The Art of Trying
“I will do now what others won’t, so later I can do what others can’t.” Jerry Rice
What happens when you push yourself past the point of discomfort? What happens when you reach that “dark place”…where you don’t think you can do one more rep, run one more meter, do one more burpee – when your muscles are pumping battery acid, your lungs are full of fire and your legs are made of lead.
The answer is, progress happens! The act of traveling to that dark place is the key to really getting better, faster, stronger, fitter and healthier. What we are trying to do in our sport is “stress” our bodies to the point of physical adaptation. It’s human nature to avoid discomfort, to think that working till it starts to “hurt” is all we need to see the results we want. Which does work…sort of. To truly make strides toward living a long and prosperous life, we need to find where the edge is and trust ourselves, and our bodies, to take the next step and attempt another rep.
I like to employ the 90/10 rule when it comes to my workouts: my brain is holding back 10% of my body’s ability to save as a reserve for those “just in case” moments. It’s like when you’re doing a big set of squats and you’re nearing the last rep and your brain is screaming at you to “stop, put the bar down, you can’t do another rep!” but, you go for it anyways, without fear of failure. And, what happens? You crush out that last rep with ease! Sure it didn’t feel great – it may have even “hurt”- but you’ve come out the other side uninjured and stronger for it, knowing that next time, you’ll crush that last rep even easier! Confidence grows along with strength.
The process of progress is doing what we didn’t think we could do, and growing one step at a time. Don’t be afraid to push yourself to doing now what others won’t, so that down the road, you’ll be able to do what they can’t.
Coach Andrew