Lift Big Or Go Home

Are you using heavy enough weights when you lift? If you are anything like me you are going to say "Of course!"

That's what I thought too until I decided to get a new pair of kettlebells. I've been using the 16kg kettlebells long enough I decided to go up a size. But in an effort to save money I went a few sizes heavier. I figured that since my 50lb dumbbells were too light for many of my lifts that 60lb kettlebells should do fine.

What I forgot was that the offset weight of a kettlebell makes it feel heavier than its balanced dumbbell counterpart of the same mass. Needless to say when I tried to double clean and press the 60s I was in for a big surprise. The bells were way heavier than I was expecting (they are nearly 2x heavier than my old pair). Yet I was able to do at least 5 reps on nearly all of my standard KB exercises.

So what is the moral of the story? Lift big or go home. Most likely you really can lift heavier than you are currently. Don't think about the difficulty. Just cowboy up and do work!