Turning Weakness Into Strength.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

We tend to gravitate toward things we have strengths for.

Why? Because we often want to protect, or inflate, our egos by feeling accomplished and superior at something. When we find things that we naturally excel at, we tend to double-down on them and play down our weaknesses.

You see this in the gym all of the time.

Think of the young gym-goer who recognizes his apt for high bench press numbers. Suddenly, most of his workouts revolve around chest day. He’s cranking out set after set, smirking during rest periods, and chatting away with his chest-dominant gym buddies.

What this type of individual ignores, and what takes real guts?

Choosing to tackle weaknesses.

Here’s my recent experience with just that:

I’ve been a member of the StrongFirst community since 2018 when I took my very first kettlebell certification up in Chicago, IL at an event known as “The Dome of Strength”. As I sit here writing this article, the certification weekend was eight years ago.

If you’re unfamiliar with StrongFirst as an organization, then I highly recommend that you take a dive into their training philosophy and instruction. Their approach is the real deal when it comes to building meaningful, long-term strength.

I’ve made the following progression through my StrongFirst education.

SFG I → SFG II → SFL → SFB / Elite (all certs obtained)

I followed this order through the certifications for a particularly reason and it relates to the idea of “playing it safe” and leaning into strengths over addressing weaknesses.

SFG I and SFG II involved kettlebells… unfamiliar at first, but comfortable enough for me to embrace. SFL involved the barbell, which required just a few tightening of screws.

But, the SFB on the other hand? StrongFirst’s bodyweight-only certification?

That was different and felt like uncharted waters in my training.

So, I naturally made it the very last certification I had to undertake in order to achieve the StrongFirst Elite rank and I underwent my preparation/training for it reluctantly.

Pull-ups were no problem. But, pistol squats? The one-arm one-leg push-up?

These movements genuinely gave me anxiety to think about. I wasn’t coordinated with calisthenics by any means and have not dedicated any period of my training in the past focused on the control and strength of solely my body’s weight against gravity.

I was used to having barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, ANYTHING in my hands…

I gave myself 12 full weeks to prepare, working to dial in my one-arm push-up and in the last month integrating the one-leg component. At the same time, I got myself comfortable performing deep, full range-of-motion pistol squats and sharpened my pull-ups, on top of reviewing other previously learned skills and tested lifts.

Before I knew it, SFB certification day arrived.

But, after my prep, I walked into the Dome with a feeling of “I’ve got this”.

It’s funny how just a few short hours a week in the gym can change your mindset in such a dramatic way in such a small amount of time. Consistency builds confidence. That’s one of the hidden superpowers you get from regularly training.

I walked away from the certification experience with a lesson I didn’t expect.

Stop running from weaknesses. Lean into them.

Since then, I’ve noticed this mindset bleeding into other areas of my life:

• Learning small mechanical jobs on my 33 year-old pick-up truck
• Taking on DIY house projects (I’m no general contractor)
• Picking up guitar-playing and strumming out new chords

We don’t grow by doing things we’re already good at. We grow by identifying and reworking our weaknesses into strengths. That’s the kind of work that turns someone average at many things into someone who’s exceptional across many areas.

And that’s the kind of person that I strive to become.