First off!! Badass Eyes Closed Image Credit goes to STILphotography (I don’t know him, but he’s got some crazy cool art!)
So… Eyes Wide Shut? Also known as lifting with your eyes closed. Seriously! But LOOK… Before you go out and hurt yourself and then try to blame me, let me elaborate. (Keep reading to see what I mean by “Eyes Wide Shut”)
Remember the last time you tried to do anything with your eyes closed? It was a lot more difficult right? But then it was way easier when you opened them again, right?
Well, the other day I was thinking about different martial arts training I’d done in the past and how we would train (and even spar) with our eyes closed from time to time. Doing that really forces you to know your body and use all of your other senses to compensate which makes everything you do with your eyes open that much more precise and powerful!
Anyway… Recently, my right shoulder has been a bit wonky so I’ve been lifting upper body much lighter than normal. And lifting light is sooooo freaking boring that I want to drop a 45lb plate on my head. Did I mention it’s BORRRRING… ARGH!
So last week I started doing most of my upper body work with my eyes closed. (I even started jumping rope with my eyes closed, which is really interesting. ha!).
Eyes Wide Shut?
Get out your tinfoil hats and incense! Ok, it’s not that crazy…
I’ve even done light squats with my eyes wide shut. Talk about a trip! Wow!
By shutting your eyes, you’re forcing all your other senses open up wide and take over. It’s really strange at first, but right away you’ll start noticing any muscle imbalances. The biggest benefit is that you must really focus on the “movement”! And that means you can concentrate on activating the muscles you’re working.
So like I said before… Anything you can do well with your eyes closed, you can do even better with them open. So why not give it a try on something simple like curls, pushups, etc. It’ll put you in tune with “yourself” real quick.
Share your experience below in the comments….
LAYMAN'S DISCLAIMER
Don’t be an idiot and try doing some heavy complex compound movement with your eyes closed! Like I said, do some curls or something simple just to see how it feels. If you move on to more advanced lifts, then just use the bar or no weight at all till you get it down. If you fall over, or drop a weight on yourself, and die, I am not responsible.And.. Again… Badass Eyes Closed Image Credit goes to STILphotography