Today we’ll be briefly going over how patience is another by-product of physical training. So far, I’ve written about Mental Toughness and Humility, and on a Macro-level these are naturally occuring by-products of pursuing mastery in many different areas of bettering yourself. Another by-product is Patience, which works fairly well when coupled with Mental Toughness and Humility. I have learned a handful of lessons from Sister Patience over the last two years in my relationships, with myself and with PT. It’s wierd, but sometimes the lines blur on those three thing areas as the by-products PT produces bleeds over into other areas.

Your body can only go so far, for so long, before it breaks down from fatigue, over training, sleep deprivation, repeatedly putting shit fuel in it, neglecting it, etc.

You will need patience if you are going to hit your goals, no matter what arena of life you have placed them in.

For example: Freaking out and losing your shit because the scale has gone the opposite direction than you want it to will do you no good. What you did to make the scale move makes all the difference in the world. Is it going that way because you have stuffed your face unchecked over the last few weeks? Or, is it going that way because you’ve been training hard, putting a lot of fuel into your body and haven’t grasped that muscle weighs more than fat? Is your way of training facilitating weight loss or weight gain?

Increasing weight too quickly on your lifts can be detrimental. Am I saying don’t push yourself? By no means. However, patience dictates putting your ego in check and making more calculated increases to ensure continued growth and mitigate risk of injury. The more you injure yourself, the longer it takes to recover.

I’ve gained more patience in the gym this year as I have pursued two of my goals: 5×5 Deadlifts & Squats @ 225lbs. After injuring myself at the beginning of 2015 on a deadlif, it took me about eight months or so before I staring lifting free weights again. It was a slow process, focusing on form and slowly increasing the weight.

I hit 225lbs in Squats and Deadlifts a few different times this year doing one or two reps, but then I would notice my form sucking during those reps and I would back the weight down again, focus on form and keep building up. Check my Instagram account, the workouts are all there. Now my form is stronger than ever, I hit my Deadlift goal two weeks ago and I just did 5×4 @ 225lbs on Monday. It shouldn’t be long now before I tackle this goal!

It felt great.

Create a goal and make measurable steps every day, every week, every month towards your goal.

Patience, commitment, dedication, persistence and perseverance through the plateaus, setbacks, injuries and successes.

Be patient, be commited. You’ll get there.

Pursue Mastery.