Maybe you’ve seen some of those really burly dudes at the gym who are completely ripped and you thought to yourself “Wow! those guys are tough!
Well, what you may not realize is that, yes, these guys are indeed strong in certain capacities. However, they don’t really have a kind of versitile strength that can be applied to pretty much any area of life
Instead they usually are only good at doing the repetitive motions that you see them do at the gym, whether that’s bicep curls, bench presses, or deadlifts
It makes you really wonder though, what’s the point of all of this
I mean fitness isn’t just about something you do in the gym. You want to be stronger in a wider capacity than just being able to do a military press or some other movement
The end goal of fitness and strength isn’t the admiration of all the other sweaty guys at the gym. The end result of all this training is to be strong in your everyday life
At the end of the day, you could probably care less about how many reps you can do of this exercise or that exercise. What you really want is to be able to count on your body when you need it to perform, whether that at work, while you’re playing with your children, or when you’re playing soccer or football with your pals on the weekend
But so many people fall victim to the illusion of gym performance. The reps, the “warrior” mindset, the weight, the heavy metal playing while you’re struggling to get that one last rep in
Don’t get me wrong. It’s important to have a good measure of progress when you’re building strength, but it’s important to not lose sight of what you’re really trying to accomplish from all your training. It’s a classic example of not losing the forest among the trees
So what does this mean in your everyday life? This means that you shouldn’t put so much importance on constantly trying to squeeze out more reps, you shouldn’t push yourself to the brink of incurring some kind of injury, and you shouldn’t feel guilty or ashamed if you need to take a little time to progress at your own pace
Remember, fitness is something you strive to cultivate so that you can enjoy your life and use your body when you need to use it. As long as you can do that, then there’s really no need for all the fake machismo of the gym. Fitness is about having fun and enjoying life
Don’t lose sight of the big picture, and remember to not let your life pass you by while you’re exercising in the gym
If you found this helpful, but sure to check out this blog on Skill Related Fitness and Ring Training
