Set yourself up to fail

Weightlifting/Powerlifting/CrossFit attempts


I am curious how many people set out to fail on a third attempt? What exactly is the logic in choosing your attempts?

"No one ever won a chess game by betting on each move. Sometimes you have to move backward to get a step forward" Amar Gopal Bose

I heard someone tell a fellow lifter that "your last attempt should be a fail". She will read this and know I am speaking about her, and therefore she shall remain nameless. The chick is actually strong given her body weight and I will also take into account she regularly does cf.

Let me step back a moment and put why her doing cf plays into it. Cf is highly cardio/drill/time based moreso than pl/sm. Pl is more number based. In sm there is more of a mix. In Cf you go in wanting to beat a time, not a weight, and in my mind changes things.

So... Failure your last attempt? Hell no. No, no, no. Here is my logic into my last prepregnancy meet (my last meet as an example would not be good given I lowered all my openers because of the stupid dbl ear infection). I walked into the meet knowing I had to beat 418 to take the all time world record so I knew 420 was going to be my second if not my last attempt. My opener was 370. This was a number I at least tripled in the gym. One I knew depth was easy to hit. My second was 420. Why 420? I knew I could take it a second time and I knew a pr was coming. I think your first attempt should be based on your second being a pr. So your last pr was say 225 (Cindy's last pr in a meet) her first attempt should be in the 200 range. I do not like huge jumps, never over 50lb honestly so her next attempt at least 235 or 240. This should be pretty easy given it is a meet, she is well rested, (another HUGE issue) and she has eaten well. Her final should be within 5 to 10 lbs of her second attempt... I consider your final a freebie PR, at this point you have felt the weight, you know it was easy, your mind is set and you will not feel 5 or 10 lb so nailing it should be easy. Never a fail though, who in the crap sets up to fail? Do you think Rich F or Klokvo is like eh, if I fail it is ok, I got one PR. No, they are out to rape our times and weights even if it is by 5lb, to show they can out do you regardless, that is how they got where they are, 5 more than you adds up. People have recently posted about how only 11 men have hit the 2300 mark, do you think anyone knows the name of the 2295 guy? No. What if he added 5 more lb to his final attempt?? Yes they would, I do not know the names of anyone within 10 lbs of 2300. Do not be that person who went 6 for 9, even if you think you left some on the platform, I feel like two PR attempts that lead to a 15+ pr plus 9/9 is better than 6/9 and a 10lb pr. That is only my opinion though, and this is just a silly powerlifting mommy blog.