The First Adaptation

Years ago, Al Coleman helped me begin to understand Zen. Recently, he wrote something about exercise that stayed with me: tolerance may be the first adaptation.

I think that is true.

Before strength improves, before muscle changes, before exercise becomes part of your life, you first have to learn to tolerate effort.

Not pain. Pain is information. Pain means something may be wrong.

I mean effort. Discomfort. The feeling that shows up when the body is asked to do something it would rather avoid.

This is where many people stop.

They say exercise isn’t for them. They say they don’t like it. They say they need something that fits them better.

Maybe.

But often what they mean is simple:

“I don’t like how this feels.”

That’s honest. Training does not always feel good. It is not supposed to. If it always felt good, it probably would not change much.

The mistake is thinking discomfort means the program is wrong.

Sometimes discomfort means the body has finally been given a reason to adapt.

This is why I think strength training is better understood as a practice than as a workout.

A workout is something to get through.

A practice is something you return to.

You do it with care. You learn the difference between useful discomfort and warning pain. You learn to stay with effort without turning it into drama.

The session does not need to be long. It does not need to be entertaining. It does not need to become your hobby.

It needs to be done.

One brief, focused session each week is enough for many people. But only if they are willing to meet the effort honestly.

Strength comes later.

First, you learn to stay.

That may be the most important adaptation of all.