I probably won’t write this as eloquently as others have before me but I think that lessons in strength training provide a crucial perspective on lessons in life.
Succinctly: nothing you want will come without struggle.
The first time I remember bailing on a lift in the gym, I was the stereotypical skinny guy in a box gym who underestimated how much weight was on the bar, didn’t have a spotter, and when I couldn’t clear the weight back to the top it came right back down against my chest and I had to wiggle myself free between the bar and the bench.
Thank God no one saw that happen because if they did, I don’t think I would have had the courage to go back.
And yet, as embarrassed as I was, I knew that I had to get better at it.
Not because the bench press was the most important lift for me but because the whole point of going to the gym was to get better.
You learn how to work within your means, you learn how to push the meter to get stronger, you learn to have a spotter so you’re at less risk of injury and you never, ever stop trying to improve.
And even though I spend several hours in the gym helping others improve and still learning how to improve myself, strength training continues to provide countless lessons about how to “fail” and how to keep coming back for more.
I’ve lost count how many “bad” workouts I’ve had. But a bad workout is better than no workout.
I’ve lost count how many mediocre workouts I’ve had. But the mediocre ones helped to develop consistency.
And I’ve lost count of how many great workouts I’ve had. Because the longer you train, the less often the truly great workouts show up.
In fact, what differentiates the great workouts from the ones that aren’t often has less to do with achieving personal bests and more about the attitude and confidence you gain in yourself when you’re putting the reps in over and over and over again.
It’s monotonous, it’s often frustrating, and aside from the handful of times where I’ve had an injury, I’ve never left a workout wishing I hadn’t done the workout at all.
Lifting weights teaches you how to listen to your body.
It teaches you how to filter out the noise around you.
It teaches you how to move in ways that no other form of movement can.
And I’m not trying to build an empire of bodybuilders and powerlifters. I’m trying to build an empire of people who know that the work they do in the gym isn’t just about aesthetics and achieving a dream physique, it’s about having physical and mental skills to navigate the world outside of the gym.
If you want your body to perform its best, you fuel it with the most nutritious food you can, as often as you can, in amounts appropriate for your body and your goals.
And you take the lesson of every lift you bail in the gym to step back and ask: How could I have done that better?
If I had never walked back into the gym 20-odd years ago when that barbell pinned me to the bench, I’d be at a disadvantage for everything that would come after and I’ve had a lot of life to live since that happened.
If you want different outcomes in the gym and in life, you take the losses and you figure out how to turn them in your favor. The weights won’t always be kind to you but the lessons will transform you.
We live in a world that rarely consoles weakness. I don’t say that with a hint of bravado or toxic masculinity.
You have a right to be as strong as you can for as long as you can and it is arguably one of the finest gifts you can give yourself.
Just don’t expect easy.
Expect struggle.
And expect to overcome it.
