Fight Through The Fatigue

If you're working out seriously, you've no doubt hit that point where your body tells you it's had enough, that you need to stop, that you can't go another round, or even another second. Today we're going to talk about this state, and how pushing through both during and after a workout (or any other hardship for that matter) can train you in a valuable skill: expanding your limits.

During

When you're nearing the end of a brutal workout or any other grueling task, your body or mind will start playing tricks on you and trying to get you to quit. They'll tell you that this is uncomfortable, that you can just do as much as you did last time. That's good enough, right? Wrong.

Pushing through that pain and discomfort for even a second longer than you did last time, for even one more rep, for even one extra bit of completion, is crucial to your growth as a person. By always going that extra bit, you will always continue to get better, stronger, faster, more mentally resilient. By training your mind to consistently force your body further and further past that point of exhaustion, you will never stop growing.

After

So you made it through. You did the extra second, the extra portion, one more rep, whatever it was. Now you can flop over and collapse, because you "made it."

Not quite. There's another area of mental toughness that it behooves you to practice. By forcing yourself to get up and move around or get on to your next task as quickly as possible, you train your mind and body to recover while staying active, instead of requiring you to lay down and fully stop for long periods of time.

This is difficult at first, as your body wants to stop after you've pushed it so hard. Fight that urge. Push through. Stay on your feet and walk around. Stretch. If you're doing a mental or menial task, don't take an extended break. Go to the bathroom, get some water, and get back to work.

There's plenty of time to lay down and close your eyes at the end of the day. For now, get back to work.

How Do You Push Through?

As always, I want to hear from all of you. Tell us where, why, and how you push through the vomit zone and always give a little bit more.