I recently hit a new 3 rep max on my deadlifts at 210 pounds. It felt like a big moment.
Two weeks later, I failed to lift 210 on my first attempt. After a brief rest, I managed to get 2 reps, but the bar came off the floor much more slowly. It was a completely different experience.
My experience reflects an often-unspoken truth:
The same weight on the barbell doesn’t feel the same every time. Some days, a weight feels easy to lift. Other days, the same weight can feel heavy. You may not be able to lift it at all.
Anyone who lifts weights regularly has experienced this. Part of the journey of weightlifting is accepting where you are on any given day. Some days you have the strength to lift your max, and other days you don’t.
Many factors contribute to this phenomenon.
There are the obvious factors:
Sleep. Nutrition. What else you did that week in terms of your workouts. How well you recovered. The way your body feels.
You can track all of these things with metrics.
There’s another component that can’t always be tracked so clearly. I call it The Invisible Load.
3 Factors That Add to The Invisible Load
The Invisible Load is comprised of 3 main factors:
(1) All the other things going on in your life:
- What’s happening at work or in your business.
- What’s going on in your relationships: with your spouse or partner, you kids, your colleagues, your friendships.
- How supported you feel in all parts of your life.
- Your financial situation.
- All the things you have on your mind that you’re keeping track of: upcoming birthdays, the kids’ doctors appointments, that person you need to follow up with. Even if you hav a system for tracking these things, they still live somewhere in your subconscious.
(2) Emotions
The Invisible Load also includes the emotions that are alive within you — either at or below the surface of your conscious awareness.
The weight of grief, loss, loneliness, and uncertainty are particularly heavy invisible plates that add to the physical plates on the bar.
Responsibility and duty also add pounds to the bar.
(3) Expectations
The expectations regarding the outcome of the task — whether it’s a lift in the gym, a blog post, a social media post, a phone call, a work project — also add to the Invisible Load.
The greater the stakes, the heavier the task can feel.
And, just like you can’t lift a bar that is too heavy for your capacity, the weight of expectations can immobilize you, leaving you stuck in inaction.
It doesn’t take much for that barbell to be loaded down with weights that nobody else can see.
Beyond the Gym
It should go without saying, but let’s be abundantly clear:
The Invisible Load isn’t just a weight on the barbell in the gym.
We carry it with us throughout our days. Every activity you do is saddled with an Invisible Load.
It only becomes an issue when the Invisible Load is so heavy that it makes the lift — or the task — so heavy that it is no longer within your capacity to execute it.
Just like you might remove plates from the barbell, how can you lighten the load on the project that feels too heavy to lift?
Remember: Everyone Is Carrying Something
Just like nobody can see your Invisible Load, you can’t see the Invisible Load that other people are carrying.
Everyone is carrying something.
Remembering this fact can help us have more compassion, and perhaps even a little more patience, for ourselves and others when we remember to consider the Invisible Load.
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