Why Do You Want to be So Strong?

I have been asked this question a lot recently in regards to my fitness goals/strength training: why do you want to be so strong?

To be honest, the first time it was asked I thought it was such a poor question that I struggled even to answer. What do you mean why? Why wouldn\’t I? Then I realized my response was as weak as the question, and didn\’t illustrate anything about my purpose or my passion. So instead I said:

I want to be as strong on the outside as I am on the inside.

That is empowering to me. I have accomplished difficult things and endured difficult things through much the same process as I have with weight lifting – perseverance, patience, consistency and discipline. From coping with grief to getting a masters degree to publishing a book, I have used these qualities to build strength to accomplish and overcome.

I know that I am someone people call on when they have a crisis or urgent need because I am capable, poised and competent. I am strong, on the inside.

I want my outside to reflect that same strength. And it takes a certain mental and emotional toughness to build physical strength. I lift when I don\’t feel like it. I have days where I can\’t get last week\’s weight off the ground because I am just not in the right place mentally or physically. I get sore, I get fatigued, and I push through – and in many cases that is more mind over matter than anything.

I want the same discipline and patience that I demonstrated in achieving some of my proudest goals to be reflected physically. You never see a person with visibly lean strength and assume they are undisciplined. You know when you see it, they persist, they persevere and they do it even when they don\’t want to.

I have long put in the effort physically – years and years of exercise in many forms – but only now is it physically starting to really show. Not only in the shape of my body but in my functional strength.

And that strength is a physical representation of who I am on the inside: passionate and perseverant.