Inner Strength Training

When you join a gym, the thought of feeling fit and healthy are usually are the things that you think of before anything else, right? Well, what if I told you there is another type of strength that health and fitness can bring? Inner strength is something that you are not born with, but something you must develop, just like other muscles in your body. However, it is just as important to your training. If you’re already starting to think “inner strength, I’m not sure I have any of that”. Well you do! It takes inner strength to join a gym and start your journey. That’s where I started mine.

Inner strength is so completely underrated, I don’t even know where to begin. Becoming strong mentally, as well as physically, is a MASSIVE benefit of exercise, and one of the main reasons I got involved in the ‘Health and fitness’ industry to begin with. I cannot tell you how many times a good workout has helped me get my head right! Sometimes when you are struggling mentally with anything, from work stress, relationships, arguments, a sense of weakness or confusion in life, it can be difficult to pull yourself out of that never ending hole if you choose to head down it. Inner strength is that thing that can help you move past, or through, ANYTHING negative that presents itself. Life will always deliver tricky times with potential to bring you down. You are not alone! Please note, I am not an expert. I do not have a degree in physicology, but what I do have is experience. It is strange, because this type of experience is not something one would brag about, but exercise is so incredibly valuable to building your inner strength. I can truly say it has saved my life and not just once, multiple times. Sharing ways that have worked for me, may work for you too :) Here are my top three ways for building inner strength:

Lifting Weights Transfer the weight that is on your mind to the weights in the gym. Lifting them with your body instead of your mind can help with a lot of reflection and realization. If your body can do it, then your mind can too!! You are strong, and you are capable of tackling anything that could potentially affect your inner strength. After a good workout, my body feels so strong, and lifting a substantial amount of weight, puts the rest of my problems into perspective. It makes them feel miniscule compared to the strength that our bodies are actually capable of. If you have all 4 limbs and all 5 senses, most things can be conquered, and all other things are only added weight that you can drop whenever you want!! It is your choice to carry it. So why would you want to be heavier! Drop that added weight!

Find your tribe Surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial to building inner strength. As much as we may try, we cannot do it alone, and surrounding yourself with the right supportive community (like ‘Fitzone’) is like using a safety net, should you fall. We will be there :) A similar rule applies if you decide to surround yourself with the wrong people. I am not saying you cannot build inner strength if you choose to hang out with negative people, but as you can imagine, it does make things difficult. There is an old proverb that reads “show me your friends, and I’ll tell you who you are”. While it is our hope, that those around us will offer support, and a positive solution to our challenges, this is unfortunately not often the case. They habitually enjoy, or even thrive on sharing their negativity. This can drain you of all your mental energy that you need for the gym. I firmly believe you need to put yourself. Focus on building your own inner strength. Negativity within your circle is contagious. Don’t risk catching it! However, I am fully supportive of you catching the strong positivity virus. This can be done by exercising the same practices. Surround yourself with the right tribe! Struggling to find one? Our number is on our website :)

Exercising those two words: “I’m sorry” You will notice I mention my Fiancé while writing….. often. It is clear I am pretty fond of him, but he is not perfect (well, I personally think he is, but for the sake of this blog I will admit that he isn’t). However, one of the most valuable things he has taught me is the power of practicing forgiveness. Sounds easy? Well it’s not. It takes a lot of strength, and often, but this is one of the greatest gifts I think he has given me. It saves a lot of dwelling, overthinking, grudge holding etc. That stuff wastes time in our day and can be incredibly draining on our positivity, because it doesn’t solve problems or create solutions. It simply uses energy in a negative way. This is energy we could be using in the gym to get that positive feeling ;)

Any small or large arguments that are had in our household are generally very minor, thanks to two small words “I’m sorry”. I’m not going to lie in these blogs, so I will say that those two words mostly escape from Lennie’s mouth and not mine, and not because he is usually the one in the wrong! In fact he is often not. The fact is he is much better at practicing forgiveness than I am. Before you think that he is just giving in and saying sorry to end the argument, This is not the case. It is about being genuine and apologising for sending me the wrong message, or saying something in a way that upset me. Here’s the catch. You have to mean it, and that is the part that takes strength. Apologising is a sign of strength, and not weakness or giving in. Start by trying to understand things from someone else’s point of view. How would that make you feel? If in doubt, ask! What is it about what I said that was negative, or made you feel bad? If they can explain, it then maybe it will help you understand why you would need to apologise. After all, hurting people does not make you stronger, but helping them will J

So, what are some things that make you feel strong?

Em