Note: This is a guest post by Thad Peterson from You Can’t Fake Sweat.
Working out sucks.
Burpees make my heart pound and light my lungs on fire. Wall balls make my legs burn. Crunches make my stomach quiver.
More often than not, when I’m in the middle of a hard workout, I just want it to be over. I want more air in my lungs. I want my heart to stop pounding against my chest. I want the pain to go away.
And even when it’s finally over, I am left there sweating. Dripping wet.
That means my clothes are left soaked with perspiration. Which means more laundry to do. I hate doing laundry.
Yet that feeling of sweat pouring down my face is perhaps the most glorious sensation I know. I love sweat.
“The vision of a champion is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when nobody else is looking.”
That’s what Mia Hamm had to say.
Sweat cannot be bought.
It cannot be falsified.
You cannot achieve it by pondering it. You have to earn your sweat. Every single time.
Champions—not just Superbowl winners or gold-medal Olympians, but those who truly aspire to get closer to their best selves—learn to love sweat. They crave that sensation of pushing their bodies. They are charmed by the hard work that makes their hearts pound and their muscles burn and their lungs ache for more air.
So next time you’re out there in the 8th minute of your 12 minute workout and the sweat is starting to trickle down your skin, make sure to savor it.
Make sure to remind yourself that this is when you’re most alive. Make sure to remember that the worse it feels during the workout, the better it feels when it’s over.
And remember this: You can fake a lot of things in life, but… you can’t fake sweat.
This post is from Thad Peterson, founder of You Can’t Fake Sweat. Like 99% of all guys, Thad earnestly believed he would be a pro athlete one day. And like 99.999% of those 99%, he never even got close. But sports and fitness have played a huge role in his life nonetheless. These days, the sports he participates in most frequently are hockey, Ultimate Disc, basketball and Crossfit.
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