Mental Fortitude and Willpower

Breaking obstacles requires more than just taking action. It takes the belief that you can make it. If you don't think you can do it, you might not, simply for that reason.

One of the things I learned about working out is that most of the training exercises, programs, articles, advice and whatnot didn't really talk much about mental barriers. It was noted upon in the most extensive of training articles, but not emphasized very much.

When I learned how significant of an increase you can make when you smash through a mental barrier, I was flabbergasted. I remember talking with a trainer at Gold's Gym about one of his clients. He complained that his client wasn't going as hard as he could, but when he encouraged the client to up the ante, the guy said he was already going at his max. The client said this while simultaneously chewing bubble gum and doing a squat.

I've broken it down into developing physical strength, mental fortitude & willpower. One day when I was doing deadlifts, I was in a friendly competition with one of my gym buddies. We pushed each other so much further than we knew we were capable of doing. I made a 70 pound increase in my max deadlift.

Anyways I recently started working out again. I told myself that I would ease myself into it, but it's addicting.... :) Two days ago I went to the gym and worked hard, like a donkey. Each time I started an exercise I'd think "Okay this is the last one, then I'm leaving." Then when I finished I thought, "I still have some juice for one more, what's next?" By the end of it I was doing some simple pushups, and I'm so glad that I've learned to pick up on the signs of extreme fatigue. After my second set of pushups, I collapsed onto the floor and had to lay down for a few minutes, panting, sweating, getting cold.

There was a division in my mind, "You still have more in you" and another, more wiser part said, "You've done this before. Stop now." So I stopped. I've pushed myself to blackout point in the past. I've always had a cast-iron stomach, so I've never puked from a workout. Just blackouts O_O

I think that I've developed a lot of fortitude and willpower, but since it's been so long since I worked out hard that my body has fallen behind in terms of strength and endurance. So my mind *believes* I can do the kind of weight that I did back when I was a steady gym-goer. But now I have to be patient, and climb my way back to the top.

One more note: After you've built yourself up to a peak, you can climb back faster because you already know the path. There might be some underbrush and growth blocking the way, but generally you can hack through those barriers with precision and haste. Because you *know* you can do it, and you don't have those brick walls called mental barriers to break through. I wonder what this will be like when I'm much older and my body really, truly cannot be pushed as far as it could be in the past.