Why Training Partners Are Essential
Someone is strange who takes a dangerous path or climbs the highest peak without the support of a team and the encouragement of a partner who goes on the hike with them. If someone hikes alone on a monstrous mountain, he has probably done it with others many times. They were initially dependent on the help of a guide and the help of a group of people who took on the task with them before they could do it themselves,
The desire to share an experience is practically the same for anyone starting a new physical or fitness practice. You might start a new sport or go to the gym for the first time to start exercising. And if you think, why should it be the same? It is human behavior, In both cases, you need guidance and camaraderie with others who share this experience and want to do the same work.
The typical gym
What membership fluctuation rates do big box gyms see? I imagine that there are statistics somewhere, but even without them it is a sure conclusion that it is high. Some health clubs have also created a structure in which members are automatically charged fees every month, although they rarely, if ever, use the facility,
The entire membership funnel from marketing to after-sale is designed and set up for this. These health clubs are of course dishonest about their intentions. However, the entire framework fragments and isolates members from one another so that they can never group together or receive the support they need from each other to progress.
What we long for
Ultimately, most of our behaviors and motivation come from searching for connection, This includes ambitions to get in shape. When people can and can get together to participate in an activity such as lifting weights, they connect. But there is more than just a feeling of connection due to the common interest.
When you improve physically, your health, endurance, performance and appearance change for the better. and your mind, whatever you think, is not separate from your body or mind, When your physical health improves, your mental health improves, and vice versa.
When mind and body are in harmony,
- You can connect more deeply with every experience and with every person.
- You have a better direction of how you can live your life.
- You can get the energy of shared experience.
- You feel more comfortable with yourself and this will also be noticeable in others.
- You will really connect with others if you work authentically.
With the connection, the experiences we share can become the narrative we all want to build with friends. We want to create a story together that we can remember later and relive together.
Gyms can be a great place to find this. Sharing physical battles undoubtedly brings friends closer. That is why we make training partners friends and we make our friends our training partners.
It is much more likely that the bonding experience will take place in a smaller independent gym than in a major company type. These smaller indie gyms with tight communities instantly connect to others working on that concentrated strength or high-intensity discipline.
And you should be working on finding a place like this where you can work out if you're looking for fitness in four walls, This is the time when we find a place where we can satisfy what we long for with people who can identify with that desire.
Fight, shared
The need for a struggle to deal with is built into people. We have not met this primary need and it is not a matter of opinion.
If we don't have an obvious external struggle to get involved with, we create a pseudo-struggle in our minds, our daily lives, our relationships, and sometimes in society. Creating an imaginary conflict is a way to self-sabotage – something I can talk about.
The selection and strategic challenge of some physical struggles that we have to face on a daily basis prevents us from creating artificial mental conflicts that are more harmful than educational, But here's the problem: The physical struggle, by our standards, must be serious and significant enough in our minds to prevent us from creating more fictional mental conflicts that cause self-sabotage.
It seems that we all have an inner judge who decides whether what we do deserves our efforts and undisturbed focus. If not, our thoughts will wander and we will look for other conflicts.
But when we spend time with others who are participating in the same type of fight as we do, physically or otherwise, and we see that they are enthusiastic about wrestling with it, the mountain itself seems to be worth it.
It is essential for our group, so we believe that it is undeniably crucial. And that's why it is necessary to train a physical discipline or to do sports with teammates in order not to stop,
The role of the fight
My powerlifting trainer and employer, when I was a college strength trainer, was my training partner for many years. He decided to keep the fight as strong as possible and never deviated from it.
When I trained with him, my life was straightforward and my thoughts were clear. I had few concerns and thought about my work and training. I took up my coach's fight and focused my will on it and it kept me on a direct path, I have made unique improvements in this regard and my focus has kept me from unnecessarily complex in my life.
Then I left this job, this place, this training partner and this particular job. And without this worthy effort, I made my life complicated. The complications then drove me further away from training, and without anyone to share the practice with, I resigned from any concentrated physical pursuit.
Years passed; I started Olympic weightlifting again, but without consistency or diligence. Finally, however, I was fortunate enough to bring great weightlifting trainers and former world-class Olympic weightlifters to my gym. I was taught by them and had the opportunity to train next to them.
I have to live out new stories and share them with new people. They provided support and friendship, and I made progress and matured in life lifting and weight lifting and learning to focus my energies.
I kept my goal of participating in a physical fight and added more. I teamed up with Muay Thai fighters and then with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu players. I spent time with more experienced opponents and learned how they thought about their work. I found that martial artists and martial artists have an unusual way of joining together to advance personally and individually.
In strength training, the training partners support each other to overcome some external obstacles. But in the martial arts school they test and fight against each other in order to push and grow internally, It's not just about contesting the person in front of you. It's about tackling your internal struggles and barriers and using struggles with others as an instrument to do so.
Almost everyone in these places understands this, even if they don't recognize it. When sparring and practice are over, they feel more connected than before. You are grateful to the other person for the gift received, They shared an experience that will help both of them on their way to progress and understanding.
Designate your vehicle for growth
Jiu-Jitsu seems to be one of the best means for personal growth, and it is connected with the need for a community of supportive people. I speak as an absolute beginner with no experience and only with a new perspective to compare behavior patterns that I have observed elsewhere.
All martial arts can be described as physical chess between opponents. And jiu-jitsu seems to be one of the most difficult chess games, Confrontation and strikes require instinctive reactions that have to develop into a habit.
But there is also an active intellectual struggle when you change strategies, read your opponent and adjust your movement while the person opposite you reacts to your movements and actions.
The complexity and possibility of attacks and defenses in Jiu-Jitsu make this all the more complicated. So it is necessary to roll with different types of people in a school to train your strength and skills, Everyone on this mat understands this and it creates a completely shared recognition that this is a worthwhile struggle. They form a group of people who believe that this practice will produce a better person.
Share the successes
Everything that is done is better if it is shared with others. It makes the good better. People have a spirit when they win together and achieve something together in cooperation and support, When they move forward together, it is almost as if there is another force with them, a recognizable spirit that is independent of a person.
There is also responsibility when you share your efforts with a group, Not a person can be flawless in their efforts or absolutely objective about where they are neglected and where they need to focus on improvements.
Everyone needs training partners to be honest, to pull, push, pull, or sometimes pick them up – and they also need to learn what it's like to do that for others. If you do this, you will understand and get to know this spirit. By giving this, you can get it better and with greater effect.
This is the beauty of the group that shares the adventure. Therefore, it is undeniably important to find this group and your training partners, regardless of which fitness or exercise you choose, A partner will support you and give you meaning. And with that purpose, you can stay on the right path, even if life seems to do everything to keep you off the path.
Jesse competes in Olympic weightlifting and used to be a powerlifter. It has been featured in major strength and fitness publications. You can read more of his work on his website.
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