Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Motivation Monday: Why We Train

Episode Date: May 18, 2020

This episode is part of a weekly series that I have dubbed “Motivation Monday.” (Yes, I know, very creative of me. What can I say, I’m a genius…) Seriously though, the idea here is simple: Every Monday morning, I’m going to post a short and punchy episode that I hope gets you fired up to tackle the workouts, work, and everything else that you have planned for the week ahead. As we all know, it’s one thing to know what you want to do, but it’s something else altogether to actually make yourself do it, and I hope that this series gives you a jolt of inspiration, energy, and encouragement to get at it. So, if you like what you hear, then make sure to check back every Monday morning for the latest and greatest installment. --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Hello, I'm Mike Matthews, and this is Muscle For Life. And in this episode, I want to talk about why we train. Why do we do what we do? Most people don't get it. They don't get why we do it. Why? Why do we pour so much time, energy, and effort into our training? Why is it so important to us?

Maybe it's narcissism. A lot of people think that. They think, oh, they've fallen in love with their reflections. That's why. Or maybe it's insecurity. Are we feeding a superiority complex maybe? Or maybe, maybe it's something darker. Maybe it's self-loathing. Maybe we just can't accept ourselves the way we are. Well, I think that those people are missing the point. We don't train to feel vainglorious or to paper over our shortcomings or to punish ourselves. We train because it gives us more than just a better body. Better body is great, but a better life is even better because training

builds more than muscle. It builds character. It teaches us how to stop bullshitting ourselves. It teaches us how to commit to daunting goals. It teaches us how to create purpose and meaning. It teaches us how to take action instead of making excuses and finding reasons to fail. It teaches us how to stop playing the victim and take responsibility for our circumstances. It teaches us how to work hard instead of chasing magic bullets and quick fixes. It teaches us how to push through pain and adversity. And it teaches us how to choose long-term satisfaction over immediate gratification. And so at bottom, I think training teaches us a very powerful lesson.

It teaches us that if we have the power to change our body, we have the power to change our life. That's why we train. We train because fitness is one of those special things in life. Not many of them. One of those things that you can't buy, you can't steal, you can't fake. There are no rewards in this game for complaining or failing and fitness certainly doesn't care about your opinions or your feelings. You have to give something to get something. You can't slide by on bullshit. It's called working out after all. And for a good reason, right? Because you either put in the work and transform your body or you don't. And that's a metaphor for something bigger because no matter

what you're facing in life, you have two decisions. What's one of those, there are two people in the world type of frames of references, right? You can either put in the work or you can get put in your place. There are two people in the world, people who put in the work and get put in their place. And so fitness is nothing if not a tribute to the primacy of effort. It's a reminder that unless we're willing to work for the secrets and the shortcuts, they'll never work. And if you find that discouraging, consider this. Groping around for shortcuts is discouraging. Stumbling around in the dark, anxiously turning over rocks in search of arcana is discouraging. Waiting for lightning to strike our bottle is discouraging. And you know what's encouraging? A promise of return,

a promise of results. And that's what we get when we don the yoke, right? Yes, it's bulky and it's uncomfortable and it demands toil and sweat, but we'll never leave empty handed. We may not get the prize we always want, but we'll always get something. And that is why we train. Let's not forget it. All right. Well, that's it for today's episode. I hope you found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and you don't mind doing me a favor, could you please leave a quick review for the podcast on iTunes or wherever you are listening from? Because those reviews not only convince people that they should check out the show, they also increase the search visibility and help more people find their way to me and to the podcast and learn how to build their best body ever as well. And of course,

if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then simply subscribe to the podcast and whatever app you're using to listen. And you will not miss out on any of the new stuff that I have coming. And last, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts. Let me know how you think I could do this better. I read every email myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. All right. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon.