Is doing hard physical things what makes a man tough?

What can we say then in our modern context? We often praise people who are in what we view as hyper masculine roles, of the military and whatever else, for going through BUD/S or training or doing ultramarathons or all these things. And sure, there's a facet of that that's difficult and hard, but there's a barrier in a person's mind where you can cross that barrier and actually go against your physical well-being and push yourself forward. That is very low tier. It isn't that it isn't important, or even that it isn't impressive, but it's very low tier. The truly hard work is going against your ego, going against your pride, going against what is perceived self-interest, humbling yourself in the face of adversity or slander, humbling yourself when you're interacting with somebody who's egotistical or arrogant or pushes your buttons. That takes real inner violence, because as a man everything inside of you is screaming and chomping at the bit to say something mean or rude or cutting, or to defend yourself, or to blame the other person, or to blame the situation and the circumstance. To truly go against yourself in order to acquire Christlikeness, that is the top tier that the saints live in. Going into special forces and denying yourself for one week without sleep, I mean, I'm sure it's very difficult and hard, but when we look at the lives of the saints, we have saints who slept almost next to nothing for decades on end, were continually in prayer, continually in fasting. St John Maximovitch being a beautiful example of this awesome self-denial, where he ceaselessly poured himself out for the people around him. In fact, they say that he didn't even lay down in a bed to sleep, but rather rested in a chair at night and prayed all night for people and the people that he knew and loved. He was using violence in the correct way. It wasn't directed at other people, it was directed against his own pleasure, his own ego, his own pride.