If you’ve ever pushed yourself hard at the gym, you’ve felt the burn.
Maybe you ran on the treadmill faster than you’ve ever run before. Or maybe you got two extra repetitions in on the bench press. The burn is like a fire swirling through your muscles - and it activates a nagging voice inside your head that tells you to stop.
I’m all about being in tune with your body and the messages that it gives you, but this isn’t your voice of inner wisdom. It’s a defense mechanism that activates automatically.
“You can’t go any further,” the voice warns.
“You can’t do another repetition,” it demands.
“You need to stop,” it orders.
That small but powerful voice sounds the alarm for one reason. Because it knows that if you continue, your body will need to change. Our bodies like being in a state of homeostasis. For the body to change it takes energy and resources - and your body, through millions of years of evolution, has become a very efficient machine. It wants what it easy and efficient.
But you don’t listen to that nagging voice, and you press on. You know that you can go higher, faster, stronger or harder - and that you can be more. After all, if you stay where you’re at, you’ll get more of what you already got. So you don’t just feel the burn, you embrace it. It’s your muscles firing. It’s your fat melting. It’s your body transforming.
When you feel the burn, it’s not a reason to stop. It’s a reason to give it your all and to redefine your limits.
About Davey Wavey
Mr. Waves. I am a huge follower of your work but wanted to send a message related to the symbology included within the last post. It is no-way a criticism but feel you ought to know what you are publishing…
Initially, the ‘torch’ you included was and is used by the Conservative (political) Party within the United Kingdom. The use of a torch is not uncommon but this is the image that was registered as the official emblem of the political party and remains closely associated with this.
The second is the use of the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ format of posters. It is very popular but has a sinister association. The images were created in preparation for Nazi occupation of the UK mainland. It assumed that, upon the fall of the government, that the public would need to be advised of the need to continue. I remember one post you made about a promise you made to your grandfather. Mine fought in the Second World War and many people suffered at the hands of Nazi/fascist oppression across the European continent and I am not convinced that we should be suggesting capitulation at any sign of oppression.
You have made equality a corner-stone of your work, the images chosen seem inappropriate once their association is known.
I always work out to exhaustion and have never felt any burn. I go till the muscles simply won’t make it any more. No burn. Never had it, though I do build muscle so the workouts are working. Just never any burn. Go til I literally am unable to make the muscles do another rep. No burn. Nada.