I'll never forget an "Aha moment" I had with my wife a bunch of years ago. We were watching the X Games and some lunatic was throwing something like a backflip with his snowmobile. I was just sitting in front of the tv in awe exclaiming how nuts these guys were. She looked at me sideways and said "How sane is it to take 900 lbs over your face and then bench press it?" Yep, that happened to be my best bench press in case you didn't know.

Hmmm, good point per usual from Jessica. Yes, what we do is nuts, but we frequently take it for granted. Often times we may consider weights we use light, however, in reality, they are not. If you have ever dropped a 45 lb plate on your foot, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Just yesterday I had 385 on squats for five sets of three and then a set of AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible for those of you not familiar with the acronym). As I got to that set, I checked my journal to see how many reps I hit on the last training cycle. Considering my last number was 16, naturally, I wanted to get 17 this time around. First, let me start with this, anything over five to six reps on squats is idiotic.

Ok, now that we have that straight, this is how I handle my squat AMRAP. I start by breaking the set down in my head. The first goal is to hit ten and then treat each rep thereafter as a single. Usually, by around rep 13 I start telling myself this is stupid and I want to quit. Then I convince myself I'm being a complete wuss and push through. At 15 I'm completely out of breath and seeing stars. This week, after the 16th, I just had to go for 17. With little left to spare, I ground it out.

Nirvana right? Not quite yet unfortunately. In my completely exhausted state, I missed the rack on the right and the weights came crashing down on that side. It ended up smashing my hand between the rack and the bar. Luckily the collar and the weights slid off to the floor. If the weight stayed on the bar my hand would have been pinned and who knows what the damage would have been. Right now I just have a very bruised hand--and ego.

The whole purpose of this little anecdote is to remind you all and myself that what we do is dangerous. Don't take anything for granted. I don't feel like I did, but I certainly will be even more alert next time and every time I'm racking a squat.

Also, please use safety measures. All too often I see people squatting on the outside of a rack. Or in a rack benching or squatting without setting the pins. Take the extra minute or two and set the rack up. People suffer serious injuries and even die from weightlifting accidents. You can't prevent everything, but at least set yourself up as safely as you can.