I lift weights. A lot.

The terms meat-head, lunk, douche, and many others are thrown around each and every single day as if customary. When someone reads, do you make fun of them for getting smarter? When someone eats healthily, do you joke about them for staying healthy? Why is it when someone lifts you make fun of them for getting stronger?

It blows my mind.

Strength training is, in my opinion, unlike any other hobby. I do not believe any other passion promotes personal growth like lifting does--it makes you stronger. The obvious benefit of strength training is the boost of self-confidence that it yields. Watching yourself grow, change, and improve is incredibly rewarding. Feeling more comfortable in your clothes, feeling your sleeves tighten around your arms, and just looking better in general throughout the day has incredibly positive effects mentally.

But weight lifting has many positive benefits besides the obvious physical benefits. One lesson taught through strength training is setting goals and actualizing those goals. In weight lifting, you are constantly setting goals. I want to be a certain weight by a certain date, I want to lift a certain weight for a certain amount of reps, or whatever it is, you are setting goals and doing whatever you can to achieve them. Sometimes completing these goals takes weeks, months, and even years—but you still go into the gym day-in and day-out on your quest to achieve these goals. And when you finally do hit that lift, or finally see that number on the scale, you can’t help but feel immensely proud and motivated to hit your next goal! The act of creating a goal and working your ass off to reach it is a crucial habit to have. It is critical for any part of your life: for your career, education, and even your personal life. Strength training teaches you how to achieve what you want and become what you want to be.

In a world where grit becomes increasingly scarce, lifting remains as one of the few avenues to develop grit. Grit—mental fortitude and strength of character—is the single most important character trait to have in order to become successful in any walk of life. When times are tough, when we become overwhelmed in the face of immense adversity—the gritless will fail. Strength training, by nature, is a constant struggle; the second you pick a weight up is the start of a constant fight, a constant tension in which your body is under stress. When you squat down with a bar stacked with weight, you have two options: give in and let yourself fall to the ground under the incredible weight, or fight your way back to the top and overcome the challenges weighing you down. And guess what? As soon as you’re back on top…you go down again. And again.

And again.

It is going to hurt; you are going to be sore. And you are going to walk straight back into the gym the next day and do it all again. Why? Because you are strong. Despite other people making fun of you, relentless with their never-ending quips and comments, you still go in that gym and work your God damn ass off. Essentially, if you want to become a stronger, more confident person, get in that gym and lift.

Trust me.