Mastery: 7 Life Lessons You Learn in The Gym

It’s been a few months since I’ve been back to the gym, largely due to a global pandemic, which is why I wanted to share with you the seven things I learned about myself going to the gym. Through the years, I’ve come to see the gym as a sanctuary; the iron temple, a place for meditation and reflection.

People who go to the gym consistently and learn to push themselves have a higher chance of being successful than those who don’t. Don’t believe me? Just watch.

 

Let’s get into it. Seven life lessons you learn in gym.

 

Knowledge of Self

 

Definition: Knowledge or understanding of one’s own capabilities, character, feelings, or motivations: self-understanding.

Remember:

• Dozens of diets
• Dozens of training protocols
• Dozens of articles, experts and researchers

Which is best? Only one way to tell.  Knowing yourself means knowing your body.

 

Perseverance

 

Definition: Continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition : the action or condition or an instance of persevering: steadfastness.

Remember:

• Everyone starts with an empty bar
• Everyone was ‘the small kid’ once
• Everyone thinks it’s not working
• Everyone feels they can’t do it anymore

Only the ones who push through succeed. Understanding what you want from your workout gives you a goal, which in turn helps you persevere.

 

Consistency

 

Definition: Agreement or harmony of parts or features to one another or a whole: correspondence. 

Remember:

• The best coach
• The best diet
• The best training

Is no good if you’re inconsistent and impatient. The gym teaches you consistency; you show up everyday for weeks, months, and years. You reap what you sow. Reap the rewards of consistency.

 

Pain

 

Definition: A localized or generalized unpleasant bodily sensation or complex of sensations that causes mild to severe physical discomfort and emotional distress and typically results from bodily disorder (such as injury or disease).

Remember:

• You might hit plateaus
• You might be sore, hurt, aching
• You might hate what you’re eating

Every workout you seek you more pain, a bigger challenge. Then you conquer it and seek more. Think progressive overload, in order to get bigger and stronger, you must continually make your muscles work harder than they’re used to.

“If it doesn’t break you, it’ll make you.”

 

Winning

 

Definition: The act of one that wins: victory. Of or relating to winning: that wins.

Remember:

• You win only against your last PR
• You lose only to your weakness
• Your win against your limits
• You lose to your fears

There is no joy greater than beating your older self. You learn to value real wins.

 

Ego

 

Definition: The self especially as contrasted with another self or the world

Remember:

• There’s always someone bigger
• There’s always someone stronger
• There’s always another plate to load up
• There’s always a weight too heavy for you.

If you come in with an ego, you go out on a stretcher. Leave your ego at the door!

 

Equality

 

Definition: The quality or state of being equal. The state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.

Remember:

• The bar doesn’t care about your race
• The bar doesn’t care about your sex
• The bar doesn’t care about your excuses

Equality is about ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. With the gym, all that matters (to most people) is how many plates you can put on that bar. Click To Tweet

“If the bar ain’t bendin, then you’re just pretending”  – Hugh Jackman.

 

Have anymore life lessons? Leave them in the comments below.