This phrase is painted on the wall of my gym. (Super original, I know.)
Whenever I feel a bit demotivated I just start staring at it like a psychopath while thinking unpleasant thoughts about people I don’t like. Get’s me ‘in the mood’.
What? Stop looking at me like that! I know you do it too.
Here’s the thing…
I always thought this saying meant, you need to lift heavy until it hurts in order to make gains. But the more I learn about weightlifting and fitness, the more I realize that’s not always necessary.
Sure,
Lifting weights is always going to hurt a little bit. If it doesn’t burn at least a little bit you’re probably not lifting heavy enough.
But I think the most important ‘pain’ here is not the pain of lifting itself.
It’s the pain that comes before the lifting. The pain that makes you decide to start lifting. The pain that drives you to make a change in your life and sign up for a gym membership.
You know what pain I’m talking about?
For me, it was the pain of being single. The pain of looking in the mirror and thinking: ‘damn, I’m skinny, non wonder girls don’t want me.’
Until one day I finally snapped.
I signed up to a gym and started going religiously 3 times a week. This was a massive change for me at the time. I never committed to anything that hard in my life before. (Except videogames.)
And now 2 years later I have the body I could only dream of back then. And the confidence to speak to girls. And they finally start showing some signs of attraction too.
Still single though, so don’t think having muscles immediately will help you find a girlfriend.
I warned you.
Gotta go to work now, so I’ll end it here.
But let me end this email with a question for you.
What pain caused you
to start lifting weights?
Send me a reply. I’d be very interested in hearing from you.
Victor Vandermoere