If only there was a fat loss pill

You pop that pill, and you are (eventually) at whatever weight or body fat percentage you want to be at. And you never had to worry about not eating junk ever again.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

- Arthur C Clarke’s 3rd law

If only there was a "strength" pill that you pop and you got muscular and strong. And you never had to go the gym again.

Numbers as a side effect

If there was a pill that really worked like magic, I'd take it. Everyone should take it. But there's not. So....

I like strength training and lifting weights and following a training plan and being a student of strength because it checks a lot of boxes for me. Not just what the magic pill would give me.

I realised that ever since I started working on it with a mindset to improve on it as a skill and not chase numbers, it became a different experience. Just so we are clear, it took me a few years to get there.

I started off wanting fat loss and nothing else. The goal was to find the most effective method to do that. Thanks to CrossFit, along the way I realised lifting weights was fun. Once fat loss goal was checked, I wanted to continue strength training because it felt great being strong. It was not something I ever was, until a year ago.

Besides, a pill is not gonna replace the joy of training according to a plan and doing the work. Or busting past a plateau by a method besides brute force, which was the de-facto method of choice when I started out. Occasionally, it is a meditative experience. Being actively engaged instead of distracted, and just focus on the now. That's what that hour of training is, or can be. As my skills improve, the numbers improve - ha, so that's what strength is a skill meant! That weirdly made it more fun.

Working on a skill and getting better at it does not apply to only strength training, obviously. I'd assume skills like photography, or playing a sport as a serious hobby, cooking, anything - working to be better at it which weirdly becomes fun -  all share a few common boxes and have their unique flavours too.

Pretty good and strong enough

All of us have a skill we are pretty good at. Something we constantly work on because we love it.

Not "What's my deadlift when compared to the world record?" but "What is it today from when it was yesterday, last year, 10 years ago, 20 years ago".  

That skill, for me, is lifting weights. It was a genuine surprise when it checked a lot more boxes than "lose weight", even though that's why I started. So, it became easy to keep it a constant in my life.

The Plug

If you lift weights and are looking to do it beyond a "punch the clock", then work on strength as a skill. I understand you might not have the mental bandwidth for it.

Whenever you do, strength training gets (more) fun, eventually.

If you don't lift weights currently, if and when you think it is a good idea, do think about approaching it with the mentality of working on a skill. You will get the results you are looking for and a whole lot more.

Share your story

What is the #1 box that's checked for you, in your skill?