Illusions of Strength

Illusions of Strength-DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training

Fitness conferences after awhile start to feel a lot alike. While they are fun, you often end up doing a lot of the same things. A few years ago, a colleague was nice enough to spice up things with offering me to come see a Criss Angel show in Las Vegas. I wasn’t a hardcore magic or Criss Angel fan, but the show was quite cool.

A lot of misdirection, illusion, it made the impossible seem possible!

Thinking about it, I feel like fitness is a lot of the same.

We see a lot of misdirection, “THIS is strength”, “THIS means your fit!” All held behind the guise of big numbers that often don’t end up meaning nearly as much as one might think.

Strength can appear in many different forms that don’t always rely on brute force!

It is hard for us to wrap our heads around it. If an exercise doesn’t have a number that would be worth of a hashtag #beastmode, it can’t have all that much value, right? After all, strength is fundamentally a brutish, forceful, aggressive thing, isn’t it?

I use to think so, I use to be one of the many that would give much credence to something that couldn’t at LEAST have three numbers associated with it. That is until I really was honest with myself. When I no longer wanted to hide under the illusion that I was as strong as I thought.

You see I would be happy to ignore the things I was really bad at! More than happy to dismiss the movements and drills that I wasn’t good at as “circus tricks”, or just unnecessary. The reality is I was like most, I didn’t want to spend time on things that didn’t make me feel good about myself, satisfying a moment in time was more important to me than thinking more big picture about my fitness goals.

For myself, I think I just got tired of really knowing I was ignoring things out of silly ego issues and was actually disappointed in myself in not being a better role model for those I worked with. After all, how could I expect others to work on their weaknesses, the things that made them uncomfortable if I wasn’t willing to do the same?

I made a concerted effort, I knew where I was weak, but I was determined to make those things strengths. I prioritized them in my training, I was willing to swallow the giant humble pill that most of us are really unwilling to take. In retrospect it was the best thing I could have ever done.

Fast forward a few years and I can’t tell you how many different ways making the decision to get rid of all the illusions and lies to myself have made my life better. Very honestly, if I hadn’t made this choice I don’t know if I would be to still actually train and do something that is such an important part of my life.

Deciding the strength was more than what I could lift was a transformational moment! 

While I still work on weaknesses, I no longer see them really as weaknesses, rather the inspirations to greater success. I get excited when I find something about our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system that I struggle with. Why? Because I know that I have even more to grow, to become better, to succeed in my goals!

I don’t see fitness and health quite the same way anymore. Sometimes I feel like I am speaking a different language than many others. While at first that bothered me I now see it as a mission. A greater purpose to help others see that they can do and be so much more without hurting, without following endless cycles of frustration and lack of progress. The cool part is seeing how it is really working for so many people!

Don’t let others define what you should be, what you are working towards, or what fitness should be for you! Instead, let your hard work and dedication to better movement, self-discovery, and greater results be the answer to all the critics!

DVRT Master Instructor, Steve Di Tomaso of Envision Fitness shows that strength can mean A LOT of different things in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training!