Discomfort Builds Strength: Learn How to Walk Through It

In this Video...
Discover how to build mental and physical strength by embracing discomfort. Coach Sheree recounts her transformative experiences and the powerful growth that comes from pushing past fear. Perfect for women over 50 wanting to unlock lifelong strength.

 Mindset |  Real Life Story  |  Overcoming Discomfort

Living in the Safe Zone

How many of us like to live in that safe zone? We know what we're doing, we know how to do it, and we don't want to do anything unfamiliar. So we stay in that safe zone. Now, that couldn't mean that you've never tried strength training before, and you've kind of thought to yourself, I just couldn't do it.

Growth Happens Outside the Comfort Zone

But you know, we grow when we step outside of that comfort zone, that safe place. My hubby and I are so different. He likes endurance.

I like not to be so endurance. So of recent times, he's decided that our dog walk, he needs to have a 16 kilogram kettlebell. I like to stay a smaller kind of kettlebell.

He likes to go hard and he'll trudge up that hill without stopping. I like to stop every now and then, have a bit of a breather and keep going. Not him.

He likes to go hard. Now, not everyone likes to go hard. Some people like to have that bit of a break and some people kind of don't like to do too much if it's uncomfortable or causes pain.

The Power of Discomfort

And the thing is, we don't grow if we don't step outside our comfort zone. Now, I'm not saying we all need to be athletes or endurance people, and I probably would never be an endurance person, particularly after I rode over Australia. Now, we, my husband, who wasn't my husband at the time, just a good friend, convinced me to do this bike ride over Australia.

The kookaburras are thinking I'm laughing at me, I think. So we decided to do this ride over Australia with a group and it was a 4,700 kilometre ride from one side of Australia to the other. Now, that was way out of my comfort zone, can I say.

The Story of Grit and Endurance

So many times I was crying, so many times I thought I just can't do this, I don't have the strength, but I pushed through and I did that entire ride without going on our support bus once. I didn't do that once. And so we got to the end of that ride and gosh, did I feel proud of myself.

I did that entire ride without needing any support on the bus. So I felt great, but boy, I went through a lot of hardships and stress to get there, but I did it. And so when that fear of discomfort holds you back, that's not a good thing because you have no chance to grow.

You want to be able to grow, but you have no chance to grow if you stay in that safe cocoon that you're always been in. We need to grow our mental toughness, we need to grow our muscles, we need to grow our grit and determination to get to that place that we want to be.

The Two Types of Women

Now you can be lady one who comes in and tries to do a pushup and she goes, too hard, probably just feels really uncomfortable.

It's something she hasn't done before, doesn't really quite know the right technique and decides to give up. So she has decided right then and there, I can never do pushups. It's just not for me.

Lady number two will try the pushup. Oh, it's tough. It really is tough, but she's determined to do it.

So she gets the right technique, she practices, she tries again and again and again, and eventually she'll get it. And do you know why? Because she's got that grit and determination to keep going. She's stepping out of her comfort zone and in doing so, she's managed to master a move that is going to work her body so well, but she could have given up early on if she decided this is all too hard, it's uncomfortable, I don't really know what I'm doing.

But she didn't, she pushed through. So if you're out there today and you're just thinking strength training is so not for me, I don't think it ever will be for me. You know what? Step out, start, do some small things, maybe just start with holding some weights by your side and then just see what you can do because you will be amazed months down the track when you can do it.

Strength Impacts More Than the Body

One of my clients said it so the other day, she said, what I love about strength training is I'm not just strong physically, but it impacts my head in so many ways. She said, I just feel empowered, I feel strong, I feel invincible, I can do things that I didn't think I could before. And she said this body does far more for me than what it ever could before.

In fact, we went out to a night concert not long ago, it was outdoors. And she said, hey, I'd like to pick up that picnic bench, you know, the picnic bench with the chairs, the kind of bench seats on either side. She said, do you think we can pick this up and move it over there so we can watch the band playing? I went, not sure, but let's see how we go.

We switched on our core, made our glute muscles work, picked it up and we walked it quite a way over to the band and had a most delightful evening. So don't quit, keep going. And if you don't think you can, guess what? You can, you can, you've just got to persist.

The Daily Floor Challenge

And particularly if there's a movement that you find hard, get onto that movement and do it again and again and again, and you will get there. So if you find it hard to get up off the floor every day, get down the floor, up off the floor. Things get better after a while and they improve.

So work out what works for you and then go ahead and do it. I look forward to hearing what you can do now that you couldn't do a few months ago. So persist, don't give up.

I believe in you. Go for it.