Brett summarizes Hemery’s book Sporting Excellence. The attributes mentioned seem reasonable, but it’s hard to know how applicable they are to the general public.
Athletic excellence has thus been linked to the capacity to tolerate discomfort — to feel the pinch and the pain and keep going anyway…Another gold medal winner, Herb Elliott, who’s considered the greatest middle-distance runner of his era, put it this way, “In retrospect, my training wasn’t to improve my physical strength or stamina; those came along as a secondary result, but the primary purpose of every training session was to toughen up mentally. A training session was totally useless until it started to hurt. That was the point when it started to be worthwhile.”
I like the concept of having a high tolerance for discomfort. While we want to avoid overtraining and getting injured, I think in today’s society many people tend to shy away from discomfort. Consistent efforts contribute to progress, which makes the chosen pursuits more enjoyable and sustainable.
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