But can you really use this asset and turn it into a liability?

Yes you can - and I have firsthand experience in the area.

You see, a bit less than a year ago I wanted to see how fast I could make progress in my exercises.

For about 4 months I progressed almost every single time I worked out. How did I do that? Through extreme mental toughness.

I pretty much trained myself to tell myself to do something, and I WOULD NOT stop until I did.

For example, I'd get to the point where I would have to do a 10 second pull up - just to get that last rep in.

While I could wow my friends with my progress and amaze them with what I could accomplish with my mind, now I realize that I made a huge mistake.

I developed tendonitis in both my elbows, and have just recently started to work out again with my upper body. I lost about 8 months of valuable training time.

If you've ever done that, you know exactly how much strength and endurance you lose. It's like you never even had it.

Most people would love to have mental toughness. Fortunately, it CAN be learned. However, you must learn to harness it. Listen to what your body is telling you.

Take it from me, it's much better to only do 1/2 of a workout when you're feeling crappy instead of pushing through it. Doing this frequently WILL lead to an injury, that's almost guaranteed.

At least, that's considering you don't have super genes and never injure yourself.

Now that I'm back into working out full time again like I was, I'm progressing in a much slower manner. This time, my tendons are ready for what's coming at them.

Take a look at how you work out right now. Do you push through the pain, just to have the satisfaction that you did it?

If so, ask yourself if it's really worth it. Although pushing through fatigue can be helpful at times, when you start to feel actual pain, it's time to stop.

Train safely,

Jeremy

PS - Now that I can do more of the exercises I used to I'm going to start putting more pictures on the website so you can actually see who I am :)

I also might throw in a video or 2, so be on the lookout for new stuff!