Extending the Boundaries

What does pushing yourself mean?

For the everyday person its about just attempting, whether its even just getting to the gym, making the healthy food choices.

But what do we think pushing yourself means?…

Its about getting in and driving in hard. Physical adaptions happen when expanding into unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory, and it makes sense right? People adapt, especially in extreme circumstances, but where does the real physiological change come from?

The answer is in pushing yourself. Whether its a hypertrophic (muscle building) reaction to lifting a heavier weight, a nutritional reaction to drastically altering your diet, or a central nervous system adaption to performing body movements new to you. Its all about getting used to what’s new, then moving forward.

Getting comfy with a 12kg kettlebell? Then its physiological changes are minimal. Your body is not being forced to comes to terms with the a new load. Its like playing the same basic song on the piano, you need to constantly work on tougher pieces so… basically your fingers can get better at moving faster in a coordinated pattern.

Training outside your comfort zone, breaking into new ground, also has a hormonal benefit. Aging is just another form of adaption, its just natures way of controlling the population. Nature also has a way of rewarding the brave, of keeping its gene pool strong. If you train hard, push yourself into this new ground, added GH and Test levels will be your reward.

GH (Growth Hormone) is why young people are lean and can eat more. Its because they are growing, and this hormone is responsible. GH tells muscle to build and fat to burn, so its desirable to say the least. Muscle deterioration with age, that results in a lowered metabolism (and therefore more fat) is mainly due to the lowered use of muscle tissue, and lowered GH levels. Lactic acid (the burning sensation when you train hard) has a GH releasing effect, at any age. So pushing yourself to your limits will result in increasing GH levels, helping your build lean muscle and burn stubborn body fat.

Testosterone is another builder-burner, even more potent than GH. Test is found in both men and women, just in different amounts. Men also have the female hormone oestrogen, just less than Test (hopefully for the man). Men with higher oestrogen levels can take on feminine qualities (like moobs!), so want to keep Test levels high. Now the same stands for women, they will always have higher oestrogen levels that Test, but higher Test levels will allow women to build lean muscle and burn fat effectively. Now this might scare women, but they wont take on masculine features. Think of a female athlete, still feminine and beautiful, but they would have higher test levels. You can raise

So what’s the moral of this story?… TRAIN HARD! Put the work in to get paid, just like anything else in life. Be actively trying to do things you aren’t used to, and the reward will be that you will continuously progress. Lift heavier weights and try more advanced exercises, just as long as you’re doing it safely. Nothing breaks a fit routine than a broken leg.

You CAN be better than someone, of course you can. We are not all created equally, we are given different things and have different advantages. But if you were in the same position as someone else, had their parents, their genetics, their life… you would effectively be THAT person. This person that you can better than, its nobody else, its yourself! You are the only person on earth you can effectively compare yourself to. Be stronger tomorrow than today, kick the living s**t out of yourself and make this life worth living… properly.

If you have any questions on how to become more just comment below.

Keep it intense people.