Leg day is hard. It’s often the most demanding workout of the week the one that leaves you sore, shaky, and questioning your life choices halfway through. Because of this, we find ways to skip it. We justify it “I’ll hit legs later,” or “I’ve had a long day, I deserve a day off.” But avoiding leg day doesn’t make it easier next time. It only makes you less prepared.
The same applies to the rest of your week. Every challenge you avoid is like skipping leg day for your spirit. Facing difficult situations, especially the ones that stretch you, is where real growth happens. Don’t skip leg day, and don’t avoid adversity.
When you skip leg day, your body starts adapting to the new, easier conditions. It thinks, “all this redundant muscle creates overhead,” and slowly begins to break it down. Atrophy is your body’s way of conserving energy by prioritizing survival through efficiency.
Comfort in life works the same way. When you stop challenging yourself, you start to atrophy emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually. Conflict avoidance, fear of failure, or staying in the same routine all keep you from building the strength and resiliency needed to carry heavier burdens later.
Just as your muscles weaken when they aren’t tested, your resilience fades when you avoid conflict or challenges at all costs.
Finding the path of least resistance is an ancient survival instinct but survival alone isn’t the goal anymore. Growth is.
Just as progressive overload builds stronger muscles, progressive challenge builds a stronger spirit. Take on as much as you can safely recover from. This requires you to know your limits and you will never know what that is unless you test yourself against adversity. Too little challenge and you stagnate. Too much at once and you risk burnout or injury.
When you actively seek out challenges either physical, mental, or emotional, you’re simulating stress in a controlled way. You’re teaching yourself how to endure.
Imagine life throws you a challenge that requires 70% of your energy and focus to overcome. If you’ve coasted comfortably for years, that sudden demand can feel impossible.
Now imagine you’ve spent years voluntarily facing challenges that demand 50–60% of your energy — training hard, pushing through difficult conversations, taking on projects that frighten you. When the real 70% challenge hits, it’s not a shock to you. You’re conditioned.
That’s why the military train in extreme conditions. They’re not hoping for battle they’re preparing for it. Stress inoculation. Controlled adversity. The same principle applies to us all… the more you train under pressure, the calmer you’ll be when a real challenge emerges.
You don’t get stronger in the gym, you get stronger when your body repairs from the stress you’ve put it under. Each rep breaks down muscle fibers, and recovery builds them back stronger.
Life challenges are the same. Each hardship you endure tears at your emotional and mental energy but when you recover, you’re tougher than before. The process is uncomfortable, but necessary.
Just like a trainer adds weight and reps to a workout, you can add challenge to your life in small, deliberate doses. Have the hard conversation. Take the cold shower. Start the project you’ve been avoiding. Every rep of discomfort adds to your capacity to overcome.
Events that once felt impossible to overcome is now warm-up weight.
Humans are built to adapt. It’s one of our greatest strengths. But adaptation only happens under stress. In a world where comfort is available at every turn such as temperature-controlled rooms, food on demand, instant gratification etc. the opportunity to grow through discomfort is easy to avoid. Because these modern accommodations are available, we may go through months of not being challenged, then something unexpected happens and you are wondering "why is this happening to me?" Instead you should be asking "how can I learn from this?" and "how do I prepare to minimize the effects of these events?" If you never skip leg day, you’ll be much more prepared for many challenges life throws at you.