Mental Toughness

Mental Toughness
I have been having the debate with a couple trainers at my gym about what is the single greatest benefit of training. The normal answer would be increasing your strength/power, bringing down the risk of injuries, improving endurance, etc. Although I am not denying these are all extremely beneficial when weight training I argue this question from a different angle. To me the single greatest benefit of weight training is the development of mental toughness. What will mental toughness do for you? When it’s a tied game in the 4th quarter, or when a wrestling match reaches sudden death, being able to dig deep through the fatigue and winning is mental toughness! Having a bad day or week and fighting through it is mental toughness. How is this developed through weight training you may be wondering? Weight training is my favorite past time because it is a battle between yourself and the weights. I could throw 225 on the bar and start pressing it. I may begin to fatigue after five reps and then feel a sharp burn after eight reps yet be able to dig deep and bang out 12-15 total reps. If I didn’t develop this mental toughness through my years of weight training I would have most likely racked the bar after 8-10 reps.
The past week I took a trip to Cortland to crush a workout with my boy Drew. Prior to my leg injury I was making the short 40 min drive to train with Drew at least one time per week. To some people this may seem crazy but if you were to see the types of workouts we get in there would be little questioning as to if it was worth the drive. Drew is a much bigger built kid then me and also lifts using a bodybuilding split. I like these workouts because it is a good workout to mix it up for me and really crush a specific muscle group. Wednesday’s workout consisted of shoulders. Minus the pressing movements we performed I was doing movements (front DB raise, Lat raise, shrugs) that I have not done in months, yet I was keeping up with Drew on each and every set. How was I doing this? Mental Toughness!! As much as a lot of the sets sucked I was able to dig deep and push myself through any pain or fatigue that would prevent most people from finishing there set stronger then they began.
I realize the benefits of adding muscle mass and gaining strength and endurance can be for an athlete and I do not overlook these things when explaining to parents or athletes why they must begin strength training. But to me, especially for a young athlete, developing mental toughness and the proper work ethic will go much further then adding a couple pounds onto your skinny frame. I didn’t develop the proper mental toughness and work ethic until I graduated college at 23 years old. I begin working out at forty years old for football and baseball and can only imagine the success I could have had in those sports with the proper mentality and work ethic. That’s it for today's post I have a light day at the gym and do not need to be in till later tonight. Its been a long week so I decided today I would bang out a workout in my own apartment. It will be short and sweet but hit my entire upper body hard! Here is what it will look like:
8 total sets, each set sub-max
1a) Mix Grip Pull Up
1b) Handstand Push Up