What Training Taught Me About Life

What Training Taught Me About Life (That I Didn’t Expect)

Training didn’t just make me stronger, it trained my ability to repeat hard things. Not once. And not only when I felt motivated. But over and over again, especially when progress slowed.

When I first started training, I thought the reward would simply be getting stronger and fitter. And yes, that happened. But what surprised me was what training actually taught m

e about life.

Strength didn’t come from one big effort in the gym. It came from repetition. From doing the same movements again and again, even when they stopped feeling exciting and even when progress wasn’t obvious.

Sometimes you take a break. Sometimes I look at the barbell and think, I just can’t be arsed to deadlift today. It’s one of my favourite lifts, but even loading and unloading the plates can feel like too much. And that’s when training taught me something important:

Repetition is the real skill. Not motivation. Not intensity. Repetition.

You’re not just training muscles or movement patterns — you’re training your ability to keep doing the thing.

I remember when I was learning guitar. Hours spent playing scales, practising legato, alternate picking, chords in different positions. It wasn’t glamorous. But if you wanted to improve, you had to keep doing the reps. Over time, you got faster. Cleaner. More confident. Better able to improvise.

Training works the same way.

But then the gains slow. The novelty wears off. The excitement dips. There’s always a point where you stop getting noticeably stronger or fitter week to week. Where it feels a bit… flat.

That’s when the real training starts.

Showing up when progress slows flexes a different muscle — the consistency muscle. Every time you show up anyway, you’re practising consistency. And consistency is a skill. Like any skill, it gets better with reps.

I didn’t expect training to make me better at hard conversations. Or sticking with things when they get uncomfortable. Or not quitting just because something doesn’t seem to be working straight away.

I didn’t expect it to help me hold space for my kids when they’re having an emotional meltdown, instead of trying to rush past it or distract them so it’s over quickly. I’ve done enough reps of getting it wrong to know which responses help more than others. And while I don’t always choose the right one — we’re only human — I’m better at it now.

That’s why at BOX. we don’t chase perfection.We chase reps.

Reps of showing up. Reps of effort. Reps of trying again.

Life isn’t an Instagram highlights reel. Life is real.

Training taught me that getting better at life isn’t about massive breakthroughs. It’s about practising the same small things, again and again, until they become who you are.

Lawrence x