I have been working out at a gym since my first year of undergraduate degree; that gives me around 9 years of experience in the field. Lifting weights have definitely given me the muscle gains that I have been flaunting for years.
But I realized, that “1 hour” away from the work routine give us more than just a good shape.
It teaches three most valuable life lessons.
Just do a quick scroll down till the end and see the lesson titles. Some or even all three of them may seem like you have heard them a million times. Thats because a lot of gurus and motivators have been preaching them for years, knowing the importance of these lessons to achieve your goals in life.
“A cliche is a cliche because it works” ― Feige Gornish
But hey! The good part is, if you have been working out right, you have been practicing the ins and outs of these valuable lessons.
What is better than a good advice is actually practicing them. Right?
But sadly, most of us leave them behind in the gym without realizing and taking them further into our lives. It took me these many years to realize that I have been doing exactly the same as all the “self-development” books, videos, articles, have been teaching.
So from the dots that I connected between my gym routine and the different self-development sources, I have shared these lessons in the most simple ways I could. See if you can relate to them.
Lesson 1 – Nothing in life comes easy: You know exercising isn’t an easy task. But it has more to it than that. If you ask someone who is really into fitness and has a model like body (healthy version), he or she would tell you how gruelling and painstaking the whole process is. The soreness after every workout, the diet and the process behind it, avoiding of the outings and parties, and everything else that needs to be done in order to bring out something that lies within you. Muscles!
But the same person will tell you, at the end, it’s all worth it!
You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.” ― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
To gain something in life – it can be anything – you have to work your butt off. Nothing comes easy, PERIOD!
Lesson 2 (a) – Even when you give your 120% to something, you will face failure: In these 9 years, I have injured myself quite a lot of times. Once I was on a strict diet, followed a hardcore 12-week plan, and while I was getting all that was promised to me, I injured my right shoulder the 10th week and had to stop everything to recover. All my gains and efforts went down the drain in just few days.
Failure is the stepping stone to success – said by every Guru, Leaders, Successful Person Out there.
Lesson 2 (b) – But hey! There is more to failure: Yes! After few weeks of rest, I got back to the gym and worked out for a few weeks to see my gains coming back quicker than before. Thanks to Muscle Memory!
Same goes to any failure. They teach us a lesson that will help us move forward to our goal quicker. So never fall back after a failure.
Embrace it, learn the lesson and keep moving forward with it.
Lesson 3 – And finally – Nothing comes for free: There is a popular saying that “the best things in life are free”. No its not – get out of the delusion.
Nothing of Value is Free. – Robert A. Heinlein
Yes! Anything that can add value to your life is not for free.
If you need a healthy life, you have to invest on a decent gym, healthy foods, supplements (if necessary), and time.
If you need to become good at something – be it analytics or even excel – you have to invest on crash courses, books/e-books, and time to read more / practice more. Nothing is free.
Some comes with a price tag, like your subscriptions, and some with agony, sweat, and pain.
So the next time you step into a gym, be sure to get more that just a good shape.