Progressive Overload

To adapt, one must face the music.

Too often, we drown ourselves in excuses not to progress. The feeling of accomplishment when just taking the bare minimum is great.?

While consistency is great in many aspects of health-related goals, so are the options to take it one step further. According to various scientific reports, one habit change, and adaptations made to adhere to this change, takes approximately one month. This depends from person to person, from habit to habit, and how much mindfulness and accountability you add to the equation.

Yet, growth does not stay with one step forward and being happy you got rid of one habit. The accelerator of success lies in using that change as a springboard to go further. A goal is only as good as how you are reaching it and uses this as a stepping stone for the next one.

Mastering a habit until it becomes second nature before the next unwanted one is on the chopping block. Or when nailing one exercise, and progressing to the next step.

Through trial and error, we acclimatise to a new arena of opportunities. Growth is as good as how you cope with falls and defeats because failure is nothing more than feedback.

Coaching clients is ensuring they are ready to face the music, whether they fail for the first time or gracefully succeed. The pressure of seeing the weights on the bar increase has often led to question marks and asking “I cannot do this”. Agree, the attempt may not get it right but at least, a new step forward for the sake of progression is made.

It’s that “I cannot do it” that is the challenging part.

We’re limited to our beliefs and thoughts when the hurdle to the next race is one we see as one of an insurmountable height. But growth comes when taking that guided leap of faith.

For years, I have been walking by a gym with stationary bicycles lined up in front of a street-facing window, where a small group of pedallers of any walk of life steadfastly move. But there is no progression. Their goal is to get ‘moving’ while the focus is drawn away from a realistic goal.

Nobody is watching over their shoulder pushing them in the right direction - they are stuck in their usual routine.

Just making rounds while their phone produces new content after new content; the focus dwells towards their digital screen, oblivious that the push to go harder, faster, and become more energetic is not achieved by staying in the same rhythm.

Even that 2% better compared to the week before is an achievement, ready to be broken and improved.?

I call this progressive overload, too.

It is a common term used in the fitness industry to slowly make changes in weight, repetitions and sets, time under tension, or simply use other modalities in challenging the client's status quo. As much as we aim to become better fathers, colleagues, husbands, friends, or family members, so is staying stuck in the same hamster wheel not projecting progress.

The pain of failure is only temporary, as some of my clients have said. The soreness of that 5% heavier was not in the cards, however, it is one step forward to head up one level.

Just one level is enough; we will see how we can get to the next one when we get there.

Going solo may be the means for getting into the groove. Results may come but they commonly take time. It's when we are put in an uncomfortable spot for the sake of sustainable progress that we use our newly learned skills or habits accurately.

I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things. | Mother Teresa