Motivation for the motivated

February 20, 2020

Motivation for the motivated is a funny thing, because it isn’t about motivation at all. A tiny portion of society know exactly what they want, how to get it and what they have to do to achieve it.

They don’t need to be pushed or motivated, they need to be controlled. The flip side of motivation is being broken. Super fucking broken. Mental toughness has a drawback not many talk about, because the ability to push through pain is a gift and a curse at the same time.

You’re pushing through those feelings of discomfort and suddenly feel a twinge. Was that a muscle, or was that a tendon? 

There’s much to be said about mental toughness and how it relates to performance just as much as physical toughness. Pushing through pain is described as a gift in most sports - it definitely does for contact sports, the real world and tactical settings. But there’s a time and a place, and in training is not it. Specially if longevity is your goal.

Spend 10 minutes on any self-proclaimed fitness guru’s page on social me, a fitness blog or whatever the flavour of the month is. Guaranteed, this dickhead will be bombarding you with “Don’t give up, the voice in your head is a liar” and whatever cool variant to that they can come up with. Bullshit.

Pay close attention to discomfort. Any athlete worth their salt will tell you, that through years of training they have achieved a very uncommon feat. They are comfortable in being uncomfortable. They also know what discomfort is versus pain. This ability, achieved through training, is what sets the professionals above the amateurs.

Listen to your head. Elite athletes push through pain during competition, never in training. If you’re on the journey of becoming an athlete, become accustomed to what discomfort it is you’re pushing through. If you’re pushing through discomfort to the point it becomes pain, you need to take a good hard look at yourself.

There is a very fine line between super fit, and super fucking broken. That one session you turned up like a rockstar and pushed through when you shouldn’t have, will have you turning up like a loser for the next session.

 

 

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