Life Lessons From the Gym
Bodybuilding has been a great teacher. For if you are to become a competitive bodybuilder, you must have inner strength to maximize your outer or physical strength.
Looking at yourself and deciding where your physique needs improving is part of the 'art' of bodybuilding. Then putting in the intense work needed to bring improvements calls on both the 'art' and the science of bodybuilding. You must be driven. You must be faithful. And you must be confident.
Many bodybuilders can testify to the empowering feeling of looking in a mirror and seeing the accomplishment of their goals. How satisfying it is to KNOW you can can accomplish that which you've dreamed about through planning and hard work. And therein lies the universal lesson bodybuilding can teach us: If you truly desire to do something difficult, you've counted the cost, and you work with a passion to accomplish it, you CAN do it!
This is the super power every successful bodybuilder has- the knowledge that difficulties can be faced and overcome.
If you've built your legs while struggling under crushing weight for years on end, you've learned to push through pain to achieve a desired result.
If you've built up lagging body parts through unrelenting focus, you've learned to push out all obstacles in order to succeed.
If you've stood on stage after months of dieting, cardio, and training, you've learned you are capable of doing things others simply can not.
After more than 30 years of training and competing I've learned all these things. In fact, I've concluded that a successful life is a lot like successful bodybuilding.
I've distilled bodybuilding's life lessons down to this: Find something tough to do, and do it three times! In bodybuilding we seek to work up to the heaviest weight we can handle and lift it. Then we seek an even heavier weight for another set. Finally, we find a weight we may have never tried and attempt new personal records.If applied to life it looks like this:
Find the most challenging thing you desire to do and do it--repeatedly. The first time you do it, you've proven to yourself you CAN do it! The second time solidifies in your mind that you are capable of meeting a challenge. And finally, the third time you face a challenge, you're becoming an overcomer. And overcomers win.
So find that thing in your life that you're willing to work for--to work long and hard for. Make a plan. Just as you shouldn't walk into a gym with no idea what or how you're training, your plans for your life need to be vivid and solid in your mind.
Once your goals are crystallized and your plan fixed in your mind begin to execute. The sheer excitement of 'having a plan' ought to energize you initially. But after some time perhaps you'll confront obstacles. This is where your desire and will power will be tested. Remind yourself why you began this journey. This is your second 'set'.Obstacles can be seen as opportunities. Just as in the gym we raise the weight for the second set, life sometimes raises resistance as well. Now you have an opportunity to prove to yourself you can meet this challenge!
And by meeting this challenge, you are creating a new picture of yourself. Like the bodybuilder staring into the mirror, you are becoming stronger. And when other challenges follow, you will meet them with this newly acquired strength.
In the gym, we call our toughest sets 'working sets'. These are the sets that lead to strength and growth. Life requires strength and growth, so accept the challenges life brings. Embrace life's 'working sets'.
Dr. Jordan Peterson often encourages people to "pick up the heaviest weight you can, and carry it." This is music to a bodybuilders ears! We've met the challenge of this. We know the results of this.
Find your tough thing, your big challenge. Articulate a plan, weigh the costs (Luke 14:28), surround yourself with support, and attack! This is your first 'set'. You'll fight hard to do it, but you'll finish your 'set'. And having built up your strength you can face the next 'set', the next challenge.
So learn the life lessons Bodybuilding teaches, "If you want to grow, find something tough to do, and do it---REPEATEDLY!
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