How Much is Enough?
Dec 31, 2017
Have you ever wondered, “How strong do I need to be?”, or “How much strength is enough?” I guess this questioned could be extended to anything really; “How much of anything is enough?” I’m asking or pondering this myself because for almost 30 years, I never asked the question, “How much is enough?”, when it came to strength training. Heck, to be completely transparent, I’m not sure I ever asked this question in regards to anything.
Anyway, for almost 30 years I would relentlessly pursue strength, or pursue having more strength, by mindlessly chasing after it through weight training, supplements, and dreams. I became quite strong, but never strong enough to the point I was satisfied. I never achieved the “I’m there”, or the “I’ve arrived” moment. What I did achieve was a list of overuse injuries, frustrations, and brief, fleeting glories that no one ever cared to notice. I had no clue what I was really chasing after. I wanted to be strong, but I never really knew how strong I wanted to be, and I certainly never had any idea of how much strength I really needed.
Have you ever done this? Maybe not in pursuing strength, but something else? To strive for something, but never know exactly what you were really striving for or what it would truly look like if you had it? Enough about you, let’s get back to me... How much weight would I have had to bench press to truly be happy? What was the magic number that was going to make all my dreams come true and solve every problem in my life? There wasn’t one, AND I had never considered how much was enough in the first place. I was simply always chasing after something I apparently believed I was lacking. I was also pursuing this lack at the expense of logic, health, and even relationships. I cannot tell you how many family vacations I would interrupt by finding places to train, or leaving my family for a few hours each day on vacation because I knew if I didn’t train, the world would stop spinning. I’ve had a few priority problems in my life. Can you tell?
Strength makes life easier. Strength is “sexy,” it just is. We all need strength. But what if we all had exactly what we needed, or wanted, already? To keep this simple, let’s stick to the pursuit of strength, though you could certainly expand this thought... What if we all had the strength we already wanted, inside us? We were all designed to be strong. We were all given the same movement template designed to be carried out to make us strong. What if we actually engaged in that movement template and released the strength that was in us instead of searching for it and striving for it through other means?
Bare with me one second. What if we weren’t “exercising” because we wanted to become stronger or because we wanted to lose body fat, but instead we “moved” because we wanted to express the strength or reveal the body we were designed to have? What if the strength you’ve always wanted to have was already inside of you waiting to be released? What if what you wanted, you already had?
If my body is designed to be strong, and it is, then my body also probably has an optimal expression, or amount, of strength already hidden inside of it as well. And, if I honor the design by engaging in the movement template that it was programmed with, perhaps I can fully express this strength and realize that I’m absolutely as strong, or stronger, than I ever even really wanted to be.
Look, no number of weight, reps or sets will ever fulfill your life or solve your problems. Numbers just cause you to chase more numbers, or analyze them without really even knowing what they are meant to accomplish anyway. But there is an amount of strength given to you, designed to make your life good, better and awesome. That strength is already yours, waiting to be expressed. It doesn’t need to be searched for as if it were in a far away magical health club, with a secret formula of reps and sets. It just needs to be acknowledged and engaged in. It just needs to be released. How do we release it? Maybe we have to “see” how wonderful our design is and engage in it. Maybe we simply need to know what’s already inside us. Maybe, we simply need to move - to breathe, to smile, etc. - the way we were designed to move, breathe and smile.
It’s weird, but I never had a clue how strong I could be, or how well I could move, until I remembered how to breathe, move my head, roll around on the floor, rock back and forth, and crawl around like I did over 40 years ago. It’s amazing how my life has changed and how much better I feel. It’s amazing to be able to express what was always inside.
What if you already had what you desperately wanted?
****Note:
I’m not saying not to train or lift weights. I’m only suggesting that instead of training or lifting because you want to be strong, what if you trained or lifted because you are strong; a shift from pursuit of lack to enjoyment of possession?
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