Two Second Rule

Although ‘it doesn’t matter how heavy it feels’, there are times (particularly with deadlifts), a lift just feels impossibly heavy. When you review the lift’s instant replay, however, you find that it was in fact possibly heavy. All you had to do to finish it was to NOT GIVE UP…and now you want to kick your own ass for quitting.

Enter the Two Second Rule. I established this rule to curb the tendency to give up on a lift before breaking through the sticking point, and reaching the point where you’re sure to lock it out.

It’s quite simple: Even if a lift is obviously impossible, grind it out for (at least) 2 seconds before quitting on it.

I know what you are thinking – “are you fucking insane?!”.

Well yes, but that is beside the point. The Two Second Rule has a number of benefits:

• Even if you eventually fail the lift, you’ve just turned a failed lift into an isometric hold, and gotten some benefit out of it
• Even if you eventually fail the lift, you are teaching your mind and body to grind; this help you finish out the tough lifts in the future
• You may actually finish the impossible lifts

In the long run, you’ll be teaching yourself to grind through the tough lifts, and build greater mental as well as physical strength