Man by nature ultimately gets repulsed by comfort and finds "comfort" in effort and progress.
Out of many traits of the sport of weightlifting, the consistent chance at applying effort
and pushing oneself beyond what they thought was possible, is certainly the one that attracts most athletes.
And thus to most, one of the prizes of training or competition is not just the promise for a new personal record,
but the daily grind and the opportunity of "emptying the container", so to speak.
But little does one realizes, that this rush for applying effort and working hard, becomes a chase in itself.
And sooner than later, one finds enough comfort in training that which they know to not bother about learning what they do not.
For susceptible is Man, not just to always find the comfort zone, no matter how harsh conditions,
but even more so in making himself believe that he has "figured it all out".
(When in reality, he has just begun to scratch the surface)
~~~
Going back to the theme of my previous post, it is not so hard to see why,
in the sport of Weightlifting, there are only a handful of legends.
For one of the biggest differences between just an athlete and a legend is this ...
Legends do NOT have a comfort-zone
The moment they as little as smell the hint of a comfort-zone sneaking in,
either in how they train or how they recover or carry themselves in their day-to-day,
they annihilate any chances of themselves getting latched onto by it.
Not because they are told or taught to do so!
It is because somehow, deep in their DNA, the "comfort zone sensor" is doing its thing!
The athlete, on the other hand, is all about comfort-zones.
And settling for that which yields them sub-optimal maximums.
Probably because their DNA has a "comfort zone magnet",
no matter how many times they are told or advised to "NOT SETTLE FOR STATUS QUO",
they will, without fail, revert back to it.
Yes, even reading these words several times a day will not help such an athlete.
The joke of it is that such an athlete will actually say it out loud "I train to not be in the comfort zone",
never realizing the unequivocal stupidity in that utterance.
No sir, your training IS your comfort zone. It IS your home. And will always be.
For you do not yet know why it is that you train.
~~~
Training for the sake of training is fine if one trains recreationally or just to fill time or "stay fit".
Training to get better at training is fine if one likes going in circles.
Training to get better at something that one already knows (technique, competition, etc), is fine if one is
training to win or get better at competing.
But what is an even more SUPREME path?
It is training in a way that allows one to never have to compete. And winning happens without trying!
(The path of the Legends.)
But training what one already knows, will not get them to that level.
Because when one trains what they know, in essence, they are training to get better at trying or competing.
Because in doing that they are never learning what they DO NOT know.
For it is in the unknown that secret lies, not to edge past their competition, but to gallop over them.
Training so that winning simply happens, is ONLY possible when one trains to learn what they DO NOT know.
And the ONLY way to do that is by learning to surrender, to let-go.
Let-go What?
Let-go that which you know!