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We throw the word around all the time. In sports, in mental health, in everyday life. But most people can’t define it. Strength isn’t just about pushing through or lifting more weight. It’s not some vague motivational trait either. 

Strength is specific. It’s about force, regulation, and resilience. It shows up in the gym, but also in conversations you don’t want to have, decisions you don’t feel ready to make, and situations that don’t come with a clear plan. 

With Memorial Day being recognized in the U.S., it’s also worth remembering that strength takes many forms, not all of them visible. For those honoring loved ones or reflecting on sacrifice, this week’s topic lands a little differently. And for our international readers, the theme still holds: strength is both universal and deeply personal. 

This week, we’re breaking it down. What strength actually is, how it works in the brain and body, and why most people train it the wrong way, mentally and physically. 

Let’s get into it.

What Is Strength? 

Strength gets misunderstood a lot. People treat it like a personality trait, or something you’re just born with. But strength, real strength, is a skill. And it shows up in two very different but connected ways. 

Physical strength is your ability to produce force. That means moving weight, resisting gravity, and stabilizing under load. It’s what we see in the gym, but it’s also behind everyday things, carrying groceries, climbing stairs, protecting your joints as you age. 

• It’s built through consistency, tension, and recovery  
• Early gains are mostly neural, your body learning how to move with power  
• True strength comes from doing less, but with more intent  

Mental strength is your ability to regulate your thoughts and emotions when things get uncomfortable. It’s not about pretending to be okay, it’s about choosing how you show up when you’re not. 

• It’s built by facing things you’d rather avoid  
• It’s tested when there’s pressure, uncertainty, or real stakes  
• It grows through repetition, not motivation  

Both types of strength are trainable. And when you train one, the other often gets stronger too. That’s why we don’t separate them in Tiger Resilience, we train for both. 

Michael’s Perspective: Redefining What Strength Means to Me  

Although I’m more than familiar with strength from the physical side of things, it wasn’t always that way. And I’d be lying if I said I don’t still wrestle with how to define what real mental strength looks like in my own life. 

My relationship with strength has gone through a full cycle. I started out as the skinny kid in high school who didn’t know much about either version of it. I wasn’t strong, and I wasn’t mentally tough either. I ran, but was always limited by my mindset, and struggled with anything that required long durations of time. Back then, strength felt like something other people had.  

In college and through my early 20s, I shifted hard in the other direction. My entire focus was on lifting. Strength and hypertrophy were everything. At my peak, I hit a 545 lb deadlift, 425 lb squat, 335 lb bench press, and a 215 lb strict overhead shoulder press. I built a lot of physical strength (not world-beating numbers) and was proud of these lifts. But I was still learning how to carry it mentally. 

Now, I train for both. Strength still matters, but running is what I love. And the more I’ve blended the two, the more I’ve come to understand just how interconnected physical and mental strength really are. From a coaching perspective, I could talk about a hundred things that strength improves, but the one that hits hardest for most people is quality of life. 

It’s not just about performance. It’s about being able to move well, reduce injury, maintain independence, and show up with energy for the things that matter. And recent research continues to reinforce that. Strength training, alongside consistent cardiovascular activity, is directly tied to longer, healthier lives. 

📖 Harvard Health: Strength Training Might Lengthen Life 

What’s funny though is that when I sat down to write about this, the first thing my mind went to wasn’t the barbell. It was the mental side of strength. 

That’s still the harder part for me. I’ve had races recently that were way longer than my comfort zone, and they reminded me how fragile performance becomes when your mental strength breaks down. Once you start spiraling, once the belief goes, you end up performing worse than you’re physically capable of. That gap is often the difference between surviving the effort and falling apart halfway through it. 

I talk a lot about pushing your body and mind through hard things. About finding your edge and going there intentionally. But I don’t preach that as someone who’s figured it all out. I do it because I need the reminder too. Training hard, performing under pressure, chasing limits, it’s all a practice for me. A way to build something that doesn’t come naturally. 

One thing I’ve had to let go of though is the old “no pain, no gain” mindset. Strength isn’t about suffering for its own sake. It’s about being able to do hard things with clarity. To show up with structure, not chaos. To know what your body needs and what your mind is trying to avoid. You don’t need to beat yourself up to build strength. You just need to train with honesty and intent, and push into discomfort without losing yourself in it. 

That’s what I’m chasing. That’s what I try to model. And that’s why I believe strength, physical or mental, isn’t about how much you can take. It’s about how well you respond when things stop feeling easy. 

Early years was all running with no real foundation. Now, after building physical strength through lifting, the focus has shifted again, blending strength and endurance while still learning what mental strength really means.

Bernie’s Perspective: The Sweat That Changed Everything

Let’s get real for a minute. I didn’t know jack about strength when I was a teenager. Sure, I understood the basics—push harder, sweat more, outlast the next guy. But the truth? I had no clue what real strength was until that muggy August morning at 5:30 AM, standing on the football field as a lost, grieving 15-year-old kid. 

I was still reeling from my father’s death two years earlier. No roadmap. No mentor. Just a gnawing hunger to prove I could do hard things—even if deep down, I was terrified I couldn’t. 

That was my first day of high school football—triple sessions, military-style discipline, and 137 kids all gunning for a spot. Most of those guys had been groomed for this. Pee Wee leagues, Pop Warner, dads on the sidelines. Me? My dad was fighting cancer when I was eight. Football wasn’t even on the radar. I was on my own, no support, no playbook. Honestly, I saw that as one of my biggest childhood losses. 

But that morning, something snapped into place. I realized that if I viewed this as “impossible,” it absolutely would be. So I made a choice: If someone else could show up, I’d show up twice as hard. I wasn’t the most talented. I wasn’t the most experienced. But I was willing to suffer, to sweat, to get knocked down and get back up—over and over. 

That’s what real strength looks like. Not the highlight reel. Not the trophies. It’s the grind. It’s dragging yourself out of bed when you’re running on empty. It’s refusing to quit when every muscle in your body is screaming for you to give up. And it’s doing it again tomorrow. 

We went on to win three straight undefeated seasons—Madison High’s greatest football run, a record still standing. But here’s the twist: those brutal mornings weren’t just about football. They were survival training for what was coming next. When my family finally fell apart and I found myself homeless in New York, living in a snowbank in Central Park, it was those lessons that kept me alive. Show up. Push through. Don’t let your circumstances dictate your future. 

Strength isn’t just physical. It’s a mindset. It’s how you respond to chaos, heartbreak, and change. It’s the foundation of Tiger Resilience and the Five Pillars we teach: Purpose, Planning, Practice, Perseverance, and Providence. Every single one of those pillars was forged in those early mornings—sweat on my brow, doubt in my gut, but fire in my heart. 

Now, decades later, I’m still testing my strength. I’m making big changes—leaving comfort for the unknown, stepping into new roles in healthcare, betting on myself all over again. The field looks different, but the test is the same: Will I show up? Will I push through? Will I bet on my own resilience, even when the outcome is uncertain? 

So here’s your test: 

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to push through? 

When did you discover a strength you didn’t know you had? 

Are you showing up for your own life—or are you still waiting for someone to do it for you? 

If you’re sweating, doubting, or just plain scared—good. That’s where real strength is born. That’s where resilience takes root. 

Once upon a time, I thought strength was measured in touchdowns. Turns out, it’s measured in how many times you get knocked down and still show up, preferably with coffee in hand and a grin that says, ‘Is that all you’ve got?"

The Science of Strength: Brain and Body 

Strength doesn’t start in your muscles, it starts in your brain. 

🧠 The Brain on Strength 

• Your brain controls how much force your body can produce. It sends signals down your spinal cord to activate muscle fibers.  
• Early strength gains come mostly from better neural recruitment, not bigger muscles. The brain gets more efficient at telling your body to “fire hard” and “fire together.”   
• This is why beginners can gain strength fast, their nervous system is adapting, even if their body hasn’t changed much yet.  
• Focused effort matters. Studies show that when you mentally focus on a working muscle, you can increase its activation. Strength is a cognitive skill as much as a physical one.  

🩺 The Body on Strength 

• Your muscles respond to stress. Specifically, high-tension, low-rep stress. This builds the ability to produce force and resist fatigue.   
• Tendons, joints, and connective tissue adapt too, getting stronger and more stable under load.  
• Strength training improves motor control, balance, and injury resistance. It doesn’t just help you lift more. It helps you move better.  
• On the mental side, strength training also shifts brain chemistry, boosting dopamine, reducing anxiety, and improving emotional regulation over time.  

📊 By the Numbers: What Strength Really Impacts 

Strength isn’t just a physical metric. It shapes how we perform, recover, and adapt, mentally and physically. The stats tell a clearer story than most headlines do: 

🩺 Physical Strength 

• Only 30% of adults meet strength training guidelines. That leaves most people missing out on a tool that protects against injury, decline, and burnout.

• 30% strength gains in 8 weeks, even without muscle growth. It starts in the nervous system, not just the muscle.

• Up to 67% fewer injuries in those who strength train consistently. Stronger joints, tendons, and movement patterns reduce breakdown over time.

🧠 Mental Strength 

• 53% of people with high self-control reach long-term health goals vs. just 20% with low self-control.
• 33 randomized controlled trials show strength training reduces depressive symptoms across age groups and fitness levels.
• Mental fatigue can reduce physical performance by up to 15%. When the brain is tired, effort feels harder and endurance drops.

🐅 Tiger Resilience Lens: Strength vs. Endurance 

Strength and endurance aren’t just physical traits, they show up in how we think, feel, and act under pressure. One helps you hit with power. The other helps you last when things don’t let up. 

Here’s how they compare across both domains: 

🏋️‍♂️ Michael’s Training Corner: Programming for Real Strength 

Part 1: What Strength Training Actually Looks Like 

Most people train for “fitness,” not strength. If your sets are high-rep and your rest is short, you’re building endurance or MAYBE muscle size, not max output. Day to day activites often become easier when we actually engage in proper strength training.  

This is what real strength programming looks like this: 

• 1–5 reps per set   
• Heavy weight (80–95% of 1RM)   
• Big compound lifts — squat, deadlift, press, pull   
• 2–5 minutes rest between sets   

You’re training your nervous system to recruit more muscle fibers, faster and more efficiently. That’s why you get stronger before you look different. Early gains are neural, not muscular. 

Recovery matters. Heavy lifting taxes your brain and body. If you’re not eating, sleeping, and resting enough, you’re not getting stronger, just tired. 

Part 2: Strength as Injury Insurance 

We mentioned earlier that consistent strength training can reduce injury risk by up to 66%. And it’s one of the most overlooked reasons why everyone should be building real strength, not just athletes chasing PRs. 

Injury prevention isn’t about avoiding movement. It’s about being able to absorb and control force. That only happens when your body is exposed to high mechanical load, heavy enough to create adaptation in bones, tendons, connective tissue, and the nervous system. Light relative loads and cardio (albeit great in their own context) don’t cut it for that. 

Here’s why this matters across the board: 

• Young Adults need strength training to build durability and proper motor control before the volume of sport breaks them down.   
• Adults in their 30s–50s need it to offset sedentary habits, protect joints under stress, and maintain healthy movement patterns under load.  
• Older adults need it to prevent falls, combat bone density loss, and maintain basic function, not just to feel “fit,” but to stay independent.   

And it’s not about lifting recklessly heavy. It’s about training with intent. Progressive overload, good form, full range of motion, and enough intensity to actually force the body to adapt. That’s how you create real resilience, not just muscle. 

The best injury prevention plan isn’t bubble wrap. It’s proper strength programming. 

And the longer you avoid mechanical load, the more fragile your system becomes, physically and neurologically. 

📓 Journal Exercise: Building Strength Where It Counts 

This week’s focus is simple: identify where you need to get stronger, and start training it. 

Take 10–15 minutes to work through the prompts below. Don’t overthink. Just be honest and specific. 

Part 1: Mental Strength Check-In 

• Where in your life do you feel the most mentally or emotionally drained right now?  
• What kind of strength is missing, clarity, consistency, regulation, boundaries?  
• When was the last time you chose composure over reaction in a high-pressure moment?  
• What would it look like to train that response more deliberately?  

Part 2: Physical Strength Plan 

• What’s one simple strength goal you can commit to for the next 4 weeks? 

       (Examples: hold a 60-second plank, lift 2x/week, master 10 perfect push-ups)

• Why does it matter to you?  
• What’s your plan? Which days, what exercises, and how will you track progress?  
• What’s likely to get in the way, and how will you respond when it does?  

Part 3: Self-Affirmations  

• Write a short strength mantra you can come back to when things get hard. 
• Something like: “I train to stay ready.” or “One rep stronger.” Make it yours. 

And if you want more guided prompts, structure, and mindset tools, our self-esteem journal includes full weekly layouts, physical + emotional check-ins, and space to track both mental and physical growth. 

🛒 Grab your copy of Awaken the Tiger, Rise Like the Phoenix on Amazon 

🔥 Final Thoughts: Strength Is a Skill 

Strength isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you build, over time, under tension, and through repetition. It shows up in how you move, how you respond, and how you carry yourself when things don’t go as planned. 

Sometimes it looks like force. Other times it looks like restraint. 

But it always comes down to how well you’ve trained, not just your body, but your mindset, your structure, and your ability to keep showing up. 

At Tiger Resilience, we build that kind of strength through the Five Pillars: 

• Purpose gives your strength a reason to exist.   
• Planning turns effort into structure.   
• Practice builds consistency and skill over time.   
• Perseverance keeps you in it when progress stalls.   
• Providence reminds you that strength isn't just effort, it's also trust.   

You don’t need to be the strongest person in the room. 

You just need to be strong enough to hold your line, stay in the fight, and grow from where you are. 

Start with what you can lift. Stay with what you believe in. 

And keep building from there.

Stay Resilient

Bernie & Michael

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 📚 References

Del Vecchio, A., Casolo, A., Negro, F., Scorcelletti, M., Bazzucchi, I., Enoka, R. M., & Farina, D. (2019). 

The increase in muscle force after 4 weeks of strength training is mediated by adaptations in motor unit recruitment and rate coding. Journal of Physiology, 597(7), 1873–1887. 

https://doi.org/10.1113/JP277250 

Marcora, S. M., Staiano, W., & Manning, V. (2009). 

Mental fatigue impairs physical performance in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, 106(3), 857–864. 

https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.91324.2008 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, May 6). 

Percentage of adults aged ≥18 years who met the federal guidelines for muscle-strengthening physical activity, United States 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 71(18), 642. 

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7118a6.htm 

Lauersen, J. B., Bertelsen, D. M., & Andersen, L. B. (2014). 

The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(11), 871–877. 

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/11/871 

Zhao, Y., Wang, L., & Wu, D. (2024). 

The effect of self-efficacy and self-set grade goals on academic performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1324007. 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1324007/full 

Fedchenko, A. (2023, September 28). 

A different kind of prescription for depression: Strength training. HopeWay. 

https://hopeway.org/blog/a-different-kind-of-prescription-for-depression-strength-training 

Hutchinson, A. (2018). 

Endure: Mind, body, and the curiously elastic limits of human performance. HarperCollins. 

https://www.amazon.com/Endure-Curiously-Elastic-Limits-Performance/dp/006249998X 

Tiger Resilience. (2024). 

Awaken the Tiger, Rise Like the Phoenix: Self-Esteem Journal

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWLNQZQX