Tough

We spend a lot of time in the training world talking about reps of this, how many training days of that, who wears the tightest spandex shorts when they squat, blah-blah-blah. When you really boil it down, what we’re talking about is being tough. Training to get tough. I think being tough is a combination of both physical and mental. All the physical training that we do is geared toward making our physical vehicle tougher. Stronger so we can display more power, more enduring so we can do it for longer. I think you’re training should be taking you towards those goals, because a body that is less susceptible to fatigue and has more power to display is much more apt to stick it out when life really gets tough.

The greater physical condition you’re in the greater mental stress you can withstand, because it all really boils down to toughness of the mind. The connection of the mind and body in toughness is sort of a revolving cycle. The tougher you are mentally, the harder you can push your body, the stronger you get, the tougher you become, but you don’t get there without the mind driving the whole engine. You’re training should be moving you gradually toward greater ability and every day doesn’t have to be the most incredibly, soul- splitting, painful workout you’ve ever done. But at some point you had better test yourself. Harness the mind and test both mental and physical toughness by achieving some insanely difficult workout.

Doing this knocks down mental and physical barriers and I think that is much of what is necessary for progress. Much of the time you have the ability inside of you either mentally or physically already to achieve some specific feat, you just don’t really believe that you can. You’ve set up your own mental block or turned on your own mental “governor” as Slim Farman says. The more often you tread into the territory of knocking down walls the better you get at it in both your physical training and in the rest of your life.

Now some people would say that these things are separate and tough physical training doesn’t have anything to do with emotional and life stress. I totally disagree and so did the ancient martial arts and physical training masters. You sink deeply enough into the realm of extreme physical effort you cannot remain dispassionate. You will at the same time conquer your body and conquer your emotions and mental ability. Stresses in life that to many seem overwhelming will not seem so difficult when you’ve ventured into the realm of physical effort so intense that it forces emotional and spiritual as well as physical growth.

So the next time your boss, or you mother-in-law yells at you let it roll off like water. It just ain’t as tough as that 1,000 rep workout or that brutally heavy squat or that unbelievably heavy stone carry. If you can defeat those surely you can deal with the other stresses of life. Next time you think about being tough or worrying about whether or not you are or are questioning whether or not to gut it out in your life or workout maybe you can think about Jim Braddock.

They just released this movie to DVD, “Cinderella Man,” the story of Jim Braddock. I haven’t seen it yet, but I did see some documentary footage of him that is awe-inspiring. He was a boxer around the time of The Great Depression. He had become quite successful although no one considered him very talented. Made enough money to retire from the ring. Lost it all in the economic troubles of the time. Went from being a champion to working on the docks for pennies just trying to feed his family. Got back into boxing with almost no notice, because he was set up to be “tomato can.” That means a boxer who everyone thinks is going to get the crap beat out of him as a stepping stone for another fighter. But he kept winning. He once broke his hand fighting and it didn’t heal correctly leaving him with a tremendous amount of pain. When he finally got back to some level of success in boxing he saw a doctor about the hand, he told Jim it would have to be rebroken to ever heal right. However it would cost $1,000.00 to get it done. Instead of paying that fee, he purposely took a fight and threw a punch that he knew would break his own hand so that the doctor could reset it correctly. He went on to fight Max Baer who at the time people called, “Killer,” because he had literally killed a man in the ring.

People always said he was too slow, too old, but he said he knew what he was fighting for and he just kept winning. How’s that for grit? I know many of us have been through tough times, but I doubt many of us have ever broken our own hand on purpose just to be able to feed our family. Toughness is beyond just that physical although I believe great physical training can help you deal with tough things in life. Sometimes it’s about losing it all and having the guts to fight to take it back. Having the guts to step forward for your dreams in the first place. The next time you’re worrying about whether you’ll make the next 25 reps or whether you’ll get off the couch and go workout, think about Jim.

I don’t think you’ll find it very tough to gut it out.

You wanna get training for the greatest physical and mental toughness you can have? Well here is the trilogy of books that will take you to the ultimate level of toughness.

Twisted Conditioning I – http://strongerman.com/twisted.html
Twisted Conditioning II – http://strongerman.com/twisted2.html
Super Strength & Endurance for Martial Arts – http://strongerman.com/martial_arts.html

You want more toughness training? Try our DVDs

Odd Objects – http://strongerman.com/odd_objects.html
Alternative Conditioning – http://strongerman.com/alternative_cond.html
The Secrets of My Strength Series – “Partial Movements for Super Human Strength” – http://strongerman.com/secrets_of_strength/partials.html
How To Squat 900lbs without Drugs, Powersuits & Kneewraps – DVD – http://strongerman.com/how_900.html