Seven months ago I began a journey of practicing mindfulness every day and we've reached day 217. Yesterday, I talked about making decisions that lead us toward the path we're trying to walk down. Today is a new day.
Although this mentality has some truth to it, you also have to be aware of your limits. I was pulling weight much higher than I could properly control, my form was terrible, and I wasn't balancing the workouts I was doing, causing imbalances in my upper and lower body. I remember being completely sore and aching from having pulled a few muscles the next day. After a few moths of this training while I did get stronger, I found that it came at the cost of loss in flexibility, and some of my muscles having some long-term damage that made them easy to tear/injure.
Unfortunately, I was young, dumb, and didn't properly research methods to improve my strength like I should have. Whenever I go to the gym I see people making the same mistakes I did and while I understand that desire to get stronger, having the patience to fully learn what you're doing is absolutely necessary in order to truly make progress. If you sacrifice form and control for higher weights you increase the risk of injury, muscle imbalance, and flexibility. A lot of people end up getting hurt because they don't know what they're doing and end up doing things improperly. A prime example is people locking their knees when doing leg-presses and having their legs bend backwards (don't watch if you're easily squeamish).
There are no real short-cuts in life, only efficiency. When you do things right you do them efficiently, which saves time and effort (this is the true "shortcut"), but learning this takes time. It's like the grand master of any martial art. Although old and frail, they're so skilled that they don't waste any movements and need little strength in order to take their opponents down with ease. It's because they developed the proper foundation through decades of practice and learned how to utilize their movements masterfully. In contrast, those who don't take the time to develop themselves correctly end up making many mistakes and have to exert more energy to compensate for their inexperience.
This lesson applies to many aspects of life. It's all about the foundation. Whether it's starting a business, taking a course, or challenging someone to a fight, there's always a chance at success, but without the right foundation we end up increasing the likelihood of failure. When you learn how to do things properly, you mitigate those risks and you increase your chances of success.
Peace
"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it." - Lou HoltzI started working out when I was in middle school. I was really weak and was bullied for being really short as a kid and I wanted to change that. The complex I lived in growing up had a small workout room that had basic machines for me to work my arms and legs. Since I had no previous experience strength training experience before that (aside from the basic push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups that you learn in elementary school) I had no idea what I was doing and pushed myself to pull as much weight as possible because I thought it'd get me stronger the fastest.
Although this mentality has some truth to it, you also have to be aware of your limits. I was pulling weight much higher than I could properly control, my form was terrible, and I wasn't balancing the workouts I was doing, causing imbalances in my upper and lower body. I remember being completely sore and aching from having pulled a few muscles the next day. After a few moths of this training while I did get stronger, I found that it came at the cost of loss in flexibility, and some of my muscles having some long-term damage that made them easy to tear/injure.
Unfortunately, I was young, dumb, and didn't properly research methods to improve my strength like I should have. Whenever I go to the gym I see people making the same mistakes I did and while I understand that desire to get stronger, having the patience to fully learn what you're doing is absolutely necessary in order to truly make progress. If you sacrifice form and control for higher weights you increase the risk of injury, muscle imbalance, and flexibility. A lot of people end up getting hurt because they don't know what they're doing and end up doing things improperly. A prime example is people locking their knees when doing leg-presses and having their legs bend backwards (don't watch if you're easily squeamish).
There are no real short-cuts in life, only efficiency. When you do things right you do them efficiently, which saves time and effort (this is the true "shortcut"), but learning this takes time. It's like the grand master of any martial art. Although old and frail, they're so skilled that they don't waste any movements and need little strength in order to take their opponents down with ease. It's because they developed the proper foundation through decades of practice and learned how to utilize their movements masterfully. In contrast, those who don't take the time to develop themselves correctly end up making many mistakes and have to exert more energy to compensate for their inexperience.
This lesson applies to many aspects of life. It's all about the foundation. Whether it's starting a business, taking a course, or challenging someone to a fight, there's always a chance at success, but without the right foundation we end up increasing the likelihood of failure. When you learn how to do things properly, you mitigate those risks and you increase your chances of success.
Peace
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| Our progress is a reflection of the foundation we've built for ourselves. |
What kind of foundation are you building for yourself?
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