This past Saturday morning, like all Saturday mornings I was scheduled to train legs. My training partner (Rick Parker) and I have been training on Saturday mornings for the last 17-18 years, as good as we can remember. However this past Saturday morning Rick was on vacation so I was all by my lonesome with 4 sets of Leg extensions super-setted with a Glute/Bridge in the Rack; 5 sets of Leg Press; 5 sets of Back Squats and then 3 sets of Bulgarian Single Leg Split Squats staring me in the face.

So I got up at 5:10am like I always do each Saturday morning to sit in my recliner and sip my cup of coffee (the best pre-workout known to mankind) then off to the gym eating my protein bar. After my 10-15 minutes of movement prep I was starting my first set of leg extensions at 6:45. Now I could have stayed in bed, could have slept late and could have done a lot of things besides workout.

Fast forward to Sunday morning July 21st…I watched a good “You Tube” video where all the old “Golden Age” of famous Bodybuilders were all training at the original “Gold’s Gym” in Venice Beach. Arnold, Franco, and others were going to the limit in their sets of squats or bench presses. Then all of a sudden a voice came on during the video stating that “life is hard and if you’re not mentally and physically hard on yourself life will eat you up and spit you out!” It reminded me of what Zig Zigler always said, “Life is hard, but if you’re hard on yourself life will be a little easier.”

That’s what physical training and conditioning can do, help make you physically and mentally tough. No matter what the activity, Bodybuilding like myself, Crossfit or just a good overall general conditioning session, doing things that you would rather not do at that time instead of taking the easy way out will help make you stronger to face the great challenges of this life instead of buckling under pressure! Facing the pain of physical conditioning and going more rep or more sets or even more weight than you thought you could do will and does carry over to being mentally tough in situations that life can definitely throw at you.

As strength and conditioning coach I push athletes to do more, expect more and rely on something greater than themselves to accomplish much more than they would ever imagine! Yes it’s hard, the day in and day out of being consistent with your workouts no matter what you are training for. But that is also what life is all about. The day to day responsibilities of your family, job and relationships that are always there but you find a way to persevere and continue on. Did you ever stop and think that your training or workouts may and can be a great way to help you be an over comer instead of being overcome?!!