Deadlifts, Discipline, and the Deep Stuff
What six months of consistent and progressive strength training has taught me about life
I participated in a collaboration with Boss Body Revolution back in December. In exchange for stories and posts on Instagram, I got three months of free health coaching, which included nutritional guidance and personalized workouts.
If I’m being honest, I didn’t think I’d get much out of this program. I was a skeptic. Not because BBR isn’t a great program. But because I was a bit of a know-it-all in terms of healthy eating and workout out. Or at least I thought I knew it all!
When I look back now, I see that I not only gained knowledge about what works for me in terms of my mindset, food, and exercise, but I also gained life lessons that can only come from pushing past your own self-imposed limits.
Let me get right into it.
Here are 10 life lessons I’ve learned from over six months of consistent and progressive strength training…
1. Progress isn’t always visible, but it’s always happening
Muscle takes A LONG time to build. Just like personal development, it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s gradual and slow. In both cases, growth often happens before the results show up.
2. Strength is built by showing up consistently, not by going hard every now and then
Like with life, it’s not about the occasional super hard and sweaty workout. It’s about the discipline of showing up consistently, even when you don’t feel like it. It’s about doing something over nothing.
3. There’s power in small increases
Adding just 2.5 pounds at a time teaches you that consistent increases compound over time into huge gains - both in life and in our physical training. No need for leaps and bounds. Little by little, a little becomes a lot.
4. Rest is part of the process.
You don’t build muscle during your workout or even immediately afterwards. You build it while you rest. While you sleep. Progress happens during recovery. The same idea applies to life - rest because burnout isn’t a badge of honor.
5. You can do hard things.
Lifting something heavier and then heavier again for weeks at a time reminds you that you are capable of doing hard things - physically, mentally, and emotionally.
6. The mind-muscle connection mirrors mindfulness.
Strength training is most effective when you can connect your mind to what you’re trying to get your body to do. To the specific muscles you’re trying to build. In order to do this (and avoid injury), you have to be present for each and every rep.
7. Failure is feedback.
Exercise output is data. How you feel when you workout is data. How your body feels afterward is data. So if the data isn’t what you expected, take that as feedback. It’s showing you where you need to adjust, just like in life.
8. There is no shortcut to confidence.
Confidence doesn’t come from how you look. It comes from doing hard things and going through the life-long process of taking care of your body. It shows up in the form of discipline and resilience.
9. Your body is the only home you’ll ever have.
We don’t get redos or rewinds when it comes to our home, our body. Taking care of it means taking care of our mind and our soul, as well as being available and capable of taking care of those we love and care about.
10. Strength looks different on everyone.
As does success. Don’t look outward and then inward. That never works. Look inward always and respect your own journey.
Which one of these struck you the most? #4 and #6 were definitely my biggest lessons!
A Tip to Use Your Phone Less
I’m on a mission to use my phone less, especially in the mornings and evenings. My big goal is to bring my screen time down substantially by the end of the summer.
One tip that I absolutely love and am doing regularly now is setting my phone to grayscale and leaving it that way unless I absolutely need the color element.
This article walks you through exactly how to set this up on your phone, including shortcuts to go between grayscale and color.
Sometimes I feel like I should be able to not use my phone or pick it up mindlessly. This tips feel so silly sometimes. But then I tell myself that these devices are made to be addictive, and that by using tips like this, I’m doing right by my brain!
What tips and tricks do you use to use your phone less?
Par’s Pick
Have you ever listened to a podcast episode and felt like, “That was it. That was one of the most important conversations I’ve ever listened to.”
Well, that’s exactly what happened to me last week with this episode.
It was a thought-provoking conversation technology, mental health, happiness, meditation, etc. A MUST LISTEN!!!
I needed to see this today. I've been stuggling with consistency around exercise and now I have a new plan!