What would happen if you pushed yourself a little bit more? What would be the impact on your everyday life? What if you would learn that you were stronger than you have thought? There is always a ‘’what if’’ in our mind. What would happen if you were stuck in a situation where how strong you are would mean a life or death situation? Think about it, every day we run the chance of getting hurt, of getting injured due to a bad move, bad lifting technique or just something downright dangerous like a fight or falling, etc. I have heard some stories about mothers lifting cars just to get it off their children, people doing extraordinary feats of strength just to save a life or go beyond their capabilities to break a record or just because of some dangerous circumstances. They just dug into their hidden strength, or is it not that hidden after all?
Nowadays with every single task being converted into a simpler and easier one, no one is asked to use their brains, nervous system and strength as much as they should. People are getting weaker and scared. They are scared of getting injured, hurt just by doing a simple contact sport, lifting heavy stuff or that if they lift heavier weights or equipment, they will get huge muscles (biggest misconception of all in my opinion). If that was the case, we would see mothers with huge muscular arms because they lift their kids at least 15 to 20 times a day, for a couple of years. So as people are getting scared of getting huge muscles, they do less, or just do what is easier like nothing or just some abs and cardio, best way to get weaker. One of the best examples I can give you is those poor people who are victims of rape or harassment. Some of them , those that were strong enough to escape or just to stand up for themselves got away, fought and scared off that piece of shit that tried to take their pride, self esteem and more away from them. Those who escaped (or won) knew that they could at least scare off and even hurt their assailant. Chances are that those who got away just didn’t let themselves into that scary situation, because they projected an image of a strong person, someone you can’t f*ck with unless they are hungry for a fist sandwich. Those are the ones who are not scared, that have a strong will and most probably the strength that comes with it. That less than able piece of a man will go for the weaker ones, those who lack self esteem and strength.
On a better note, I never saw a disadvantage of being strong, except the fact that people will think of you first when they have to move furniture. But the best is when you take someone weak, or think he or she is, and turn them into some strong and confident person. It doesn’t take much, all you need is to prove them that they can and will do it. You can take housewives that are stuck into their daily routine, thinking that they won’t have any energy for lifting heavy stuff and turn them into powerful woman that will take on any challenges and tasks. You can take a bullied boy, that has so much hate and turn it into a strong positive young man, which is not afraid to stand up to whoever crosses the respect line. I came across some of those people in my strongman/woman event. It never fails to amaze me when I get a text or email the following day, telling me that they never knew they had so much strength and guts. They never thought that they would be able to push as hard as they did, to dig deep in their guts, to discover what they really are able to do and to push beyond what their mind is telling them to do, telling them to quit, giving up. I see them lifting the farmers walk with more than 60 to 100 pounds on each side, lifting sand bags of over 50 pounds overhead for reps, pushing the prowler with over 100 pounds for 50 yards, stopping because they can’t feel their legs, their heart coming out of their chest, but when they hear us and their teammates telling them to keep on, to forget the pain, to go the distance. All I see is ordinary people doing extraordinary efforts, pushing the limit, their own.
On our last outdoor strongman/woman event, I decided to increase the intensity a bit and incorporate some MMA (Mixed martial arts) way of training like battling ropes, mounted bag grappling and punching, sprints, drills, and even add a special challenge at the end. The workout lasted about 55 minutes, plus the challenge at the end that everyone had to go through. I’m proud to say that everyone finished it, we had some bruises and bloody knuckles but no one complained.
