My path to using weightlifting as a form of mental strength-building
I first entered a weight room at the ripe age of sixteen. Deep into playing sports, myself, and attending a high school with a nationally-recognized football team, supplementing our training with weightlifting became part of the game.
I quickly found myself establishing a challenging relationship; one that called for new levels of inner strength to meet the requirements of the external weight being presented to me. Synchronistically enough, this couldn't have come along at a more opportune time because my high school years required more mental strength than I'd previously thought possible. So, stronger on multiple levels, I began to grow.
Intrigue turned to routine. Routine turned to practice. Practice turned to passion. From incorporating weights into my at-home workouts, instructing bootcamps and personal training sessions, and discovering community through competitive sports such as CrossFit and Strongman, I explored the different forms and formulas that weightlifting had to offer.
The game further changed as my focus evolved from how much weight I could move to honoring the degree of focus and intention required by weightlifting.
Foundational and imperative aspects of strength-training are form and mind-muscle connection: topics that demand complete focus in order to maintain safety and attain efficient results.
For years, the target results that I had in scope were physically-driven. As other portions of my life progressed in a more self-loving, compassion-filled direction, so became the focus of my relationship with weights.
Dissipating were the days of striving to lift heavier and move faster through my routines. Instead, I began letting my ego step aside, picking up lighter weights, and more intentionally focusing on connecting my mind with my body. My movement with my breath. My purpose, with such a profound aim to establish equilibrium through all aspects of my being: mind, body, and spirit.
They say that consciously focusing the mind is the backbone of meditation. I say it's also the backbone of weightlifting.
Many of us are taught to view exercise as a means to an end. For example, "You work out to get in shape for your upcoming beach trip or custom-fit wedding dress then you stop working out." In truth and mental health, the Zen of exercise is to do it for its own sake; transforming it into a practice of mindfulness.
"Any activity can be done mindfully, but what turns an ordinary exercise into a potent and benefit-rich form of meditation is one's awareness and intention."
I'm incredibly thankful for the empowering path that weightlifting has taken me on. It's taught me teamwork. It's taught me self-compassion. It's taught me integrity and trust. And it's taught me that strengthening the body takes on a whole new depth when it's rooted in a strengthening of the mind.
New to the idea or action of lifting weights? Here is a super brief beginner's FAQ.
Want to learn more about the mental health benefits of weightlifting? Start your trip down that rabbit hole here.
Already got a strength-training routine and want to increase your application of mindfulness? Cool, check this out!
Here's to strength, folks! Inside and out.
Comentários