We have all heard the age-old story; Veterano Uncle gets released from the big house and family throws a party for his release. His nephew, a young, champion Golden Gloves boxer, who has won his first few professional fights, smarts off to his 63 year old uncle. The uncle beats him down in a New York minute. On paper, the young buck should have whipped him. The reality is he got whipped. To quote Adam BenShea, “Fury beats theory any day of the week and twice on Sunday.” You are probably thinking to yourself, “JoshStrength.com is taking a bizarre twist.” Just hang in here. Lots of stuff on paper does not make sense. How many times have you seen the strong guy at the gym take a break to go outside and smoke a cigarette? How many times have you seen the 180lb middle linebacker lead his high school district in tackles and have the other team scared to death? Let’s look at the flip side, how many times have you seen the geek at the gym that can quote any study or any of the latest research on muscle building but walks around with 12 inch pipes and sports a neck like a stack of dimes? We have all seen the football player that looks like Tarzan and plays like Jane. On paper, these things don’t make sense. The reality is it shows how important the mental game is. Would the strong guy be stronger is he quit smoking cigarettes between sets? Of course. Would you be stronger if you had his mental toughness? For a lot of you, probably so. So what separates these situations where some exceed paper expectations and others fall miserably short? It’s the mental game!