Intrinsic Strength : Your Fate is Largely in Your Hands

Intrinsic Strength

Your Fate is Largely in Your Hands

By Adam Mundorf

“People have lost sight of the true purpose of exercise.  It’s not about the reps or weights; it’s about producing a deep level of fatigue without damaging the structure so that the body is compelled to adapt and increase its strength.  It’s about discipline.  With discipline comes integrity and virtue.  This is the source of beauty in the well-trained human body, and why you can’t acquire it from the outside; it’s an internal, mental quality shining through.”

- My Mentor Steve Maxwell

Intrinsic Strength

Intrinsic strength to me means doing exercise because it makes you a more capable and virtuous human being. Not lifting a certain weight to impress or building big gee-whiz muscles to impress on the beach. It's about treating your body as a temple of gratitude. It's about building a body that doesn't need joint replacements and that allows you to be available for society deep into old age. Keeping your form paramount and keeping quality at the forefront. Willingly harming your body is a selfish act and should be frowned upon. Imagine someone asking you for help and you can't because you blew out your knees with a ponderous poundage squat. Imagine not being able to pick up your grand-kids because you left your health in Gold's Gym. Imagine not being able to defend your animals and family because you messed up your shoulders showing off in the gym. Imagine needing others to care for you simply because you couldn't check your ego at the door. Keeping goals intrinsic and exercising simply because it is the virtuous thing to do.

Your Fate is Largely in Your Hands

I feel compelled to write this because people have lost sight of how much of their fate is in their hands. I see the young person damaging their joints through inactivity or improper activity, the middle aged man thinking his fate is sealed and the old person who believes improvement is not for them. All is not what it seems. Sure, acts of God do occur. You can get cancer, get into a horrible auto accident or just a simple freak accident. What gets me is when completely healthy individuals will allow their bodies to fall into decay be it through inactivity, drug use, improper exercise or even just pure negligence. I'm just here to tell you that regardless of your starting point there is always room for improvement. If you're young, begin thinking about how to take advantage of your youth. Take care of your joints before they are damaged, begin intrinsic exercise and put down the booze/drugs. If you're middle aged, realize that you're not young anymore. You can't bounce back from nicks and dings like you once did. Begin intrinsic exercising, eating healthy and have patience with yourself. If you're old, realize that the best time to plant a tree was yesterday but the second best time is right now. You won't be able to make the gains of youth or put more years in your life but you may be able to put more life in your remaining years. You might just be able to play golf again, hold your grand-kids and avoid the nursing home. You might be able to tie your shoes and be able to garden again. It's the little things that matter, you would've hopefully learned that by now in your old age. We as humans can always get better. Where there is will, there is a way. Where there is heart, there is life.

Please, do it for the world. Be the best person, I know you can be. Over everything else, be kind to yourself. Realize that you're meant for more. Spend some time looking in the mirror, look at your eyes and build confidence from there. Show gratitude, you have a functional body to improve upon. Be thankful, you have the resources to do so. Be empathetic, to those who through no fault of their own can't function without help anymore.

Your life is the sum total of your choices up to this very minute. You can't change the starting line but you can certainly change where you finish, hopefully helping others cross the finish line as well.

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