The Fortitude Chronicle: A Weekly Digest of Athletic Determination

Monday Momentum

For the Relentless Mind

Tolerance vs. Capacity: The Pathway to Suffering Smarter

We’ve all heard the platitudes: “No pain, no gain” or “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” But these clichés obscure a critical distinction most people overlook — the difference between pain tolerance and pain capacity. Understanding this gap changes everything about how we approach challenges, growth, and what we call “strength.”

Defining the Divide

Pain Tolerance
How much discomfort you initially feel
Your sensitivity threshold. The athlete who winces at a sprained ankle. The entrepreneur whose chest tightens at critical feedback.

Pain Capacity
How much you can keep functioning despite the pain
Your endurance ceiling. The marathoner running on a stress fracture. The parent working three jobs while grieving.

We often confuse the two, believing emotional avoidance equals resilience. But I’ve watched people with steel-like tolerance crumble under sustained pressure, while others who feel every sting keep advancing like glaciers.

The Numbness Trap

Society glorifies those who appear unfazed — the emotionless hero, the unflappable leader. But numbness isn’t strength; it’s a limitation.

Tolerance-focused mindset:
“I shouldn’t feel this way” → Suppression → Brittleness

Capacity-focused mindset:
“This hurts — now what?” → Integration → Resilience

I once listened to a Special Forces medic who described it perfectly: “The guys who pretend they’re not scared in firefights freeze up. The ones who say ‘I’m terrified — let’s move’ save lives.”

The Science of Feeling More to Achieve More

Neurologically, pain tolerance relates to nociceptor sensitivity — how your nerves signal threats. Pain capacity lives in the prefrontal cortex — your brain’s ability to choose response over reaction.

This explains why:

• Some elite athletes report higher pain sensitivity than average people

• Studies show emotionally intelligent leaders experience more stress but make better decisions under pressure

Your capacity grows not by deadening sensation, but by expanding your ability to process pain while taking purposeful action.

Building Pain Capacity: Three Uncommon Rules

1. Stop “Managing” Pain — Study It
   Next time you’re struggling, pause and dissect the sensation:

   • Where exactly do you feel it physically?

   • What metaphors come to mind (“weight,” “fire,” “void”)?

   • What’s underneath the surface emotion (fear of failure? shame? love for what’s at stake?)

   This meta-awareness creates space between stimulus and response.

2. Practice Discomfort Distillation
   Physical example: When your muscles burn during squats, mentally separate the signal (“I’m working hard”) from the threat (“I’m being damaged”).
   Emotional parallel: Anxiety before a big presentation isn’t “I’m inadequate” — it’s “I care deeply about getting this right.”

3. The 10% Rule
   When ready to quit, ask: “Can I give 10% more?” Not 100% — just a sliver beyond your perceived limit. These micro-extensions gradually expand your capacity ceiling.

The Ultimate Paradox

The people who achieve extraordinary things aren’t those who feel less pain. They’re the ones who developed the skill to let pain walk beside them rather than block their path.

A Navy SEAL instructor once told me: “The difference between those who make it through Hell Week and those who don’t isn’t toughness. It’s the ability to make friends with misery.”

Redefining Strength

It’s time to retire the idea that resilience means emotional calluses. True capacity looks like:

• The gymnast returning after a career-threatening fall, hands trembling as she remounts the beam

• The runner finishing a marathon on a fractured foot, tears mixing with sweat

• The mother soothing a colicky baby while battling postpartum depression

Their power isn’t in lacking pain — it’s in their intimate dialogue with it.

Pain tolerance asks: “Can you take a punch?”
Pain capacity asks: “Can you keep strategizing while bleeding?”

The latter is where greatness lives.

Two Quotes

1. "Your biography becomes your biology. What you write in your mind, your body manifests." — Caroline Myss

2. "You were born with the greatest weapon in all of nature—the power to choose." — Maxwell Maltz

Three Tweets

To Building Fortitude.

 Best Regards,

Colin Jonov, Founder & CEO Athletic Fortitude