Perhaps you’ve heard the Latin phrase, mens sana in corpore sano. It means “a healthy mind in a healthy body.” There’s plenty of research on how exercise on promotes brain health, improves memory, prevents cognitive decline, etc, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about, although it could be related, I’ll leave the research to the scientists. However, I experienced another perhaps more unnoticed mental benefit of exercise that’s more difficult to measure or quantify.

I was doing supersets of overhead presses with my kettlebell, followed by push-ups with my weighted vest, and after the third set I could feel my muscles getting tired and it took a lot more from me to perform as I did each following set.

I was experiencing discomfort. Every rep was harder than the last. My muscles were screaming at me, and my breathing was becoming less efficient as I became more exhausted. I was suddenly aware of how poor my posture was becoming, and how that discomfort distracted me from using proper form and that lack of good form was also contributing to my dwindling performance and probably more of the discomfort I was feeling.

Then, it suddenly hit me. Most of the time, as soon as I experience a little bit of discomfort, my concentration on the task at hand significantly decreases. I thought, that’s also something I do in other aspects of my life when I begin to experience discomfort. My ability to concentrate is severely impacted because it’s driven to focusing on the pain of discomfort.

It occurred to me that if I could lean into the pain, and train myself to not allow my mind to be distracted by the pain, if I could embrace that discomfort and not allow my concentration to falter, then I could develop a mental strength that could significantly impact the outcome of my life and the challenges involved. If I didn’t give my attention to the discomfort, I could be using it in other areas that would improve the probability of seeing opportunities to improve and to develop skills.

Take for example, two people of the same health and strength and give the both of them the same fitness regimen. Both of them will experience relatively the same amount of discomfort, but the one who trains himself to lean into that discomfort and concentrates on proper form and concentrates on the feeling of proper contraction of the right muscles at the right time will see significantly better results from his efforts.

The one who has no mental discipline and strength will focus instead on the discomfort, will break form, focus his attention on the feeling of pain and exhaustion and will mentally discourage himself and fail to develop discipline with his breathing and muscle contraction. Accordingly, his results are poor, and he will blame anything else but his lack of mental discipline and strength and his ability to use it effectively to concentrate on the exercises and not the discomfort involved.

After I finished my sets, I went on a run with my weighted vest, which was a first for me, and after the first half mile, I started feeling the vest cutting into my collar bone. My concentration shifted to the discomfort of the vest rubbing off the skin on my collar bone that I was constantly reminded of with every step.

I started focusing on that pain instead of on my stride and on my breathing and soon my form was terrible, and I could feel it in my feet and knees, and I was getting more exhausted than I should have because my breathing was unsynchronized.

Luckily, I caught myself in the act. I reminded myself to lean into the pain and concentrate on the task at hand, and that this pain I was experiencing was just another training session on developing mental discipline and strength and that the benefits of developing such things far outweighed the discomfort from a little ouchie on my body.

I finished my run strong and came back home proud of myself for not being a mental weakling. I did it and I did it right even though I was in pain the whole time. I didn’t let the discomfort become the center of my universe and throw everything else off balance.

We all let ourselves become slaves to discomfort. We immediately seek release from its torturous grip and allow ourselves to continue living our lives as mental weaklings. Ever since I recognized it in myself, I see it in others all the time. It happens almost unconsciously, and it’s a natural response to discomfort. After all, we’re all human, but the superhumans are the ones who train their minds to direct their concentration with an iron will that does not shake or falter at the first sign of difficulty.

Exercise provides us with an amazing opportunity to develop this skill, and not only do we get the mental benefits of exercise, but we also get a fit, healthy body that in itself has numerous other benefits. Mens sana en corpore sano.

Who will you be? The average person who lives their entire life as a mental weakling, a slave to discomfort, or will you train your mind and your body and become a superhuman? The choice is yours. Start training.

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