Saquon Barkley is jacked. Swole, as the kids say.

None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who has ever laid eyes on the Nittany Lions’ junior running back. Even those who haven’t seen, and know anything about Barkley, still likely understand that his physical feats are renowned.

Most recently, Barkley posted 30 reps on the bench press for 225 pounds at July’s Lift for Life charity event. In June, he maxed out with a 405-pound power clean. He was hand-timed at 4.33 seconds in the 40-yard dash over the winter. He performed seven reps at 495 pounds in the squat last year.

Numbers that would match the standards of a talented national weightlifter* for a 5-foot-11, 230-pound athlete, let alone an elite NCAA football player, Barkley’s achievements are not the product simply of God-given, supernatural, freakish gifts. Rather, Barkley worked for this; tirelessly and without the burden of logical limits. And the results, tangible and never beyond reach in Barkley’s mind, do not come as a surprise.

(*Ed. note: According to USA Weightlifting international level coach Dane Miller, Barkley would be considered top five nationally with his current marks.)

Owning a deep affinity for the process of constant development, Barkley’s true love is the act of achievement in the game of football.

“I like it, but I wouldn't say I would want to be a power lifter,” said Barkley. “I like it because I believe it translates to the football field. I believe that helps me to become a better player. So I take real pride in the weight room and working out and trying to be the best I can in the weight room because I think it translates to the field. But I love it. I love working out.”

Acknowledging that grueling runs or leg days in the weight room can be a real challenge, plunging the depths of his individual will is something he cherishes.

Is there anymore inside of him? How much is he physically able to withstand?

By Barkley’s admitted standard, those answers provide an avenue for him to show his character. Those limits, he said, are only reached upon the exhaustion of physically passing out.

In other words, the limit does not exist voluntarily in his workouts, or in any other area of his life.

“I’ve always been that way. Not only as a player but as a person also,” said Barkley. “I feel like setting goals is something that you can do and you can improve and be a better person in life.”

Crediting his parents with instilling his mindset at an early age, Barkley is now just weeks from another opportunity to reach new heights as a college football player.

Penn State’s career rushing record is 1,360 yards away. Thirteen touchdowns on the ground separate Barkley from that career mark. Vegas odds have Barkley among the most likely to win the Heisman Trophy this season.

Told that he can do anything he wants if the right amount of hard work accompanies the goal, Barkley latched onto the concept. Realizing a 315 bench press wouldn’t simply happen, Barkley set out to reach his goal with a combination of mental determination and physical work. To run faster, Barkley said he knew he could not wish it into existence. To grow into a college athlete from an unheralded high school football player, at one point considering giving up the game altogether, Barkley understood he’d need to apply himself, go out and do it.

This, in Barkley’s mind, is not in any way a unique concept. Nor, he said, is it limited to him, being elite, or even the game of football.

“I think anybody that's successful has that mindset or close to that mindset,” said Barkley. “I feel like not everybody is like that (with football), but everyone is like that with something. Everyone has to have love and a passion for something.

“My passion is football and my love is football. Somebody's passion might be school work. Somebody might want to be a nurse, might want to be a doctor and that's their passion and they apply themselves in that way. For some people, it might be photography or art and they don't just wake up that way.”

The act of setting a goal is not the same thing as constantly finding a way to achieve it, though. And in some ways, this could ultimately be Barkley’s secret toward his ability to wow at seemingly every turn.

Conversing at length about setting goals, reaching them, then demanding to move on with newer and better goals in the immediate aftermath, Barkley landed on a hypothetical example.

“Say you set your goal and you want to rush for 3,000 yards in a season,” Barkley began.

The number is something the running back understands has never been done in college football. To do so would be “ridiculous,” he said, not just for the individual accomplishing it but also for the entire team.

“So say you set yourself 3,000 as your mark and you only achieve 2,500. That's pretty good,” Barkley continued. “So realistically, if you say your goal is 2,000 and you want to be the top running back in the nation and you only rush for 1,600, 1,500 yards and you end up in the top 15, top 10, it's not a bad spot.”

Working under the assumption that similar results will accompany team success, the question is not whether a goal has been set, but which one is hypothetical.

The same can be said of Barkley’s attitude toward a seemingly certain future in the NFL, or his opportunity to actually win the Heisman. Acknowledging the highest levels of success as his individual goals, unavoidably true given his history and established standards, Barkley is approaching the season blocking it all out.

“It might sound cliche, but it's how I honestly feel about it: I don't personally like talking about it. Not only myself, every college football player's goal is to make it to the NFL,” said Barkley. “But I feel like there is some stuff here that I would like to get done, whether that's academically or athletically, and I feel like if I want to be the best player that I want to be this year and can help my team out and continue to grow as a player and a person and a leader, that's something I can't focus on.

“Obviously, it's 2017, you see social media, you see it on Twitter, you see it on Instagram, this, that and the third, but I try my best not to really focus on that and just focus on myself and focus on challenging my teammates and competing with them and challenging each other to become better players. That's my honest answer.”

Should Barkley continue the trajectory set for himself long before ever arriving at Penn State, overcoming those challenges would be simply the next step toward something more.