PUSH HARDER!!!

One sunny day, I and a friend were working out in the gym. I had just completed a set on the bench press with 100kg weight i.e (80kg in weight plates and the 20kg weight of the barbell), and I was encouraging my friend to take a turn with the same weight. He glanced at the loaded barbell with a look of trepidation and confessed that he did not believe he was able to lift that weight.

I urged my friend to test himself against the weight, assuring him that he could lift 80kg with relative ease. I didn’t tell him he was actually lifting 100kg!  

He lay on the bench, grasped the bar with a resolution of steel, and pushed hard. He pushed through the first rep, the second, the third and the fourth reps; he continued until he reached 10 reps, surprising himself in the effort.

That day, my friend was able to lift 120kg (thinking he was lifting 100kg of course) and would have tried out 140kg if his strength had availed him.  

That event underscored an important lesson, that although we can achieve whatever we set our minds to, we must first commit our minds to the task with the unbending belief in our abilities.

Many people fall on the wayside in the fitness journey because they lose faith on themselves, and in the process deny themselves the opportunity to reach the heights attainable by their physical and mental resources. No matter how high you find yourself, always remember there is still room for improvement. You need to continuously renew your mind, emptying it of all that is redundant and detrimental to your growth. Associate yourself with people who operate at the level you aspire to reach.

Refuse to rot in your comfort zone; focus on how to consistently improve yourself and your performance in every area of your life, maximize what you can do and who you can be, and ultimately be the best you can be.