| If you've seen the video of me lifting the Toyota | | | | where the subjects were given the suggestion of |
| you might have noticed the noise I make when I | | | | either feeling great strength or of great |
| do maximum lifts. The fact is, I don't think I could | | | | weakness. The subjects demonstrated either |
| do a big lift like that if I had to be silent. First of | | | | 26.5% more or 31.7% less strength while |
| all, it's important to exhale during any heavy lifting | | | | hypnotized. (That's pretty amazing, but who has |
| - static contraction or otherwise - and although it's | | | | his own hypnotist?) Subjects given amphetamines |
| possible to exhale silently, I've always preferred | | | | saw a 13.5% improvement. Subjects who had a |
| making a loud noise. I refer to this inarticulate | | | | starter's pistol (firing blanks) shot unexpectedly |
| grunt as a "Barbaric Yawp" in deference to the | | | | while lifting had a 7.4% increase in strength. And |
| great poet Walt Whitman who wrote: "I sound | | | | the subjects who shouted during their exercise |
| my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world." | | | | garnered a 12.2% increase in strength. |
| While I certainly lack the grace and insight of a | | | | -Hypnosis: +26.5% |
| poet, it turns out I'm onto something. Back in | | | | -Amphetimines: +13.5% |
| 1960 physiologists Michio Ikai and Arthur Steinhaus | | | | -Gus shot: + 7.4% |
| published a study entitled Some Factors Modifying | | | | -Yell: +12.2% |
| the Expression of Human Strength. They looked | | | | For most of us, having a personal hypnotist at |
| at some external factors that could affect a | | | | the gym with us, taking amphetamines or firing a |
| person's strength performance. Basically they | | | | handgun during our leg press is just not going to |
| looked at a loud noise, the subject's outcry | | | | be practical, to say the least. But the cheap and |
| (barbaric yawp), amphetamines, alcohol, adrenaline | | | | simple act of yelling your own barbaric yawp |
| and hypnosis. | | | | during your 5 second static exertion might well |
| They sat a subject in a chair and fastened a cable | | | | garner a 12.2% increase in your performance. |
| to his wrist with a wide strap. When the second | | | | Wow! |
| hand of a clock reach a given point the subject | | | | The researchers suggested that this phenomenon |
| pulled against the cable in what amounted to a | | | | might be explained by acting to remove internal |
| static contraction (isometric) biceps curl. Readings | | | | inhibitions. Somehow the Vikings must have |
| were taken from a tension meter connected to | | | | known that when they ran ashore, bare-chested |
| the cable. | | | | wielding battle axes and screaming their own, truly |
| The subjects given alcohol and adrenaline had | | | | barbaric, yawp. But you can get the same benefit |
| improvements considered statistically insignificant. | | | | without the messy bloodshed. |
| The most profound effect was from hypnosis | | | | |