The morning of squat day always seems to be filled with anxiety, nervousness, and an all around feeling of uneasiness. You don’t have much of an appetite during breakfast. No matter what you’re doing that day, the thought of you squatting lurks in the back of your mind. This day, more than any other day, is the easiest day to make excuses why you shouldn’t go to the gym. You begin justifying why NOT squatting today is better than sticking with your schedule and actually squatting. “I should just take a rest day. I’ve actually been hitting the gym pretty hard this week.” “I don’t think I have time to make it to the gym today.” “I actually have a bunch of stuff to take care of (a bunch of stuff that wasn’t important until now)”
The bottom line is, you are scared of squats. You mind not think you’re scared but in the back of your subconscious mind, you’re terrified. This feeling can be compared to the anxiety/nervousness that you experience before a football game, sports tryouts, job interview, or even a first date.
What exactly are you afraid of?
Are you afraid of the Pain associated with squats? The weight of the barbell crushing down on your back, the lactic acid building up in your quads, your shaky legs, the wicked low back pump, the lack of oxygen after your 10th rep. Being afraid of this is completely understandable. You have to be a bit of a masochist to enjoy high rep squats. This fear seems to only resonate with you on squat day. Lying on a bench and pressing a barbell doesn’t take nearly as much energy as a set of squats. You can always drop the barbell when you deadlift. But there is something risky and extremely uncomfortable about putting a heavy load on your back, squatting all the way down, and then attempting to stand up multiple times.
Maybe you’re afraid of Failure. “I’ve done this weight before so there should be no reason I can’t do it today.” The thought of failing makes you wonder if you’re possibly back tracking. You start questioning you training. Not meeting expectations would frustrate anyone who holds value in their training.
On the other hand, maybe you’re afraid of Success. If you set a new repetition PR, that is your new standard. You just “raised the bar” and every training session from here on out is going to be based off of your new record. You are now forced to train with more weight because anything less would not induce progress.
Lastly, and most commonly, you’re afraid of Getting out of your Comfort Zone. Going home after work and watching TV would be so much easier than going straight to the gym. Hitting the snooze button and sleeping in would be so much easier than getting out of your comfortable bed and going to the gym like YOU SAID YOU WOULD DO. Going to the gym and knocking out a couple sets of leg extensions, leg curls, and leg presses because “you don’t have time to warm up and squat” would be so much easier than ignoring the voices in your head and doing what NEEDS to be done.
Now I’m not saying that everyone is a weak minded little girl who wimps out of doing Squats. But there are plenty of these people. I am here to say that all of this self talk is normal and natural. However, don’t act on it! Don’t listen to it! Use it as fuel.
People seem to be much better at running AWAY from something than running TOWARD something. The rich kid has a hard time finding motivation to push himself to become successful because he already has everything he needs and his mommy and daddy will get him anything he wants. The poor kid who lives in the ghetto will do whatever is takes to get out of his neighborhood and become successful. The thought of being stuck in the ghetto motivates him to run.
If you’re afraid of failure, RUN from it! Do everything you can to avoid failing! Not lifting is failing by default. If you’re afraid of pain, do everything you can to embrace it and know that the harder you work, the less it will hurt in the long run. Skipping workouts will never make lifting easier.
Like I always say, “The road less traveled often leads to bigger GAINS!”
