After having a conversation with a longtime friend and client, I was inspired to write about the parallels between training and life.
There are a bunch of ways how they are similar, but thought that these 3 were the most significant.
1.) In the weight room, you have to push your limits in order to create new ones.
You might have a goal to get rid of stubborn fat hanging around your stomach, but haven’t quite gotten the results you want.
That means it is time push the envelope and do more than what you have been doing.
You have to work outside of your norm so that you can discover the results that you never had before.
There is a principle called the S.A.I.D. principle in strength and conditioning, which means Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands.
This means the body will adjust and respond to whatever stress you put on it.
Physique wise, if you want more muscle, or more strength, then you must put more force on the body.
You have to push the boundary. No boundaries get pushed sitting down.
2.) Increasing Resistance to Get Stronger
In the weight room, whenever you want to increase your max strength, the only way to do this is by lifting heavier weight strategically, so that your muscle fibers and neural connections can expand and build a tolerance for heavier loads.
In order to improve your cardio, you have to expose your cardiovascular system to progressively intense loads so that it can be more efficient.
Well, in life in order to get better at anything, it takes consistent exposure, and practice.
You have to challenge yourself and face resistance so that you capacitate yourself to be able to handle more.
3.) Test and retest yourself
In the gym, you first have to test the max amount of weight you can lift to see where you are.
After going through a cycle or two of periods of increased resistance, you have to test how far you have come to check your progress.
You do it right and strategically, then you should see improvement.
Regardless of whether you see improvement or not, its an opportunity to see how well your program has been working, and how much you can handle moving forward.
It’s a time to see if you need to make adjustments to hit your goals.
Life constantly throws challenges at you.
Life tests you.
But these tests are opportunities to see just how strong you are:
How much you can overcome.
If your lifestyle has prepared you or handicapped you.
If you are stagnant or progressing.
You need these tests so that you build your resilience.
Even though we like to think of the gym as just a place to exercise and work out, the intrinsic value we can take away is just as significant as the physical result.
Because you pushed your boundaries, because you had to overcome the resistances, because of getting tested…
The sense of accomplishment is deeper.
Inside and outside of the gym.
Thought I’d share.
-Coach Willis