Where Is Your Real Limitation?

One of the things I like about weightlifting is that it very clearly shows you where your limits are.

Willpower, determination, and mindset can play a role when the weight is within your capacity to lift it. Proper sleep, nutrition, and technique are also crucial factors.

At certain loads, the intention and will to complete the lift, combined with the right nutrition, rest, and recovery and good technique, can help you get the weight off the floor or overhead.

But there comes a point at which no amount of desire, and no amount of rest or protein, can overcome the limits of your capacity.

At a certain point, the weight is simply too heavy for you to lift.

It may be humbling, but its facts.

It’s easy to respect those limits when they are so clearly defined.

When you can’t lift the weight, you know you need to keep training to build your strength. You practice your technique at lower loads and build up slowly. Eventually, you’ll see gains.

That’s the process.

Beyond the Gym

That same principle and process applies outside of the gym as well.

The challenge outside of the gym is that it’s not always easy to clearly delineate the limits of your capacity.

When the skills are softer, it’s easy to mistakenly believe that you’re not taking action because of resistance or fear, that you’re hitting limits because you have a “poor mindset,” or that you’re not getting results because you “don’t want it enough.”

Might these reasons be accurate? Of course. It’s possible.

It’s also possible that you simply lack the capacity — the strength or skill — to do the thing you want to do.

No amount of intention and desire can overcome a lack of capacity.

When the issue is your capacity the only way to change the result is to build your strength, skills, and technique.