20-second Berserker Mode success stories!

[Disil]

Went to the orthopedist. One of the nurses there seemed awfully familiar and so during X-Raying I said to her "we know eachother, right?". Turns out we went to the same school and had the same friends back then like, 14 years ago. She's quite a bit taller than me, really fit and quite pretty and I'm standing there in my underpants (getting both shoulder and hip looked at), great situation...and I was so thankful that I'd been getting in decent shape the past 14 months ha!

Anyway, we chatted a bit during the procedure, then I got back to the doc and once I was done with everything I wondered whether I should ask for her number or whether she wants to grab a coffee or drink or something, but she was busy on the phone at the reception and I just stood there like a moron, staring at my smartphone, acting as if I was doing something. I was about to leave the place when she was done with the phone call, looked at me and gave me the same wicked smile she did when I entered and asked me if I need anything or if I'm all good. I'm not sure how to proceed and we exchange pleasantries, say goodbye, I turn halfway to the door, then I stop. Berserker Mode. I turn back and ask her if she wants to "do something together"...yes, I was this "eloquent", haha. Still, her reaction was "sure, I'm done at 1, pick me up then? There's a great icecream parlor across the street, we could go there."

 

Now of course it turned out that she's getting married in less than a month to her boyfriend of over 5 years but hell, one step closer and just the second time in my life I asked a girl out, the first time in person so wooo!

[marymama08]

Well here goes, I have two beast mode stories. First is that I am posting here. I always write stuff out and think... no one wants to hear about this. Then I delete. So if you see this posted you know I had my 20 seconds of courage.

My second story is that I have been a stay at home mom for the last 26 years. I have 7 wonderful children and was truly quite busy( I also homeschooled them). I now have only 1 left at home. We moved into a smaller house and I have had very little to do. I wrestled with the idea of getting a job but wanted to be here for the last one just as I was for the others. So my husband suggested I volunteer at the food bank 1 day a week. It is in a part of town that is a little scary and I didn't think I would be of much use to them and maybe would not "fit in". I am only shy when I have to meet new people by myself. I mustered up the courage to leave the house and go see what I could offer them. Low and behold I am pretty darn savvy when it comes to helping people and giving ideas on how to make food stretch farther. I also found that I work quite well with the other workers there and they even seem to like me. And because there is a lot of heavy lifting and restocking of shelves I am getting one heck of a work out. Today was 50lb potato sacks and I am learning to use a power jack( I think that's what it is called). I now do 3 mornings a week but each morning I have to use a little beast mode to get out the door.

Now I am trying to hit the post button but it has definitely been more than 20 seconds

[Cr33g]

I think I had a "twenty seconds of beast mode" last Friday. Earlier this year (about three-ish months ago) my maximum dead lift was 140kg (308Ibs). Last Friday I managed to pull 160kg (352Ibs) then I thought "f*** it" and gave 170kg (374Ibs) a try, and I got it! Really happy with myself.

 

Today I'm going to be attempting a squat of 140kg (308Ibs). My last best attempt three months ago was 120kg (264Ibs). 

 

To help me achieve the dead lift (and I'll be doing this today too), I was listening to "The Suicide Mission" theme from the Mass Effect 2 sound track - 

[IrishMartian]

For needle-phobics I've found 20 second berzerker mode to be the perfect way to get through the jab. I had to get three blood tests done recently and that burst of psyching myself up helped a lot.

 

Although the nurse was a bit taken aback when I slapped my face four times in quick succession, snarled and then said 'okay DO IT!'.

[Ensi]

I'm very anxious about making important phone calls. This spring my friend gave me her boss's phone number and said that I could get a job for the summer, if I called her. The next few days I was anxious because I didn't want to do the call nor spend the summer without a job.

 

So, activate the 20-second Beast Mode.

 

I dialed in the boss's number. The phone rang for a couple of times. The boss answered, and a couple of days later I got a job for summer! The job was very pleasant (I worked as a cleaner) and my boss even promised me that I can come back next summer.

 

Be brave, Rebels!! It pays off 

[Shield]

Hit the 45 degree leg press today for a 5x5. After the warmup, I psyched myself up to Berserker Mode and told my lifting partner to load it up with 12 plates, so including the base weight of the sled, it was 707lbs. New max! Did that for my first set of 5, and then dropped down 90lbs to 617 to finish the rest.

 

(I know squats are more awesome, but I have one knee that's pretty much destroyed so I stick to the leg press.)

[Hulk In Nerds Clothing]

Don't really know if this counts...

 

I'm in the last two weeks of writing my thesis...but I had a problem all along. My supervisor quit his job one month into my six month thesis. He has been around only once in the time since then.

Last week I was supposed to contact him regarding the date of the defense/presentation and such...I haven't heard from him since the two emails I wrote him.

 

I kind of felt pissed and did more of a "why not?" than a "berzerk". I put down an email to the new group head of my team and asked him what I needed to do to make him my supervisor, since I felt abandoned by the other guy. One day later and about 20 emails, he has started to set all wheels in motion. God, it feels so much better now. Even though I still would have liked more guidance during the actual work

[Liberator]

Don't really know if this counts...

 

I'm in the last two weeks of writing my thesis...but I had a problem all along. My supervisor quit his job one month into my six month thesis. He has been around only once in the time since then.

Last week I was supposed to contact him regarding the date of the defense/presentation and such...I haven't heard from him since the two emails I wrote him.

 

I kind of felt pissed and did more of a "why not?" than a "berzerk". I put down an email to the new group head of my team and asked him what I needed to do to make him my supervisor, since I felt abandoned by the other guy. One day later and about 20 emails, he has started to set all wheels in motion. God, it feels so much better now. Even though I still would have liked more guidance during the actual work

Yep, that counts! 

 

Good for you! Way to take control of the situation and ask for what you need!  

[Hulk In Nerds Clothing]

Yep, that counts! 

 

Good for you! Way to take control of the situation and ask for what you need!  

 

Bad thing is, the new guy is over-enthusiastic. He told me I need to hand in the thesis a week early, so he can have it read by the time I should have handed in the thesis before

Well, that means another weekend in front of the pc frantically trying to make sense of my data ;D

(At least it's over soon^^)

[IronGlider]

I call these my 'overclock' sessions, though recently I've had to deal with tedious tasks and have cut the time to 5 seconds... I find that the more spontaneous ones and/or BIG ONES require 20sec, .... try it! :-)

[Oramac]

Well, here's my first (but hopefully not last) 20-second Berserker Mode story!  

 

As some here know, I run a business in addition to my day job.  As a business owner, I have to think 6-12 months ahead of everyone else, which can be tough in and of itself.  So right now, in September, the team I'm a part of is already thinking about Christmas.  We've got this awesome Christmas package deal where we set everything up for guys to get something great for their wife/girlfriend without having to deal with the hassles, like wrapping stuff.  But, I've never done anything like this before, and frankly it scares the shit out of me.  

 

So just about 15 minutes ago I told myself "self, stop sucking at life and talk to this guy".  So I did.  And I didn't die.  It was great.  I honestly don't even care if he buys the Package or not.  I took the step I needed to take.  

[DarK_RaideR]

Oh wow, there's a whole thread for this? That article has spoken volumes to me and I even made it part of my last challenge, awarding "bezerker points" every time I was brave. Since my posts were long already, I never went into detail about those situations, so here's my chance to expand and explain.

 

This one's for the curious Xena:

 

July 30th: As part of my job, I had to call the director of the largest hospital in town in order to ask him some questions. Not just general information, nor the most pleasant either, since I'm a lawyer. Let me say here that besides the general terror of talking to people on the phone, especially people I don't know, this was my first year in the job. I'd been delaying that call for 3 days straight, until I could muster the courage to make it, but I did it (and didn't die)

 

August 10th: Went with some friends to a small beach, sitting between a gulf made by rocky cliffs. We decided to try and scale some of them and dive into the sea. That meant swimming to a somewhat acessible point, latching onto the sharp rock, pulling yourself up, not letting the current crash you onto the rocks (did I mention they were sharp?), climb up on the searing-hot and sharp rocks and brave a dive that gave you at least 2 seconds of hang-time before you hit the surface. To make it extra hard, I have a thing after going to the pool for years: I just can't dive any other way than head-first. It was terrifying, but I decided I'd try to brave it. The climbing part was tricky, but doable. Looking down and jumping off was the hard part, not to mention diving correctly to avoid injury and keeping in mind the post-dive trajectory that would lead you to the surface instead of straight down to the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. Bezerker challenge ahoy, I made the jump before I had the time to rationalize it too much in my head. The adrenaline rush that followed, combined with the feeling that I'd just conquered a fear was amazing.

 

August 14th: Similar dive situation, with a few modifications. The climb was easier, the falling distance was about double than before and there was a small group of people gathered around making the dives, so add the pressure of people looking at you and waiting for you to jump. I thought "If you could do the previous dive, you can do this one. Just jump before you think too much about the fall, go ahead and experience it, keep the thoughts for later".

 

August 23rd: Let's see, how can I make this safe for work... It's been about a year since I broke up and even though for the first time in my life I felt OK being single (sometimes enjoying it even), things were pretty stale on that area. I mean, I was terrified of even talking to women, let alone flirt. There have even been 2 or 3 occasions where flirting happened, I was kind of interested, but never took things a step further, but remaining frozen in fear instead. This day I was facing a similar situation, but something clicked. I told myself "it's happening, you're interested and it's obvious there's no chance of rejection, so go bezerk about it and just do it!" Turns out the old saying that good things happen outside of one's comfort zone is true. Which of course I knew, but it's a huge gap from knowing to actually doing.

 

August 28th: I see a pattern here. Starting from Steve's 20 second bezerker mode article, I combined it with the one talking about how success happens at our limits and how every time we make it beyond them, we just set new limits even further. It happened with diving, when I pushed it further, it happened with the romance in my life as well.

That day I met a rather... special person again. We've known each other for years (as in, about a decade) and thanks to me being frozen in fear, we ended up as friends, although there was always something there. We both knew it, even joked about how it was a karmic bond and would eventually happen, despite us living in far away towns and moving even further due to studies etc. It was only two years ago and after several drinks that we actually kissed (and left things there). It was both awesome and awkward, especially the morning after and I felt like a total idiot, but also like I'd lifted a weight off my chest and made clear where I stand. We never talked about this again, even stopped joking about it. I spent a few days at her place this March, it was.... blank. Then a few weeks ago, we meet with common friends for a drink. She suggest we carry on our drinking to the same place where... stuff happened two years ago. I'm interested, everyone else passes. Now I'm in terror. Has this been a set up, are the others playing along? Is it chance? Destiny? History repeated as a farce? What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to react?

Seriously, I'm terrified. Then a roaring horde of vikings goes up my chest, through my throat and punches me in the brain. Unintentionally, I have the most suggestive tone ever when I say "I'm not sure, I have a weird history with you round those parts"

BLAM!

I touched the taboo topic, smooth as f@ck and feeling extremely relieved. I do not care what happens next, I'm cool with myself. I don't get slapped, I don't get a mad or disgusted reaction, but instead a smile. To make the rest of the long story short, we eventually end up at the same place, the same things happen, only the next day we talk about it on the phone. We both know what we wan't and don't want, so things are sorted out smoothly and quickly, simpler than buying a pack of smokes. I'm left feeling rather happy and wondering why people always go and complicate things.

 

It's worth mentioning that writing down all this, especially the last two occasions, I feel relieved once more. I haven't discussed any of those incidents with anyone yet. Don't know if writing about them here was another surge of bravery, but I definately feel relieved.

[Oramac]

[truncated]

 

It's worth mentioning that writing down all this, especially the last two occasions, I feel relieved once more. I haven't discussed any of those incidents with anyone yet. Don't know if writing about them here was another surge of bravery, but I definately feel relieved.

 

That's all kinds of awesome!  Well done!  Personally, I think the most important parts are the phrases "I didn't care what happens next", and that sort of thing.  It's something I still struggle with, but it's a really freeing feeling.  

[Xena]

Thanks so much for posting DR! I have a personal exemption from jumping off high places (I've done it enough to know I don't like it. For me the adrenaline doesn't outweigh the terror) but there are plenty of other scary things I should take on. I was hoping the last couple posts were something along those lines. Good for you! You have really inspired me. I'm thinking about how to apply this to my own life...love that there's a thread waiting for me :-)

[Devyn]

I had a series of them this past weekend, all related.

I am deathly scared of heights. Like ridiculously so. When I saw the Odyssey Ropes Course advertised on Camp NF, I thought "HELL NO".  Then I immediately thought that this was the perfect opportunity to face a fear.

So, I signed up for it. I hesitated when I pushed final submit button, but berserker moded that.  Finally, when the day came, I turned on berserker mode and climbed up to the course. Then I was about to chicken out and head back down when I found out what exactly I would have to do. But I took another (less than) 20 seconds and stepped out onto the ropes. 

I did this over and over again until the end. Each at more frightening moments.

At the very end, we were supposed to zipline down. When I heard we had to purposefully jump from 35ft up in the air, I panicked again and even started crying. I told them I didn't want to do it. But as other NFers cheered me on, I thought of berserker mode and jumped. I laughed hysterically on my way down. It was so much fun.

I don't think I have ever faced my fear that strongly before. I was scared to death, but I kept fighting through 20second of craziness at a time. And I was victorious.

Thanks, Steve, for the article and thank you team Pioneers for being my support group through it all.

[fengor]

My 20sec Berserker moment: after learning how to do a prober deadlift at the introductionary i went for a onetime bodyweight (85kg) deadlift and managed to pull it off.

Thanks for all the nerds being there and letting me steal their awesome

[Artinum]

I thought I'd got the hang of beast mode. Turns out my 20-second turbo charge sessions were little more than a kitten mewling.

Tonight's run (a simple 5km affair, nothing drastic) saw me getting quite into the music. In particular, John Parr's "St Elmo's Fire". It got to a pivotal line:

"You've broken the boy in me / you won't break the man."

 

And I felt a moment's... well, rage, I suppose is the closest fit. A surge of adrenaline, and suddenly I accelerated. I felt a chill go down my neck and upper back, and had to reign myself in a bit.

 

And then I hit another moment: "Just once in his life, a man has his time / and my time is now - I'm coming alive."

 

And I went into overdrive. I have never run that fast. I couldn't sustain it, and I was struggling afterwards, but for a moment I was flying. The very sensation I first started running for.

 

Glorious! I had no idea there was so much power in this.

[Xena]

I thought I'd got the hang of beast mode. Turns out my 20-second turbo charge sessions were little more than a kitten mewling.

Tonight's run (a simple 5km affair, nothing drastic) saw me getting quite into the music. In particular, John Parr's "St Elmo's Fire". It got to a pivotal line:

"You've broken the boy in me / you won't break the man."

 

And I felt a moment's... well, rage, I suppose is the closest fit. A surge of adrenaline, and suddenly I accelerated. I felt a chill go down my neck and upper back, and had to reign myself in a bit.

 

And then I hit another moment: "Just once in his life, a man has his time / and my time is now - I'm coming alive."

 

And I went into overdrive. I have never run that fast. I couldn't sustain it, and I was struggling afterwards, but for a moment I was flying. The very sensation I first started running for.

 

Glorious! I had no idea there was so much power in this.

Awesome! It's wonderful when running feels like that!

[Madam_Patella]

I had one of my first "serious" uses of my Berserker mode just a week ago.

 

There's a weekly open-gym night that I absolutely love attending, but I have been having some trouble with anxiety attacks recently and I was afraid that I might have one there. I knew that once I got there and started doing things it would probably be okay, but there was that fear that, if I did freak out there, the place would be somehow... tainted. I had been avoiding it for over a month because of this ridiculous fear. Just before I hit the endless spiral of trying to decide what to do, I suddenly remembered Steve's article and decided that I would go and so I did. That's not where it ended though.

 

Later on after I had gotten warmed up and was working on some things which included some, trampoline-based, act-like-a-five-year-old-again kind of stuff. (If you watched the video: YES, it is that fun!) During this time one of the regulars (who is absolutely awesome) came up and said I should try standing on our wall and falling backwards to start instead of beginning at the bottom like some of the others do. (pretty much 0:08-0:11 of the video)

 

Now I'm not so great with unfamiliar heights, so this was pretty daunting at first. However, I trust him because I know that he has never asked me to do something I couldn't accomplish. After I had tried some "baby steps" to get the feel of the height I decided that I had only used about 5 seconds of my Berserker Mode to decide to go that night and so I still had 15 seconds left. I decided to use them to get myself to the top of that wall and jump off. And I DID! I wanted to go again to eliminate any remaining fear, so I again made myself think that I had only used ten of the remaining fifteen seconds, so I still had a little time left to get back up there. 

 

Needless to say, I left that night feeling a wonderful sense of accomplishment (and adrenaline). The funny part is that during most of the time I was going up to the top of the wall, my nerd-senses kicked in and I was thinking something along the lines of "Do or do not, there is no try" and "Kill the boy and let the man be born" to motivate myself. 

[Grunk]

I think this is the right place for my short story:

Nerd fitness inspired a bigger change than just going for a run. I lurked for a while, I posted a bit, and I fell in love with what you people do. Long Live The Steve. I haven't been back in a long time because life happens but here is my Re-Introduction post, WOOT Post, and Berserker post all rolled into one....

I signed up for NF two years ago and due to some misplaced, and to this day surprising, motivation I threw myself at a slew of life changes (food, gym, sleep cycle) and it came with almost immediate consequences. It wasn't too long after this started that my girlfriend of 4 years decided it was her or they gym. She didn't like what I was cooking for us or how long I was spending away from our couch. Long story short after losing several pounds in a month I decided to lose about 110 pounds in 20 seconds. It wasn't as nearly as easy or fun as it sounds but it was done. 

 

From there I quit my job(stupid), got a career(lucky), joined a better gym($$), moved twice($$$) and found a supportive woman who thinks it's cute that I named my kettle balls Bruce and Robin. There's no easy step-by-step through this phase, kids. It sucked, it was hard, but I did it.

Because of the paleolithic-eating, barefoot-running, anime-watching, Star-Wars-quoting lot of you (primarily the bunch in 2012) I found the courage and strength to make the first step toward what I am and what I'm still working towards. That little step did great things for me even if I haven't been here getting to be ridiculous with the rest of you. If I had to give one bit of advice it goes beyond 20 seconds of bravery. Make that first scary step but don't hesitate to go where that step takes you.

 

 

Huzzah!

[Grunk]

I think this is the right place for my short story:

Nerd fitness inspired a bigger change than just going for a run. I lurked for a while, I posted a bit, and I fell in love with what you people do. Long Live The Steve. I haven't been back in a long time because life happens but here is my Re-Introduction post, WOOT Post, and Berserker post all rolled into one....

I signed up for NF two years ago and due to some misplaced, and to this day surprising, motivation I threw myself at a slew of life changes (food, gym, sleep cycle) and it came with almost immediate consequences. It wasn't too long after this started that my girlfriend of 4 years decided it was her or they gym. She didn't like what I was cooking for us or how long I was spending away from our couch. Long story short after losing several pounds in a month I decided to lose about 110 pounds in 20 seconds. It wasn't as nearly as easy or fun as it sounds but it was done. 

 

From there I quit my job(stupid), got a career(lucky), joined a better gym($$), moved twice($$$) and found a supportive woman who thinks it's cute that I named my kettle balls Bruce and Robin. There's no easy step-by-step through this phase, kids. It sucked, it was hard, but I did it.

Because of the paleolithic-eating, barefoot-running, anime-watching, Star-Wars-quoting lot of you (primarily the bunch in 2012) I found the courage and strength to make the first step toward what I am and what I'm still working towards. That little step did great things for me even if I haven't been here getting to be ridiculous with the rest of you. If I had to give one bit of advice it goes beyond 20 seconds of bravery. Make that first scary step but don't hesitate to go where that step takes you.

 

 

Huzzah!

 

 

[BlackTezca]

This one was a long time ago.  Okay two years ago.  But definitely a beast mode moment.

 

I'm not too good with heights.  Standing on chairs or a step ladder, walking on bridge with spaces between boards, they give me vertigo and makes it hard for me to focus on a task (like walking or taking out a light bulb) when I'm feeling unsteady.

 

So naturally, my at-the-time-boyfriend, now-husband, wanted to take me skiing.  Going up the ski-lift in order to basically slide down a mountain at a faster-than-nautral velocity.  Weeeee...I had fought it for a while, but finally saying yes, and planning a vacation, renting a place, all that, just for the purpose of skiing.  It was intense waiting in the line for group lessons, falling off the ski-lift tend million times when at the peak of the mountain, etc.  But once I past the lesson stage, and staring down my first real green, not a bunny slope, and taking off...wow.  I was so proud to conquer it, and move onto the blues.

 

I'm still working on it, but I would love to go berserker mode and try a black trail.  Maybe not this year, but if I could get close, awesome.

[Dradis]

This one was a long time ago.  Okay two years ago.  But definitely a beast mode moment.

 

I'm not too good with heights.  Standing on chairs or a step ladder, walking on bridge with spaces between boards, they give me vertigo and makes it hard for me to focus on a task (like walking or taking out a light bulb) when I'm feeling unsteady.

 

So naturally, my at-the-time-boyfriend, now-husband, wanted to take me skiing.  Going up the ski-lift in order to basically slide down a mountain at a faster-than-nautral velocity.  Weeeee...I had fought it for a while, but finally saying yes, and planning a vacation, renting a place, all that, just for the purpose of skiing.  It was intense waiting in the line for group lessons, falling off the ski-lift tend million times when at the peak of the mountain, etc.  But once I past the lesson stage, and staring down my first real green, not a bunny slope, and taking off...wow.  I was so proud to conquer it, and move onto the blues.

 

I'm still working on it, but I would love to go berserker mode and try a black trail.  Maybe not this year, but if I could get close, awesome.

 

I berserkered a black run before i was ready on my first ski trip. I slid down most of it on my belly, it was so steep in places that if you fall you just have to wait til you stop. I managed to ski some of it and got to the end safely, it was AWESOME.

You need to be good enough to keep yourself slow enough while going though, you don't wanna be out of control, flying down a mountain and then fall. I fell slowly and then just couldn't stop

[Toxophilite]

I berserkered a black run before i was ready on my first ski trip. I slid down most of it on my belly, it was so steep in places that if you fall you just have to wait til you stop. I managed to ski some of it and got to the end safely, it was AWESOME.

You need to be good enough to keep yourself slow enough while going though, you don't wanna be out of control, flying down a mountain and then fall. I fell slowly and then just couldn't stop

So instead of flying down the mountain you were falling with style?

[BlackTezca]

I berserkered a black run before i was ready on my first ski trip. I slid down most of it on my belly, it was so steep in places that if you fall you just have to wait til you stop. I managed to ski some of it and got to the end safely, it was AWESOME.

You need to be good enough to keep yourself slow enough while going though, you don't wanna be out of control, flying down a mountain and then fall. I fell slowly and then just couldn't stop

 

Oh goodness!!  That sounds awesome, hilarious and absolutely TERRIFYING all the once!  I'm super-duper happy you made it down safely!  Yeah the hubs is not gonna take me down any blacks anytime soon, but ooo with practice I'll get there!