Right now I know you are probably wondering, grit? What in
the world is he on about again?! Well today I want to talk about the most
important thing you need when trying to achieve your fitness goals, no scratch
that, when trying to achieve any goal in life that is worthwhile, you need
grit, true grit. Now what is this grit that I keep on banging about? Well how
about defining it? Grit can be best defined as; courage, spirit, resolve,
toughness, determination, hardiness, strength of character …. You get the
picture!
Now that we know what grit is, how does it relate to
achieving your fitness and life goals you may ask, well grit is that thing in
you that keeps you going, it’s that thing that makes you wake up early, even
when you don’t feel like waking up. It what makes you show up at the gym while
ignoring the pain of your last workout, it’s also what helps you stay focused
on achieving the type of fitness, strength and body shape you dream about and it’s what stops you from quitting, even in
the face of tiredness, pain, doubt , discouragement, and fear.
Grit is an innate quality, some people are gifted with a lot
of it, and some, well not so much. If you fall into the latter category, do not
despair, I know I said it’s an innate quality, but research has proved that it
can also be learnt and developed consciously, I will shed more light on that
later on in this piece. Like I said earlier, grit is crucial to achieving your
goals, whether at the gym or life in general. The reason most people fail to
lose those unwanted pounds of fat, or build that six pack or be able to run
that race is a lack of grit, if you don’t have grit, you will give up on your
goals when the pain starts to set in, or you may likely quit your workout
program when work and family pressure starts to eat at you, grit helps by
making you determined and adaptable, two qualities you need to succeed in any endeavour.
So we have established that grit is your most essential tool
to succeeding in life, “but if I wasn’t born with grit, aren’t I screwed already?”
I hear you ask? Well thankfully the answer is no, not by a longshot! Today I am going to help you to develop more “grittiness”
(sorry I couldn’t help that!) To do
that, we are going to have to travel back in time, 2500 year back to ancient Greece
to be precise.
There once lived a man called Milo of Croton, and he was the
ancient embodiment of grit, he was a 6 time wrestling champion in the ancient Olympic
Games in Greece. His strength and wrestling prowess was the stuff of legend, I know
you are probably wondering what an ancient wrestler and strong man has to do
with you developing grit, I am getting to it.
It was said that Milo developed his great strength through a
simple but profound strategy, one day, a newborn calf was born near Milo’s
home. The wrestler decided to have a bit of fun and lift the newborn animal on
his shoulders and walk around a bit. The next day he returned and did the same,
and the next day, and the next day, well you get the picture, he continued this
strategy for the next 4 years, in the end he was not hoisting a calf on his shoulders
but a 4 year old bull! Now to your question, what can an ancient strong man
teach you about grit?
1. START LIGHT:
Our hero did not start by trying to lift a
4 year old bull, he would have ruptured a disk, or gotten gored for his
troubles. Instead he started light; a lot of us approach a goal with all guns
blazing, only to fizzle out when the going gets tough. He started with a
newborn calf, which would have been a relatively easy weight for him to lift. The
same principle applies even today. When you begin exercising or lifting
weights, you should start with something easy, it is by focusing on easy weights
that you hone your technique and condition your body to conquer heavier weights
and challenges later on.
2. DON’T MISS WORKOUTS:
I bet you, Milo’s strategy wouldn’t have
worked if he tried to pick up the bull once a month or worse only on its
birthday, the calf would have grown too much and Milo would have gained too
little strength, and yet this is the wrong strategy that many of us employ and
hope it will miraculously work. We are not dedicated to the daily grind of
working out and yet expect results; we get impatient and try to rush progress,
leading to injury and discouragement. Learn from our hero, he lifted that
weight EVERDAY! It’s the more useful
strategy to developing grit; start with something incredibly small, so small
that you can’t possibly say no to it, do it frequently and do it well and watch
yourself improve slowly.
3. INCREASE YOUR EFFORTS LITTLE AT A TIME:
Every day, Milo’s calf grew a little bit,
almost unnoticed, a pound here a kilo there, nothing too spectacular and our
hero was able to bear the daily load with not too much discomfort. It will work
the same way for you too, do you think you could squat one more kilogram of
weight this week compared to last week? You most probably could, now imagine
adding only 1 kg per week for 2 year, that’s 100 extra kilos to your squat, in
2 years! Not too many people can boast
of those kinds of gains in 2 years, there must be something to this technique!
To sum it all up, it takes time to develop
grit and grit will lead you to good results if you hang in there and persevere.
If there is one thing I have learnt over
the years, it’s that tiny gains can add up over time and average speed will
take you far if you never stop walking. So what are you waiting for? Pick up
your own calf today and start walking like Milo!
Thanks and do have a wonderful weekend!
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