Emotional Context.

LIFT heavy weight [and associate it with the appropriate emotional intensity].
The human organism requires struggle.

“An important part of the human experience is pushing past discomfort” (Sean Carroll). Life experiences can be enhanced based upon how you feel. You have to associate an emotion with a physical task via the brain (limbic system) which dictates the physiological response. Emotional context drives training adaptations. After all, most behavior is dictated by an emotion or feeling, not a thought. “People don’t forget any capacity that depends on feel rather than fact.” -Lewis, Amini, & Lannon, 2001.

The appropriate emotional intensity can be acquired by participating with your mind.
Often when people don’t like lifting heavy weights they have associated that activity with a negative feeling or experience (or lack of an experience can also be a negative emotional association). Females specifically have to battle the inertia of the existing cultural mindset about lifting weights which can be connected to an inappropriate emotional context of that activity. Know what it’s like to go to max and be okay.