The motto of StrongFirst is "strength has a greater purpose." And to paraphrase Jerry Maguire, they had me at "strength."

On that same token, I arrived at my own saying and training philosophy over the years, "Training for life."

Variants of the same message, there's a fundamental truth at the heart of these taglines: the benefits of strength training transcend the physical. Most the benefits we see are mental.

Confidence, self-worth, perseverance, stress management, and industriousness are just some of the mental qualities we train when we build a bigger and better deadlift, squat, press, etc. Heavy weights are egalitarian and the only path to success comes from failing. And succeeding.

For those that have never seriously strength trained, this concept can seem foreign. Others are also so rushed to see progress ("I wanted to see results yesterday!") that they don't realize all of the benefits. I often joke that consistency always comes before results - even in the dictionary.

Below is a screenshot of something I saw on Facebook this past week which does a better job explaining this concept than I ever could. The original author is Brett Jones, but I want to make sure I give credit to both individuals who brought this to my attention:

It's no coincidence that the physically strongest people I've met have also been some of the nicest and calmest. And I do mean people that are actually strong - Beast Tamers and Iron Maidens, those that can deadlift 600+ pounds - not just people who look strong or have bodybuilding muscles that can be easily manufactured.

The truly strong individuals have nothing to prove and know that the way they carry their strength matters. Further, their "well of calm" and quiet confidence is something our world needs more of.

So what are you training for?