‘Failure’ – ‘lack of success’, ‘defeat’, ‘screw up’, ‘disaster’
The word failure is incredibly negative. It’s viewed as the opposite of success, something to be avoided and scared of. Failure isn’t a nice feeling, it doesn’t make us feel good or strong, but failure is essential. We come back stronger and smarter. Failure should be embraced.
We learn from our mistakes, fitness is no exception. In fact, failing in fitness should really be seen as success. It means you’ve pushed yourself to your limit, tried as hard as you can, you literally tear your muscles down so they can rebuild themselves to be even stronger next time.
Fear of failing is stopping you from improving!
For months I was stuck. I was squatting the same weight week in week out. I told myself it was still tough, I found it hard to get all my reps and wasn’t confident I could do any more. I didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew. I feared I would fail.
I was beginning to get bored with my workouts, I didn’t feel I was progressing and wasn’t enjoying squats like I used to. Working in a gym, I’m surrounded by like-minded people day in, day out. Even personal trainers need an extra push sometimes and that’s exactly what I got. I was reminded to push myself, to challenge myself. I enlisted a spotter and increased the weight, to my surprise I succeeded. The following week I tried a little more… I failed, and that’s ok. My mind-set had shifted from going under the bar knowing I was coming back up with ease, to let’s just try it and see what happens.
It’s not embarrassing to fail on squats. No one cares if you can’t make it to 3,5, 8 or 10 reps. Failure isn’t the enemy and it’s not final. You get up, come back stronger and smarter, you try again and again until you succeed.
