Wait, What? Lifting weights isn’t just about growing bigger muscles and getting stronger? No, even if we’re only talking about physical adaptations, lifting weights isn’t just limited to gaining bigger muscles and strength. Lifting weights is beneficial to cardio vascular system/training, it’s a good way to relieve stress, it keeps muscles from becoming stiff and about 100 different aspects of our bodies that we won’t dive into during this blog. This one is all about the life lessons (non-physical benefits) we consciously or unconsciously learn by lifting weights.
These life lessons that we’re going be talking about are not just hidden secrets that only the strongest lifters in your gym will ever know about. Just like our physical fitness levels, everything is relative.
It’s like I said, we aren’t always aware of what we learn by putting in effort in the gym, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t gaining those valuable lessons. From building resiliency and self-confidence to building a stronger work ethic, those are all lessons we can take way from lifting weights. Let’s dive into some more
Lesson 1: Hard work can take you anywhere, regardless of talent
Find me someone who spends a lot of time in the gym and has never looked at someone and thought ” they are bigger/stronger/more talented that I am”. Talent and natural ”physical gifts” are only going to get you so far if you don’t work hard.
I am a huge NFL fan (American Football) and that sport shows some of the best and most exciting athletes. All of the players that play in the NFL are big, strong and fast but not all of them are ”natural talents”. The most talented kid can fail to make it to the NFL if they don’t work hard and continue to develop their abilities throughout the years that lead up to that. If the ”less talented” players (for a lack of a better term) works as hard as they possibly can and takes advantage of every opportunity they earn, I can promise you that this kid is way more likely to make it and succeed. It doesn’t matter how talented you’re if you don’t use those gifts. These players learn this from a young age, that’s why it’s such a competitive sport and only the best of the best make it, regardless of talent.
The NFL seems like a crazy example but it’s a job nonetheless. If there’s someone at your company that seems to be more talented than you, you always have the opportunity to work harder and make up for ”the lack of talent”. It builds way more respect, character and resiliency if you work hard for what you got rather than being satisfied with the talents you were given. Not saying that talented people don’t work hard, talent and a good work ethic is a dangerous combination.
Lesson 2: Consistency wins
If you’re trying to squat a 100 kilos in the gym but your current PR (Personal Record) is somewhere around 80 kilos, I think we can all agree that no matter how hard you work for a single day it’s not going to get you those extra 20 kilos. No matter how much effort you’re putting into a single day, the results are going to come after week upon week, months upon months (depending on what the goal is) of hard work. In the gym we call this the supercompensation/overload model.
The same thing goes for our personal lives and work goals. If you’re working towards a promotion/raise, you need to put in consistent effort in order for your manager/boss to notice and consider you for the position. If you’re putting all the effort in for a single day but slack off afterwards, it might have quite the opposite effect of what you’re looking for. Let’s look at another example in our daily lives, take relationships for example (not that I am an expert on this). As far as I know, to make a relationship work with friends/family/girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other etc. you need to show that you care and put in the time/effort on a consistent basis. How many of you would still be with your significant other/partner if they didn’t show you affection, treat your right or make you happy on a daily basis? (you’re the judge on that one of course). Obviously, you can’t give me the answer right now but unless you have been together or married for a while that’s probably not many of you. Even though you might have been together for a while, wouldn’t it be nice for someone to show that affection and love every single day? Okay, relationship advice and rant over.
You get the point I am trying to make. Whether you want to lift 20 kilos more, get a promotion or be in a good relationship, you will have to put in consistent effort and energy. One really good day will never make up for 100 bad ones, when it comes to putting in effort. You simply can’t neglect something for weeks or months, maybe years and expect to gain it all back by working hard/putting effort for a single day.
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