A Berserker

I have no problem with either of these forms of lifting. However, I have noticed that which I bring to the gym on any given day is a reflection of my mood and that will not stand. I must be able to control myself. If I am going to go berserk in the gym it has to be intentional and likewise if i am going to be a pure assassin.

I have these two types of lifter in me so I know I can use them to my advantage if I learn to control them and that is yet another goal on my long list for this season.

Do you guys feel you experience either of these two types of lifter? Both? Something different? Let me know!