Thank you Andrew for the article. I know in the past when I've missed a lift I'm usually wracking my brain over what the reason was. Would you agree though that form breaking down and not being strong enough are very much intertwined? In my experience, when the weight is very heavy and I miss a rep, my coach and I will quickly recognize the "mechanical cause." Knees slide forward at the bottom of a squat, bar comes off the shins in a DL, get stuck forward on the bench, etc, etc. We can always tell what went wrong, but I find myself at times screaming at my coach (in my head); like I KNOW what I did, but I can't help it. The weight was too heavy and I couldn't keep the bar on my shins. The weight was too heavy and I got squished at the bottom of the squat and it pushed my knees forward. I was too tired and I couldn't stop the bar from drifting forward on the last rep of the bench.
It has always been the case that we work through it somehow. We focus on correcting the problem and re-attempt or reset. Eventually we get it done, but I often wonder at that point was only ever just a problem with form or was it that I had reached the limits of my strength? I'd like to think that when the weight really does get heavy that it's both. Am I right in that or do you think I am missing something?