I might be a bit bias here, but lifting weights is beneficial to so many aspects of our daily lives. It’s not just about the actual lifting of weights that matters, but the entire process you go through while doing it. The determination and concentration you need to have before even picking up the weights, pushing yourself to your limits during your sets and step 3, the feeling of satisfaction you get by completing the workout/set. These are the main stages that we go through while lifting weights and we’ll use these steps to see what life lessons we can take from them.
We’re able to take life lessons from every single fitness related activity, like running, climbing, hiking, yoga etc. but this blog will be focused on using the comparisons with lifting weights. Life lessons taken from other fitness disciplines might and could be a future blog. Let’s dive into part 2 here.
Lesson 1: Determination and concentration
If you have ever done a good workout session that included lifting weights, you know that your work set really starts before picking up any weights at all. You need to be dialed in, focused on the task coming up, and determined that you’re going to get the amount of reps necessary. Those 30 seconds (or however long it takes you) before you actually start lifting can make or break your set. If you’re distracted/ thinking about something else you can lose just enough focus, self-confidence or even momentum, that’s going to give you the push through your set and workout. Obviously, determination and concentration aren’t going to make up for the lack of physical capabilities in the gym, but without them you can forget about making any serious progress.
Let that sink in for a second, without determination and concentration, forget about making any serious progress. Honestly, who can disagree with that statement? If you have accomplished anything worth having without those 2 building blocks, I would like you to tell me and share your secret. Determination simply means being confident enough in knowing that you’re going to do and are able to do what is necessary to get what you want. Whether we’re talking about daily routines, life at work or relationships, we all know that determination is one of the great driving forces behind making things work.
We have to be careful though, we can’t just put our blinders on when it comes to determination. You have to make sure that you’re determined to get to the right things. If you don’t like the place you end up in by being determined, was it really worth it? Think about your choices and re-evaluate your target/goals from time to time, to make sure you’re heading in the right direction.
Lesson 2: Push your limits
For this lesson we’re going back to what we in the fitness world call: the ”supercompensation/overload” model. This model shows us that in order to progress we have to push our muscles, so we can let them recover, build back up and eventually make them stronger. Pushing limits is not about causing injuries or anything like that, it ”simply” means doing what you’re capable of, not what you think you’re capable of. Damaging the muscles and letting them recover/build themselves back up is the only way to get stronger, that’s just how the body adapts to things in order to get better/progress.
Where would we be without pushing our bodies and mind on a daily basis? Well, we might not have been here at all. What if 1000’s of years ago the caveman decided to take it easy and not push themselves to go hunt? Eventually, they probably would have starved. Where would we be if all the amazing scientists before us did not put in the effort to create medicine, make clean water accessible to ”all’ or even create the opportunity to travel the world? We might have been alive, but we would definitely not be as advanced or live as long or comfortably as we’re right now. You get my point here, so many things in life that go unnoticed were invented by someone who pushed their own limits or the limits of what seemed (im)possible.
We need to push our limits every once in a while, to find out where we can go, what we can do and how we can change this world for the better.
Lesson 3: Feeling of satisfaction after completing the task at hand
If you have ever pushed yourself in the gym during one of your heavy working sets, core sessions or even on the treadmill, you will know the feeling that I am talking about here. There are few things that can compare to the high you get from hitting a really, really good workout. You might even get that feeling from doing a workout while you were not feeling like it at all. Wherever you get that feeling from, you can experience it outside of the gym on a daily basis too.
Personally, I get that feeling out of getting everything done that I set out to do during the day. Do I always get everything done? No, no I don’t, but I learn from those days. That is what makes chasing that feeling even better, because I know that when I do get there, that feeling will be waiting for me. I also gain that feeling by doing my job to the best of by abilities, I even get that feeling by bringing over my passion for things over to other people. The feeling of satisfaction hits especially hard when you can see that you’re bringing your passion and excitement over to other people. If you can do that, it won’t just affect that person but the people they’re around and so on. I hope you’re seeing that you have to figure out where you get the feeling of satisfaction from, because those parts of your daily lives are probably the most important to you. I am a big fan of doing anything that makes you feel happy. I think that getting satisfaction from whatever that thing is for you, is a good indicator of what makes you happy.
Satisfaction isn’t something that should be taken lightly because it makes all of the hard work you’re putting in worth it. Now, I am not saying that you should be expecting that feeling every single day, because we still have to put the work in to get there (that work might take a while, depending on what it is). We have to be careful about letting the feeling of satisfaction take over our minds, that’s how we get lazy and complacent. When you feel satisfied, be happy about it, but stay sharp, think about the next goal that’s going to get you a similar feeling, maybe even better. Remember, it’s not about what you do during 24 hours, it’s about the accumulation of work over time that really matters.
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