One of my favorite fitness mantras is Hard Is Where It Happens. It’s a reminder that when a workout gets hard is when pushing through will make me stronger. (Technically, you get stronger when your muscles recover and rebuild afterwards, but you need to challenge them to trigger that process.) It encourages me to not quit at hard, but keep going so I can get stronger. Another way to look at is to learn to appreciate the struggle, vbecause it’s what makes you stronger.
Frederick Douglass put it more eloquently.
Embrace The Suck is another mantra that helps me adjust my attitude for a workout that could be miserable–whether it’s windy, rainy, too hot or too cold, involves steep hills or tough intervals.
Appreciate The Struggle
When you’re in the midst of struggle it’s hard to appreciate the experience, but when your strength is tested again and you notice that you are stronger, then you can look back and appreciate the struggle that got you there. That’s how I feel about the Conte’s hill rides, speed workouts, and hill repeats.
Artist: Charles Henry Alston
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
Of course, Frederick Douglass was talking about bigger struggles and more important progress. Recalling the struggles he endured, and the progress he made, reminds me of the importance of not being discouraged and not giving up on the causes that are important to me–even when the struggle is all too real and progress we have made seems to be slipping away.
I’m linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness .
What have you struggled through that made you stronger?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
You know I’ve been struggling with running lately. I just keep pushing through the muck and I”m always glad I do.
It’s hard when making progress still leaves you feeling like you’re behind, but you know you are making a difference by pushing through.
This is why I love the track. If it doesn’t hurt, I’m not doing it right.
LOL, I’m not sure I’m that much of a masochist, but it is fun to be done with hard workouts. 😉
It sure is hard to appreciate the struggle while you in are in. Running is so hard for me right now but I am just trying to “show up”
You’re right — it’s much easier to appreciate afterwards, but if you can remember in the moment that there will be a pay-off, it can make it more tolerable.
I struggled so much with maths in my final year of A Levels (British Cambridge System). Everything else came so easy but I could not for the life of me get my head around some of those maths concepts. I worked and worked and worked and worked bringing my score up from 0% to around 70% for the final exam. That 70 meant more to me than the higher scores I had achieved in other areas. And to this day, when I am stuck in anything I always think back to those days of “struggle” and somehow find away through.
That is awesome! That’s a huge accomplishment and great that you can draw on it and remind yourself that you will get through other challenges.
Life has definitely thrown us some lemons lately & I did say to a friend I wished God didn’t think I was so strong. OTOH, if it were easy, everyone would do it & I do think you appreciate it more because of your struggles.
It also helps to put things in perspective — people go trough much worse things.
Yes, fitness struggles are definitely first world problems. I had car trouble this week, and even then I was grateful that I wasn’t in danger when my car died and was able to get it repaired quickly. It could have been so much worse.
I love the phrase as well! If it isn’t hard it won’t change you! So true
I like a good challenge because I can find what I’m made of. It’s also good to have some easy times so it’s not a constant struggle. We need to be able to enjoy things too.
You’re right — that balance is essential. If it always sucked I wouldn’t do it!
My biggest struggles have not been running related. They’re definitely work related or health related as far as family. However, running definitely makes me feel stronger and more capable and more in the right mindset to deal with those real life struggles.
That’s so true. I find running to be empowering in other areas of my life.
To be honest, my biggest struggle has been escaping my past and finding my own self. Which sounds a bit sappy or a bit self-aggrandising. I don’t like running to be a struggle because it use it to help me live my best life. It was a struggle deciding not to do my last marathon because of illness, and quite a struggle to do my DIY one but I’ve reaped dividends there, because I’ve realised I’ve got nothing to prove there now, because I ran a marathon without there being a marathon to run (with my lovely friends). Running helps with my struggle so I try to let it be as easy as I can do, while pushing myself occasionally.
Oh, gosh, that is way more important than getting through a workout — and way harder. Glad you had such a fun DIY marathon with friends. A marathon is not something I ever wanted to do, and I don’t think my body would let me at this point!
It’s not something everyone has to do in my opinion; I don’t enjoy shorter runs but love the long ones, even though I’m pretty slow.
LOVE that mantra. How have I never heard that before? Thanks for introducing me. You can bet I will think of this during my next long run! 🙂
A fitness trainer drilled “if it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you” into my head, so that has become my mantra. I use it pretty much every workout because like you said, we have to push our muscles if we want to get stronger!
That’s a good mantra too!
“When you’re in the midst of struggle it’s hard to appreciate the experience”. This is SO true! Every time I have trained for a marathon, I have experienced this.
Yes, I’ve notice that when there is a struggle, it’s for something worth struggling for! Thanks for linking up!