“Facing fear leads to change and helps to build character in a way that is totally unique. Don’t shy away from the weight when it gets heavy, or when doubt enters your mind. Remember that it’s supposed to be this way – it’s what you signed up for, and ultimately will make you harder to kill.”—Steve Ross
I read a good article this week: “Fear in Barbell Training (and How to Overcome it).” It made several key points that are relevant to life, as well as weight training:
With Growth Comes Fear.
Fear of Injury.
Fear of Failure.
Fear of Pushing Through Discomfort.
Years ago, someone showed me that Jesus thought of four enemies of faith. These can be applied as four enemies of growth or of any measure of success in life. They are fear (Matthew 8:26), doubt (Matthew 14:31), anxious care (Matthew 6:30), and human reasoning (Matthew 16:8). We don’t grow because we won’t, not because we can’t.
A basic principle of adaptation in exercise physiology is the overload principle—for a body system to adapt it must be stressed to a level greater than that to which it is accustomed. This is certain in weight training, and it is certain in life.
Growth—Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social—demands that we take risks (i.e., risk being hurt, risk failure, risk embarrassment, risk loss, etc.). Naturally, with risk comes fear. Those who are to be successful don’t shy away from fear. They face fear and proceed with wisdom and a healthy level of discomfort.
It is overcoming fear that is our greatest obstacle in life. Faith and confidence are not blind. There will be failures on the path to success—there must be. Fear is not a human emotion designed to limit us. It is designed to protect us—from injury (not failure or discomfort). It causes us to think before we act. It should not cause us not to act.
We overcome fear by facing it. We overcome it by stepping toward that which limits us. Baby steps toward success (“progressive overload”). In time, discomfort becomes comfortable—in other words, we learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
Fear is inevitable. Growth is not. Growth requires action. “Don’t shy away from the weight when it gets heavy, or when doubt enters your mind.” Take life one repetition at a time.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!