BEING BRAVE: FINDING YOUR INNER STRENGTH

February 21, 2019

Pittsburgh Fitness Project

Being Brave. Full Disclosure: I didn’t finish my workout yesterday. I did about half of it, looked at the rest of my workout, then the rest of the week’s workouts, got overwhelmed and called it a day. It may have been one of the first times, in a long time, I let the gravity of a workout overwhelm me. Lifting heavy weights can be scary, terrifying even. At this point in my weightlifting career, I am training with weights heavier than I ever thought my Maxes would be. There is a little part of me that questions, on every set, “How the heck am I even going to do this?” Typically I still get it done, but not yesterday.

BEING BRAVE

Interestingly enough, I got a great reminder of bravery from one of our newer personal training clients at our facility. She really didn’t want to come in for her workout. In fact, she skipped the last one and was trying to do the same that day. Luckily her trainer talked her into coming in and she had a wonderful workout and really enjoyed herself. On her way out she thanked us and talked about how much anxiety getting to the gym gives her. But when she is here she has a really good experience. Before she left we had a conversation about “being brave” and how important it is for growth.

Bravery is not the absence of fear. Being brave is recognizing fear and acting anyway. Learning to be brave is interesting. The fear never really goes away, we just get more skilled at facing them. Every time we decide to act and face the things that scare us, our ability to act in the presence of fear increases. The monster in our head is almost always worse than the monster (whatever we are scared of ) in front of us.

SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH LIFTING WEIGHTS?

Like I said earlier, lifting heavy weights can be terrifying! Technically, the injury rate in the sport of weightlifting is incredibly low. But this doesn’t change the fact that lifting 2 and 3 times your bodyweight has inherent risks and if done incorrectly can have life-changing consequences. However, the reality is, in order to lift big weights and live up to our potential on the platform we need to learn to thrive in the presence of fear.

HOW DO WE DO THAT?

Act! There are no shortcuts. Go out and expose yourself to situations (on the platform) that cause you anxiety and fear. Get under weights and practice. The more you experience these things the more that fear can become your friend. You can learn to harness that fear and anxiety and it will unlock a level of performance you may have never imagined!

Nervous about how to get started?

Follow the link and get over your fear today: Get Started

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This blog was adapted from the PFP Barbell Blog on 1/23 by Coach and Co-Owner Tom Duer