Training, or working out, was something I needed to do to get to where I wanted to go. My girlfriend recently asked me if I always like working out and, if not, what made me switch. In a quick and mundane answer, my response was progress. I was driven by progress. Once I saw progress I was hooked.
I had many start and stops when it came to me trying to get into working out. My first attempt of working out was entering my freshman year of high school. The Ledyard Colonels used to have team lifts during the summer. This was supposed to be a way to build strength and camaraderie as a team. However, on day one in the weight-room I realized I was by far the weakest person in there. I felt overwhelmed. I stuck around for the rest of the workout then never went back to another lift for the remainder of the summer. All throughout high school I would go to the gym here and there to “lift,” but I was going through the motions and hated every second of it. I excelled in sports so I didn’t see the need to workout.
It wasn’t until the end of my junior year that I started to think that strength could be my missing piece. I owe this realization to the only football camp I ever attended. Once again, I was the weakest kid there according to standards of strength. The summer proceeding that camp was the first time I strength trained fairly regularly. My senior season was the strongest I had ever felt. This was clearly as a result of consistent training. However, once the season was in progress, I stopped working out and did not resume until the summer after I graduated high school.
Realizing then that I wanted to play college football, somewhat late, I sought out a trainer one of my teammates had been training with. This kid was a tank. I knew I didn’t need to be a tank, but rather competitively faster and stronger. I figured this guy could help me and he did. I started seeing this trainer as well as working out on my own. In that summer I put on 10 pounds which was amazing because I didn’t think it was possible. However, even more important was my strength gains. To see where I started from to where I had ended up by summers end was the most gratifying experience. That progress was what really brought me to start liking to work out. I was hooked, I Loved the confidence it bestowed upon me. I loved the idea of tracking progress, whether it was using a weight that was 2.5 lbs heavier than the week before or doing more reps than I could the week before. Bottom line, I was hooked at that point and I have not looked back since.
All of that said, it is important to know that it’s absolutely normal and understood that you may not like working out at first. Be consistent for a month or two. Hire a trainer if you can. Then, once some time has gone by, search for progress. However small you may think it is, hash any progress as a win. It could be that you were consistent for two weeks, which you had never done before. It could be that you went to the gym 3 times in a week, when the most you had gone before that was 1 day. Small progress is still progress and it is something to get excited about. It means you are better than you were yesterday. Let this mindset change your attitude toward training. Learning to love the process and steps it takes to become better is what will make you strong in the end. After all, it is the Power of Strength we are working for.