I never thought I would use Stoicism at the gym. To think about it with building muscle. Before I had the knowledge I have now, Stoicism was a bunch of tools to use in stressful situations. It’s for when you get a high importance email that actually isn’t important and everyone wants you to drop what you are doing. It’s when you are in a high confrontation situation. What about when someone cuts you off in traffic? That’s when you reach into your bag of ways to handle a situation and pull out something with a Stoicism label? Right?
My view has changed as I’ve learnt more and embraced living a philosophy as a way of life. It’s not something you put behind a glass box with a break here when needed plaque on it.
Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life, which fade and are tasteless without it
Seneca
It’s how you live every day. So let’s return to the gym.
I want to have more muscle. I want to be stronger. At the core, I want to look bigger. I’ve gained a lot of strength and even muscle over these past two years. So it’s been a good journey for me. Yet I want more.
I go to the gym and lift heavy things. Sit in the sauna afterwards and think. Both are great activities and afford me many benefits. I can progressively overload. I’m getting stronger.
Yet, despite all this, an important point remains. The outcome that I want (to build lots of muscle in a short time) is not up to me. I have the body that I’ve been given. One that gets strong and builds muscle size at the pace that it does. I have other duties that I’m called to, so I have the amount of time at the gym that I have. I’ve chosen not to engage a personal trainer and go my own way. For me that’s been good, as I have learnt a lot and I am able to try different routines and exercises. I would accept an argument that this means I’ve given up gains by not having someone with more knowledge to guide me, and to give me a hand with those last lifts of each set.
How does Stoicism as a way of live apply to this? How do we think about Stoicism at the gym? Because going to the gym means I get strong. This means I’m healthier. Being healthy allows me to fulfil numerous duties:
- to play with children
- to have more focus to produce better work
- to give myself increased immunity
- to be more capable
- caring for the soul
That is part of living with virtue.
So more visible size is the wrong metric. I shouldn’t concern myself with it. Being healthy is what it’s about. That needs to be my preferred indifferent. I can go to the gym and lift. I can eat well. That is up to me. Nature willing, the rest will follow. Being a person who is healthy is one of my duties. The visible size of your muscles has nothing to do with it.
Lift heavy. Overload the body. Go hard.
The rest will follow, at its own pace.