This is me 11 years ago.
I didn’t start strength training at age thirteen to look like this or with a goal to one day be posing on a stage in tights and the bright lights.
I discovered strength training when I was going through one of the hardest times of my life. You can read about that here: https://armouryfitness.ca/the-blue-dumbbells/
But seeing this picture from eleven years ago did give me a thought.
It’s that, while it is good to have present day goals, it’s impossible to know exactly who you’re going to be and what you’re going to want five, ten, or twenty years from now.
As life goes on, our priorities shift.
We are shaped by our environment, experiences, and thoughts multiplied by the passing of time.
For example, when I first picked up weights I had no idea that one day I would be stepping up on to a bodybuilding stage.
I fell in love with the craft of strength training at a young age. As a side effect of that, I started developing some muscle and my physique slowly started to change (especially as I learned more about nutrition).
Fifteen years passing filled with consistent strength training 3-5x/week made it so that when I decided I wanted to step on stage, I could do so. I only decided firmly to do the show three months before the date of the competition.
This positive experience was only possible because of all the work I did when I didn’t even know that I was going to have a goal to step on stage.
Which leads me to my main thought.
Strength opens doors.
Weakness closes them.
And not just if one wants to become a natural bodybuilder. For anything in life.
Being physically strong enhances your experience of life and makes you capable of more. More opportunities are available to you.
Being physically weak limits your experience of life and makes you capable of less. Less opportunities are available to you.
If you have a high level of relative strength (your strength relative to your current bodyweight) you can pretty much do what you please.
You can keep up with your kids. You can hike mountains. You can break into a run and not feel like you’re dying. You can help a friend move and not need a week or three to recover from it. You can walk 5+ km’s no problem. You can get out of your chair or car without grunting and groaning in pain. You can go up a few flights of stairs without gasping for breath.
In other words, you can live.
With a low level of relative strength you can’t.
With a low level of relative strength you can be alive. But it’s impossible to thrive.
Thriving requires strength. And quite a bit of it.
This takes effort. Consistent effort. For the rest of your life.
But the effort is worth it because Strength Equals Freedom.
A life of freedom is the only one worth living.
Strength opens doors. Weakness closes them.
Are you free?
