People are afraid to suffer because it hurts. It makes them feel weak and look inadequate. You have to be willing to look weak, insufficient and fail to truly grow. You cannot progress and look good at the same time. So get over it.
Why do we seek out suffering in the gym? Stress is unavoidable in life and the worse you are at dealing with it, the more damage it can cause. So learn how to deal with it better. We apply deliberate stress in an artificial environment to learn how to overcome. Even though the gym is artificial it can have a very real impact.
The first way to get over suffering is to test yourself in the gym. No matter what your goal, you need to test yourself to track progress and learn how to battle through hard situations. Here are three tests we administer at the gym and the average standards:
2k row for time
During this workout, there’s plenty of time to doubt yourself. Most males should be able to do this in seven minutes. Trust me, you’ll learn a lot about yourself.
1k ski for time
The standards for male’s is sub 3:20 and sub four minutes for females.
Sprint triathlon
This includes 500m ski, 50 calories bike and 500 row. Do this for time. The standard for males is sub five minutes and sub six minutes for females.
All of these test hurt like hell and will test your ability to push through a hard situation. I guarantee there will be a debate in your head if you can’t or won’t do the desired task. Learn to win these small battles. The more you win, the easier it becomes.
The second way to learn how to suffer is to focus on something you are not good at. Chances are you are avoiding these exercises because it is a weakness.
To find a weakness takes an honest self-assessment or having someone point it out for you. We can easily find someone’s weakness in a workout with standards. Find high standards in strength, power, power endurance, strength endurance, regular endurance and see where you stack up. Once you find your weakness, fix it.
A good way to work on a weakness is pick a four-week block and do a workout Monday, Wednesday and Friday focusing on the area that’s lacking. Repeat those workouts for four weeks and add weight, reps and distance each week. You will learn to deal with suffering and progress in the area you have been avoiding.
Under stress we will revert back to old bad habits and subconsciously choose the easiest way. We forgot what happens next and can’t get past the current pain. We learn to justify quitting and bad behavior and get stuck exactly where we are. The only way to get better at dealing with these situations is to put yourself in them. Learn to overcome stress through suffering. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. See things through and make a habit of winning.
Through suffering you will learn to enjoy pain, fear, panicked breathing and be able to fight that little voice that says quit or ease up. That voice will always be there. It’s the ability to fight it and respond to it right away before it takes over. That inability to manage that voice keeps those bad habits and never lets us truly grow. Learn to expect more of yourself and tell a different story. It is never going to be easy but it will become easier to deal with.
