I think it’s easy to assume that a person needs to be pretty mentally tough in order to become physically strong. Surprisingly, this does not seem to be particularly true. Strength training is pretty easy when understood, and not terribly difficult to understand. It’s as if strength training were perfectly designed for us people who might often end up weak by natural inclination.
I’m not saying that it’s only for weak people. It’s for strong people too, clearly, but presumably they’ve already figured that out, so they don’t need me to tell them.
Sometimes after a session of strength training there’s a bit of soreness, but generally nothing unmanageable. The strength training itself shouldn’t ever go too far into the realm of pain or exhaustion. And that’s the worst that can be said about it.
The point is, getting strong is way easier and less painful than a person would think who hasn’t already experienced it for themselves.
The clearest, most undeniable example of this is the deload week. You’ve been training for weeks now, and after all this time, you’ve gotta admit, you’re finally starting to feel sore and achy and weak. What comes next? Take it easy for a while. Just call it a deload week and be lazy for nine or ten days without any guilt.
And it’s brilliant! It’s brilliant because it works. After a deload week, you might find you’re stronger than ever, coming back fresh to all the exercises that had begun to weigh so heavily on you.
It’s almost as if strength training was designed specifically for weak and lazy people to be able to benefit from. I don’t deny that it’s entirely possible for strength training to be brutal and painful and hateful, and maybe sometimes that’s what is called for. But there’s also an easy way, and in the long run it works just as well.