There were several example of this in yesterdays workout. One involved doing parallel bar dips near the end of my session. These primarily work triceps with some chest and shoulders. Normally I'll do three sets to failure, which is anywhere from 5 to 15 reps, depending on the exercises that I've done prior and how fatigued those muscle groups are.
Yesterday I was challenged to do ten sets of seven with timed rest intervals between. I really truly thought there was NO way I could do this, and that I had been set up to fail. I gave it my best shot, taking it one set and one rep at a time, knocking them out, and having to dig hard for that last rep and next set. But I did it, and left the gym with a great sense of accomplishment.
I once read that people can typically run twice as far as they think they can, but we are so programmed to put limits on ourselves. It's good to have people around us to push us beyond our self-imposed boundaries.
