Training Your Muscles

If you’ve never gone to the gym before, it’d be foolish — and dangerous — to go straight to the bench press and load a full plate on each side. You won’t be able to lift it and you might get hurt in the process.

If you’re just getting started, you first start with weights that are slightly beyond your comfort zone. Lift those for a few sessions, rest, then give it a few days and your muscles will adapt and it’ll be time to move up in weight. Eventually you’ll be able to easily bench press a plate and your muscles will grow in the process.

No one goes straight for the full plate bench press expecting to lift it yet many of us expect to code a killer application or write a Paul Graham-esque essay right off the bat. And when we’re not able to do it, we give up. Saying to ourselves that we weren’t meant to code or write.

Often times we compare ourselves to the biggest guy or the leanest gal in the gym not realizing the sacrifices, the discipline, and the years of effort they put in. We only see the final product.

Courage, confidence, and relationships can be trained like muscles. Most skills can be trained like muscles as well.

The key is to start small, keep pushing yourself slightly out of your comfort zone, and eventually you’ll get to where you want to be.