Life Lessons Found in the Gym

Every year people make it their purpose to reach their goal, but fall short or barely get anything off the ground. As someone who has studied personal training, I realized that getting in shape isn’t just about eating right and exercise, but it’s also about being in the right state of mind. As I continued down the rabbit hole, I realized that the same mental principles it takes to get in shape applies to reaching your goals.

Just because you showed up to the gym or that home workout DVD doesn’t mean you’re going to get results; it just means you wasted your time as you flailed angerly in the gym. The only way to getting results in the gym is by pushing yourself every time aiming to better then the last session.

You can’t keep benching 185lb in the gym; at some point you’re going have to step up too 225lb. This can be intimidating for first time lifters, but it’s all in your head. The moment we tell ourselves we can’t do something we immediately accept failure as an option. Whenever there’s a goal to be reach you’re going to face many obstacles; things will begin to get a lot worse before they get good.

Working past beginners gains really test your endurance and patience. Beginners gains are the results you get within the first month of working out. After that it’s all about staying consistence and keeping your eyes on the prize. There will be times where you feel as you’re wasting your time, but as long as you push yourself and keep going there will be a big reward at the end.

It can be really easy just to follow what everyone is else is doing and that’s fine as long as it’s works for you. We aren’t built the same from the shape of our muscles, posture, body type, and bone structure, so what may work for you may not work for others.

We all have days where we don’t want to go the gym; personal I hate cold rainy days. Days like this separate the talkers from the doers. Being able to work when you much rather sit around and {insert favorite lazy activity here} require strong mental discipline. So, the next time you’re debating whether or not to go the gym because it’s raining, ask yourself “Am I a talker or a doer?”.

Our ego can take a huge hit if we decide to ask for help; one the biggest problems with entrepreneurs and gym goers is that they would rather do everything on their own. There’s no shame in asking for help you can’t do it all. This especially goes for millennials who try to multitask, which only reduces the value of the end product. We’re all human, we’re supposed to ask for help when needed that’s how we get ahead.

Often times you see a spouse heading to the gym for years, but they don’t see any results even with a personal trainer; this is because although they’re getting support at the gym, they’re not getting any from home. No matter what the goal is it’s important no crucial that you get everyone not some but EVERYONE on the same page or else you might as well give up.

The biggest problem I see with newbies at the gym is that they don’t have a set plan at the gym; they just figure they’ll hit all the machines on this side of the gym today and hit the other side tomorrow. I was once a newbie who did something similar which hit the bench press and squats all day thinking that’s all I need. It’s important to have a game plan when taking on any goal and it’s just as important that you see that plan though to the end instead chasing the next shiny object that pass you by.

The moment you turn your goal into a chore the more you’ll begin to become turned off from it. To prevent this from happening it’s important to set realistic goals; set a realistic time frame in which you believe you can achieve this goal. You can’t expect to gain 30lbs of muscles in a month (naturally), because you need time to rest. Enjoy the process; you’ll learn more about yourself in terms of your strengths and weaknesses.

I get it, summers coming up and you want to look right for the beach, but if you started working out in March, don’t expect to be beach body ready for the spring or summer for that matter. Losing patience is sure fire way to find yourself drifting from one scheme to the next hoping that something will fulfill all of your dreams. Things will work themselves out as long as you show and put in the work.