3 Life Lessons Learned At The Gym

 

The gym is a great place. It ideally is a place where a man can test and better himself. Where all can go to improve their health, strength, and stature. Where the fat become thin, the weak strong, and the unhealthy healthy. Ideally of course obviously gyms and gym culture have plenty of problems of their own, unless you train at home (which I recommend). However regardless of where you train there are lessons to be learned. It doesn’t matter if you work in a big globo-gym or a sweaty shed in your backyard. The lessons are taught regardless.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a disciple of the iron or spend you’re time wailing on a heavy bag (then other humans). These lessons are still instill. I recommend that everyone attend one type of gym or another to learn these lessons. Obviously I have my preference (cough old school boxing or boxing setup in backyard with rack cough) but to each his own. Going to a globo-gym is better than sitting on your ass and I don’t think anyone would argue otherwise. So here are the lessons that the gym teaches us.

Life Lesson #1 – You Get What You Put In

In all things in life you get out of them what you put in. For example if you took a sales training course but only went through half of it one time, do you think your sales would increase that much? My guess is no. Likewise in the gym you only get out of it what you put into it. Much to the surprise of the general population but simply walking into a gym does not get you in shape. Especially if upon walking in you spend your time chatting with friends, gawking at the girl in the booty shorts doing deep squats, and trying to out “bench press” your friends like most do.

Only through dedicated training do any results come. You must strike the bag powerfully with great form hundreds upon hundreds of time before expecting it to have any effect in a real encounter. Likewise you are going to have to add weight to your squat and deadlift before expecting to pack on some mass (while also following a disciplined eating schedule). You never develop knock out power by goofing off or half assing something. You only get out of something what you put into it. This lesson applies to business, dating, and everything else in life.

Life Lesson #2 – You Must Work Hard & Smart, There Is No Choice

You have to work both hard and smart. It isn’t optional. You can’t choose one or the other and then expect to make it anywhere. Just like you can’t choose to breathe in or out, you must do both to survive. We’ve seen hard working people die broke and unhappy. Likewise we’ve seen smart people who while they got a little bit didn’t have the guts and determination to take it all the way. Only those who combine both hard work and smart work truly excel and get to the top echelons of their respective crafts.

For example you see the guy taking every set to failure, spending two hours in the gym, and going twice a day with nothing to show for it besides sore muscles. Likewise you see the person who studies a good routine then sets himself up for maximal growth but just doesn’t bring the determination needed. He’ll actually go further then the guy busting his ass everyday (though in a stupid way) but he’ll never achieve greatness. Again like the other lessons this applies to business and life as well. You must work both hard and smart there is no choice.

Life Lesson #3 – The Importance Of Focus

Focus means focus on one course until successful. That is the true meaning of focus. And it’s critical to success in life. Most people suffer form some form of shiny object syndrome. They jump from here to there, from one thing to the next never cracking down and getting results from anything. They’ll do powerlifting one week, CrossFit the next, then the next their bodybuilding. You see the same with the guy who switches from karate to boxing to BJJ within a months time. The gym teaches you to block of everything and focus on completing what’s in front of you. Finishing that rep, finishing that set, finishing that round, finishing that workout.

It’s all about focus. You block out whats around you and simply focus on getting the job done. You face might be stinging from a shot you just took, your lungs burning, and your vision fogged but you’re just going to keep on keeping on until the bell rings. You have to finish what you start, there’s no time to walk away during the middle of a round or a rep. You can suddenly decide you don’t want to press the weight up once it’s off the rack. Do it then worry about other things. But until then you focus on the task at hand. A valuable life lesson.

Summary

The gym is a valuable place that all men should go. Regardless if it’s an old punching bag in the rafters or a air conditioned national corporation. Go in, work hard, and get shit done. You’ll learn a lot while you’re there in addition to becoming healthier and stronger. The gym is a great way to develop discipline and you can tell the disciplined from undisciplined…always. Go to the gym, learn about life, get healthier, and better your chances for success all at the same time. Sounds like a good deal to me.

If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.

-Charles Sledge