We had a training session the other day with a client who’s been with us a few years, another who’s been with us a few months and another who was doing her very first workout with us.
At the end of the workout, the woman who’s been with us a few months said to the newbie, “Once you start, you’re not going to want to stop.”
The one who’s been with us for years said, “It feels so good to be strong.”
Mind you, this is coming from a woman who’s lost more than 40 pounds. Yet the outcome that’s on the tip of her tongue is how strong she’s become. The truth is, you simply can’t go wrong with STRONG.
First, strength proves itself to be the most important physical characteristic due to its positive connection to almost every OTHER characteristic.
- Simply put, the stronger you are, the more potential you have to develop other areas of physicality like muscle growth, fat loss, endurance, mobility and overall quality of life. 🙂
Connect this also to mental health and strength. When your body is and feels strong it creates a confidence in your mind. This translates to doing more, overcoming obstacles, improved attitude and more.
Think about a time when you felt strong, had confidence, and maybe even a little swagger to your step because you Felt Strong.
Physically strong directly equates to mentally strong.
Now that we know that getting stronger is kind of a big deal, let’s address the question, “How strong should you be?” Strength can be viewed in absolutes (a.k.a. how much weight can you lift) or in relative terms (how much weight can you lift for your body weight and age). The latter is more applicable for people like you and me.
You obviously don’t need to be a powerlifter, but you can get really strong for your body and your life.
Strong is relative to each of us and our own body and lifestyle. The pursuit of getting stronger is ongoing and quite a fun journey. This doesn’t mean you have to lift heavy weights every day.
This means you do 3 things:
- show up for your training sessions (no excuses)
- add resistance to your exercises (Bands or weights)
- give 100% of your effort at each workout (no judgment, just 100% of what you have at that moment).
At the end of the day, don’t get caught up in comparing yourself to other people or your old self.
And most important, enjoy the journey. After all, the best part about being strong, as we learned at the beginning of this email?
It feels great 🙂
