Bodybuilding Motivation:Bruce Lee’s Philosophy

Finding a Greater Purpose Behind Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding is a solo sport. The road may feel lonely at times .After the initial enthusiasm recedes, you start struggling for motivation. You start looking for purpose behind working your ass off in the gym while others are partying, to eat bland nutritious food, while others are treating themselves with delicacies.

There’s got to be some greater purpose behind lifting heavy objects in the gym day in and day out, for us to stay motivated during our bodybuilding journey.

We shall turn to the Master Bruce Lee, in this post, for his philosophical guidance in this regard.

Apart from a legendary Martial Artist, Bruce Lee was an ardent student of Eastern Philosophy. Such that, he combined martial arts with philosophy. “There is no opponent, because the word ‘I’ does not exist ” ,Bruce once said.

What did he mean ?

He meant that the other individual that is standing in front of you in the duel, is not an opponent .He is there to help you. To help you raise yourself to a higher level of being. To challenge you to become a better version of yourself.

In bodybuilding, the opponent you have to fight daily are the plates on the barbell. The amount of weights on the plate may intimidate you. Looking at people performing lots of pull-ups, while you struggle to complete a few, might seem too tough a mountain to climb. Looking at people squatting 200kgs of weight, may make you think lowly of yourself.

However consider this , whatever you do inside or outside the gym is done to overcome your opponent. In the gym, the weights are our opponents. By overcoming the opponent, we elevate ourselves to the next level.

Thus, we should always be thankful to our opponent. No matter how tough the obstacle at hand may seem, it provides us a fantastic opportunity to transform us to the next level.

Let us take an example here. Suppose you are currently capable of bench pressing 100kgs 1 rep max . However, when you go for 120 kgs, the barbell may seem to be stuck on your chest, while lifting it up.

If you have been in that situation without a spotter, you know how scary it can get.  Thus, now our opponent becomes 120kgs on the bench press.

All our focus now, should be concentrated on lifting 120 kilos on the bench press. Our accessory lifts, our core training, our diet should be focused on the obstacle at hand.

This process continues, until you finally succeed in bench pressing 120 kilos. And once you do, after some chest thumping you will find that you are humbler than you were before. The more weight you start lifting, the humbler you become. That’s because the journey you undertook to overcome the obstacle has made you,a better version of yourself. In the pursuit of overcoming your opponent, you have grown physically and spiritually.

No wonder why the strongest men in the world like Eddie Hall,’The Mountain’ Gregor Clegane are so humble.

As Conor Mcgregor says, ” I am fighting myself, there is no opponent”

Now that you have found a higher purpose in bodybuilding, before you step into the gym next you must check why you should never skip cardio  and why you must train with weights .

Dear reader, I would love to hear your views in the comments below 🙂 ! Cheers !