I have a hard time thinking of something more transformative than regular exercise.
Consistent strength training has the ability to change your life physically…hopefully we all know this.
The ways in which it can enrich your life extends far beyond the physical, though.
I want to lay out 3 monumental improvements that strength training has helped me with in my life.
Patience
Planning
Anger
So let’s start off with a reflection on ‘patience’.
If there is something that is evaporating in today’s world at an incredible clip it is people’s ability to display patience.
I suffer from this just like anyone else…. but the gym is there to remind me that anything worth having is worth working for.
I didn’t get to deadlifting 500 pounds by being impatient.
I didn’t get to being 9 months back pain free for the first time since high school by being impatient.
I didn’t get to dropping 25 pounds at the age of 30 by being impatient.
I didn’t achieve anything worth having by being impatient.
I needed to be patient. I needed to embrace small sustainable changes. I needed to celebrate the tiny victories…because they added up.
YOU
NEED
TO
BE
PATIENT
Listen… here is some harsh truth.
Why the hell do you think you deserve to see results happen quickly? What makes you so special? Why should you think so highly of yourself?
Here is when you can just assume you are worthy of those results you want so badly…. WHEN YOU EARN THEM.
Strength training also NECESSITATES planning.
Sure, a person will get stronger very quickly at first. But after a year or so… it requires some semblance of a plan.
You can’t just show up and do the same thing day in and day out.
You need to wisen up.
I learned this time and time again when it comes to the art of juggling the pursuit of strength while avoiding injuries.
You can put the pedal to the floor for a while but eventually you will run yourself into the ground.
So you need to learn how to cycle intensities. You need to learn how to build multiple skills and physical variables over the course of time. You need to learn how to program FUN things alongside NOT SO FUN things.
This whole section could just be summed as learning how to grow the hell up and treat yourself like an adult.
Be on time. Do the work. Have a plan.
Finally let’s talk anger.
Maybe this will resonate more with the men reading this…idk but I would imagine this applies very well to you ladies too.
I am NOT a person who likes to grunt and scream in the gym.
I am a jokester. I like to have fun and laugh.
I usually have good days and try not to complain.
But every once in a while… shit goes south.
This is where the gym can be your saving grace.
I can think of a handful of times that I let my anger bubble up in the gym (in a fairly controlled manner).
All of those times allowed me to reach a level I didn’t think I could otherwise.
It let me push through discomfort.
It forced me to trust myself.
It taught me to bet on myself.
I remember doing 497 burpees after closing down the gym one day. It’s a fucking stupid idea and you shouldn’t do it. I only did it to catch up to Butters and John during our monthly challenge in the gym.
I could only do it by taking my glasses off and blaring music and just GOING.
Less talk in the head.
Less doubt.
Less resistance.
Just letting the raw emotions of the moment work through you and work FOR you.
A lot of us stop doing sports once we leave school. For people like me that was a huge emotional outlet that I needed.
The gym can replicate that in many ways… let it work for you.
That’s all I have for you folks.
Until next time.
Coach Dill