The Virtue of Strength Training In a World of Instant Gratification
It’s no secret that we live in a world of instant gratification.
We can get anything delivered at any time with the click of a button.
We can instantly listen to a new song or album our favorite artists drop without needing to wait to find a day that week we can drive to Sam Goody real quick after school but before practice, rip the plastic off, and put it in our CD player.
Don’t know the answer to any question you can think of? Google does.
You know that filter you just used? It used to take hours on photoshop to create that.
It has been said that, “patience is a virtue.” Strength training takes patience. I’m going to go ahead and said that strength training, therefore, can also be a virtue.
Strength training is trusting the process even when you don’t see results right away.
Strength training is learning how to push through discomfort.
Strength training is understanding that the badass woman banging out mad pull-ups is 6 years ahead of you in her own strength training journey. With patience, and consistency, you’ll get there, too.
Strength training is always getting better.
Strength training teaches you all of these things in the gym, and has the potential to help you apply it into all other areas of your life as well. Brad Stulberg talks about this in his 2019 NYT article here: The Zen of Weighlifting
He starts the article off with a story about a man who asked him what’s the point of farmer’s carries? You may have recently learned some of these on the The Better Coach ‘gram. If you missed it, no fomo, it’s right here:
In his article, Stulberg tells the man some of the plenty of benefits of carries, but these benefits do not satisfy the man. Stulberg then goes on to answer this question in regards to strength training, “What’s any of it for?”
For us, lifting weights becomes a transformative practice to be undertaken primarily for its own sake, the byproduct of which is a nourishing effect on the soul.
….None of this is about achieving a specific result or acquiring some bright and shiny object and then suddenly becoming content, an illusion we chase outside of the gym all the time. The Zen of weight lifting — the joy, fulfillment, hard-earned calluses and growth — lives in the process, in the journey. That’s why if you hit a big personal record lift, sure, you’ll enjoy the moment. But odds are, you’ll be back — same movements, same barbells, same people at the same gym — for your next scheduled workout.
There’s an old Eastern adage: ‘Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.’ It’s great training advice too.”
Patience is a virtue. Strength training takes patience. Strength training can teach patience among other important virtues beyond the gym.
If you are ready to develop your virtues, on and off the field, please use the form below to get in touch with me. I am located in Central New Jersey, and offer in-person as well remote training.
