Our Journal
written by our coaching staff, the PCF journal delivers impacful articles on mindset, movement, and performance...Just for you
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Because there’s been so much emphasis in the personal development world on goal setting, the idea of the “SMART” goal is probably something that you’ve heard about.
Admittedly, it’s a decent formula to provide clarity on any given specific goal, and therefore not completely broken (although I do prefer to use the SMARTER goal template myself). What is broken, however, is your ability to choose appropriate goals. And by this, I mean goals that don’t set you up for failure. The most commonly selected type of goal is an achievement goal. Let’s briefly go over the characteristics of an achievement goal: -Highly definable project or accomplishment -Usually tangible -Represents a “big win” -Often represents a dramatic amount of progress or change. Examples of an achievement goal can be hitting a certain body-fat percentage, writing a book, winning a competition, or making a certain amount of money. Let me be very human: if I suddenly had a lower body-fat percentage, was a published author, won a dramatic competition, and increased my income, I’d feel pretty darn accomplished! So why don’t you or I have multiples of these things? We set goals, right? (Hint: it’s probably not because we’re lazy, untalented, stupid, or discriminated against). Here’s the HUGE caveat of achievement goals: IF an achievement goal is outside of your current capacity to work at it consistently and relentlessly and recover from that work, it will fail. Bar none. -If you don’t exercise regularly and intensely, eat well, and get enough sleep you will not lose fat. -If you’re not currently a writer, you won’t get that book published. -If you’re not competing, you won’t win a competition (in whatever it’s in) -etc... Achievement goals tend to hit people’s excitement button. They get whipped up into a short frenzy and then they cannot sustain that level of effort. This is directly related to the Motivational-Guilt Cycle. Achievement goals have a way of accessing our personal sense of worth and when used improperly lead to burn-out, a sense of guilt, and a fixed mindset. Goal set, goal failed, nothing learned. And often without even really getting started! Be cautious of selecting an achievement goal. The appropriate time and place is when: -You already have proven skill and capacity in the functional area. -You already have systems, structure, and accountability surrounding it (think, it can’t possibly fail from your daily routine). -You only have 1-2 other achievement goals in place across your whole life. That’s probably pushing the boundaries, too. -The path to success is clear-cut, not subjective or metaphorical, or dependent on too many factors outside your control. NEXT TIME: let’s talk behavioral goals. This is where 90% of our efforts need to be.
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You only learn when you win.2013 was high times for me. I was in hot pursuit of the woman whom I would later marry. I was working as an apprentice trainer on the coaching team for a UFC fighter. But looming largest in my mind (at the time) was securing my starting position on the Belmont Shore 2nd XV (it’s a rugby thing) as we ramped up into national playoffs that spring. I’m not completely clear on when our head coach, Ray Egan, made the statement. It could have been before or after a grueling 80 minute match in the sweltering Texas sun. It could have been during a cold, rainy Thursday night practice as we ground out our skills on our pitiful home practice field in Long Beach. But wherever or whenever he said it apparently it stuck with me.  The legendary Ray Egan, seen here coaching us through warmups at the USA Rugby National Semi-Finals 2013. “You only learn when you win.”
To our American mind, that doesn’t sound right. And yes, there are lessons to be learned from mistakes. But he’s Irish. He went on. “Because that’s when you learn what it takes.” Ohhhh…….and the lights begin to come on. Everything up until the point of victory is still losing. Maybe you can learn something for your character development, but you’re not learning about winning. Here’s a simple illustration that we practice every day on the training floor: If your goal is to deadlift 315lbs (that’s a nice, round number because it corresponds exactly to 3 ‘plates’ on each side of the barbell) then you won’t ever experience the level of focus, engagement, and effort that that takes until you put 315lbs of force in the right direction. You can try all you want, but if you’re using 200lbs, 275lbs, all the way up to 314lbs of effort, you’re not going to cut it. It takes 315lbs of effort. And when you win, you’ll know what it’s like. And then you can do more of it. Board AwarenessAh, wouldn’t everything be better if we were all just a little more aware?
The classic 5 color codes of mental awareness is a great place to start. The basic idea is that, on a spectrum of white to black (stopping by yellow, orange, and red) you can calibrate your level of mental engagement to the needs of the situation to get optimum performance. Spoiler alert: it turns out that yellow is the best mental place to be for the majority of your waking hours. Being in yellow means: that you are observant and aware of your surroundings, not particularly keyed up or tee’d off about anything, and capable of taking in information. Now let’s talk about my gym. Near the entrance there is a simple white dry-erase board. On that board is a lot of GOOD information! There is an outline of 1 or more workout plans with personalized modifications. It usually even specifies lift-specific warm-ups. There are key dates and events and reminders. There is even a section devoted to Speech of the Week! You know what happens WAY too often? Someone will say something like: “are we having a workout on Memorial Day?” or “Is there a group session the day after thanksgiving?” or “How many reps did so and so get at the kettlebell competition?” Well. You guessed it. The answers are almost always up on the board. “Teach a man to fish……” So get out there (in here?) and practice some board awareness today! You just might find out something useful. P.S. For some things, like May Madness or post-match reports, we have to create special scoreboards or spreadsheets. They can be found on the wall. Same concept. Catch Yourself In the ActEver been outside at night, maybe camping, and you hear some rustling nearby? If you’re anything like me, you whip out your high-powered flashlight and shine it in that direction because you want to see what it is! Maybe it’s a bat and you’ll chase it away. Maybe it’s a raccoon and it will just stare at you belligerently then you’ll have to chase it off with various debris. (Last summer during a field exercise I was speaking late at night with one of my officers and one of our Sergeants charged over with a red face and a wild glint in his eye “pardon me gentlemen, there’s a raccoon getting away with an MRE!” then just as quickly charged off after it.)
Unwanted behaviors, on the other hand, are sneakier and definitely more damaging than wild animals. And they're definitely out there sneaking around and stealing and sabotaging your precious health, progress, and overall ability. In fact, they could be completely crippling you. If you’re human, you’ve most likely tried and failed to change before. So here’s one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal: Catch Yourself in the Act! It starts with an open-mind. Your current state is your result. Only YOU are responsible for where you are. So something needs to be adjusted and it might not be what you think it is. It might even be way outside of what your currently established ruleset is. (Believe it or not, there are people out there, morbidly obese, dreadfully out of shape, who think that they’re doing everything correctly. Everything except the result. So it’s no surprise that skinny-fat or just average-average people can fall into this mental trap too). Chances are there are sneaky small behaviors and mentalities that you’re barely aware of. If you can accept that then you’re ready to… Be on the lookout. Yeah it might take some training and some talking to a solid coach to figure out what to look out for. What we’re interested in are poor choices that happen when you’re tired, stressed, frustrated, depressed, in transition times.
Catching yourself “in the act” is a lightbulb moment that is almost magical. When it happens all of a sudden you realize that “this just happened and I’m doing this and this is why.” You realize is an amazing tool. Sometimes it’s strong enough to stop a behavior in it’s tracks because you see what’s happening, everything is clear, and you know how to avoid it. “The trap is laid in vain for the bird that is watching”. Sometimes it’s not that easy. But when the light gets shined on the problem at least you know what you’re up against. Next time, you’ll be presented with a conscious choice: “this is about to happen, I clearly see it. I can choose to do x, y, z, and feel like crap, or I can avoid it and build strength in a new habit. While the light bulb moment is amazing, if needed, we can dig deeper and “farm/mine/forensic analysis our way into awareness. This involves journaling. This doesn’t have to be overkill and it could take a few different forms. The important thing is to take quick action and get the relevant notes down immediately. The #1 goal of journaling in this case is awareness. (The #2 goal is reference data which is completely bonus status and not required so we’re not going to get hung-up on that now). In this case, after “getting off”, ask yourself a few questions. -Who was I with? -What were we doing? -How was I feeling? -What was I thinking? This method is like setting an “awareness trap” for the next situation. You’ll begin to recognize the same pattern taking shape (with a predictable result) and you’ll have the opportunity to divert the situation or at least insulate yourself from the worst effects. A little better, a little moreSo you’re in the middle of the struggle.
You can see that you’re not in as bad shape as you were before, but you’re not the model of the athlete that you want to be. Your meals are anywhere from ok to “pretty good”. You’re making 70% or so of your workout plan. Let’s say that you even know to avoid the all-or-nothing trap and you’re not getting down on yourself for not being “perfect”. But it’s a struggle. What do you do? A little better, a little more. Find 1 small thing and do it a little better, on purpose. It can be objective like adding repetitions or sets or resistance or duration. It can also be subjective like applying yourself better, activating more muscle fibers, moving with more ease and control. Typically this is your priority for applying the criteria. If you can do #1, move on to #2. Do the objective points first, then look for subjective points. Objective Priorities: 1. Increase resistance. Everything else being equal, if you can go heavier you’ll get stronger. 2. Increase reps. If you can do 12 reps correctly with the same weight instead of 7, you’re stronger. Simple. 3. Increase Time under tension. Make the set last longer. Slowing down proves that you have control, or else exposes a lack of control. 4. Decrease rest between sets. 5. Add sets (this is best to integrate on a periodized basis) Subjective Priorities: 1. Mentally engage yourself 2. Move easier and with less pain. 3. Feel more “in control” 4. Engage more muscle fibre per movement (this technically could be objective but there’s no practical way to measure it). 5. Observe when you feel “fresher” and less fatigued by the same amount of work. Application: Don’t try to do all of this at once! A little better, a little more is it’s own mindset skill that you’ll have to practice adopting (hmmm, that’s almost like a picture within a picture within a picture). Seek to apply 1-2 of the above points in any given workout and as your skill improves, seek to apply the relevant points to each individual exercise. Consciously strive to use objective and subjective criteria as benchmarks to observe your progress. Your body will respond. Oh yeah, and “a little better, a little more” works for improving your nutrition too. NOTE: A big reason why I chose to use Truecoach as a tool to program all my clients’ workouts is because when good notes are taken, you know exactly what to do to “beat” your previous performance and you don’t spend time wandering around in circles never making progress because you forgot. Movement should get easier as you get stronger (and hurt less)I like to workout with my clients. I try to get a workout in with the majority of them once a month or so. This is good for morale but there is actually a purposeful technique reason behind it: if I’m fully warm I can demonstrate what good movement looks like with realistic resistance. I’m not always the strongest or the fastest but I usually move the best.
Just like the title of this week’s speech, movement should get easier as you get stronger not more difficult. Does that sound like an oxymoron? Then it’s something you probably need to experience. The un-initiated observer (inactive lifestyle or poor exerciser) is liable to think “if squatting 60 lbs is really hard and makes me hurt then I NEVER want to able to squat 135lbs! Those ‘bodybuilders’ must be mentally SICK!” But nothing could be further from the truth. Human beings actually can’t lift heavy weights without a tremendous amount of coordination. And they certainly can’t continue to lift repeatedly without the ability to recover and get stronger and without some sort of reward-system. When you move poorly, joints and skeletal structure get punished and smaller muscles kick in in all the wrong ways. Yes, you can temporarily strengthen a poor movement pattern but you are limited to a short ceiling. And when you hit that ceiling: PAIN. On the other hand, learn to recruit the right muscles into good movement and your body’s whole team (Nervous system, Musculo-skeletal system, Cardio-respiratory system, etc) get trained proportionally. Progress. Strength. Much less pain. Look at someone doing bad pushups. Doesn’t it just look painful and awkward? Now look at a well-conditioned STUD just repping out good pushups. It looks easy and robust and healthy. That’s what I’m talking about. (The same can go for squats, kettlebell swings, running, anything). Additional points to consider:
Full disclosure: there is a bell-curve to this. Folk that are hyper-strong and wading in the deep end of the pool (think 800lb + squats) are going to find that difficult. As you approach your genetic potential, you have to expend a disproportionate amount of effort to see marginal improvements (law of diminishing returns). But to MOST people (heck even to most athletes) that rarely applies. The only way to take control of your destiny is to get better at what you do. This month we’re doing a low-key “Gym Rat” challenge. The goal is not to do crushing, hard workouts everyday. No, instead the goal is do a bit of skill development and sharpening on the “off” days. More skill = a more resilient you = more fit you = you handling life’s problems with more capacity and less burn-out. Getting to your workout is the first half the battle. And by all means, capitalize on that half! But the next half involves Deliberate Practice. Here are the components:
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The plan is simple: Pick from 1 of 4 short workouts and do them on your “off” days. The 4 options are: A) Squat Practice 1. Do 5 minutes of cardio or a 1/2 mile run 2. Knees Over Toes (KOT) basic series. Do 3 rounds of the following: a. KOT split squats x 5ea side, b. Reverse Nordics x 10, c. Hip extensions on a glute-ham machine x 10 3. Squat practice light to moderate weights only, strive for best Range of Motion (ROM) on your worst lift: Plate squat, front squat, BB back squat, etc, shoot for about 3 sets of 10 reps after w/u sets. DO NOT go so hard that you get sore from this. 4. 5 minutes of recovery breathing B) KB Technical Practice 1. Full joint mobility warm-up (Vasilev-style) 2. 5-10 minutes of “Free Practice” technical KB drilling (focus on component drills like swings, cleans, dips, bumps, undersquats, rack holds, OH holds, etc). 3. 5 minutes accumulated total of KB conditioning 4. 3 rounds of Core Circuit 2: a. Side plank x 30s each side, b. Hanging knee to elbow tuck x 5, c. bicycle x 20ea, d. Reverse crunches x 10-20 5. 10-15 minutes of stretching and foam-rolling C) Body-weight Push-Pull and Core
D) High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).
I would estimate that about 90% of people reference “accountability” when they have their initial consultation with me. What most of them really mean is “you make me workout and be consistent because I don’t feel like it myself,” or “use some sort of intense software and spit out a graph to make me hit my metrics or else it’s not real progress.” So, that’s cool and all. I’ll be here for you. We can do graphs if you want. But the kind of accountability that actually moves you forward (physique, performance, etc.) is the kind that happens in the mirror. Get my drift? I just hold up the mirror for you.
And no, I’m not talking about being self-critical. That kind of mirror-talk gets you nowhere. Instead, I’m talking about applying a very simple technique. It’s called “Wipe the Slate Clean” (It takes just a few minutes and this is my #1 go-to with all populations, beginners and advanced athletes alike.) The expectation is that everyone will get side-tracked. That’s a given. It could look like: -Missing a scheduled workout. -Eating much to much at a meal. -Generally eating poorly for a few days straight. -Going on a [insert vice here, x, y, z…] bender. -Acting completely selfishly and lashing out at friends or loved ones. -Anything that takes you in a direction that is not congruent with what you want. As you find yourself going off track (recognition is key) you will have the opportunity to say “Screw it” and dive even deeper into the hole, or you can stop, wipe the slate clean, and change course. Application begins when recognize that you’re off track. Stop. Take a deep breath (or two, or ten!). Then verbally tell yourself: “it’s ok, that I missed….I’m going to take the next best step of…as soon as practical.” Then actually practice taking that next step. It really is that simple. Wipe the slate clean and don’t hold your “miss” against yourself. . Also, let’s be honest: most health and fitness actions aren’t complex moral issues (other than maybe being a good steward of your body and being a more responsible member of the community, but I digress). You can simply stop and turn around without letting a cloud of guilt set in over your head. For example: -Missed a scheduled workout? Wipe the slate clean: what can you do now to move or get a shorter version in? Then make your next scheduled workout. No punishment burpees! -Catch yourself stuffing yourself? STOP. That’s it. Let your body digest and next time you actually feel hungry eat till just satisfied. -Had a bad week or a went on a bender? Make arrangements to work out or eat better at the very next meal. Don’t flagellate yourself with a “cleanse” or strict rules. -Act out badly? If you can catch yourself: STOP. Amend the situation as best as possible. Next time that your “hot button” gets pushed, practice handling it better. Wiping the slate clean isn’t a magic bullet that will fix all of your problems. But it is the primary tool that can help you stay accountable to yourself and making forward progress without settling for a long slump or slide. And better yet, it helps you practice and build the skills of moving forward. Actual, permanent, life-improving progress is built on daily, imperfect actions that get better. “Practice makes progress!” Yours in Strength Coach Joshua I don’t know about you, but when I get excited about something, I THINK BIG!!! I gather as much info as I can (in a very short time) and explode it 10x!!! I take a small garden plot and craft these grandiose dreams to turn it into a 100’x100’ lot OVERNIGHT. I start decluttering the house and expect it to turn into a Pinterest house by the END OF THE WEEK. I get pregnant and expect to have the same physical fitness after giving birth as I did before getting pregnant. In other words, I am an instant gratifier. I have no problem putting the work in to get the results, but I tend to expect the results to happen immediately.
Because I DREAM BIG without allowing the hard work and focus to grow over time, those dreams end up as over promised attempts to create something that would be a great reality for me and my family. I mean , honestly, shame on me for expecting something different. Success comes with hard work and focus. Yet, somehow I think I am the expectation and can make it happen faster than the laws of expectation show us. I tend to get started with all these projects, get overwhelmed, put the brakes on, find a different route/plan because the original “is just not working” for me, and then start all over again. It seems to be a never-ending cycle of failure. Is it just me or somehow do we all seem to fail at managing our expectations? Reality also is, I can choose to do something instead of nothing and that is where the 50% rule comes into play. By adapting this philosophy of giving what you have when you have it you will find easier and more FUN ways to fit more into your day. Here are 4 ways that I have been applying the 50% rule to change my attitude, confidence, and lifestyle. 1) Cross out 50% of your list - Do you have a to-do list that seems a mile long and never gets shorter?. Well me too! I tend to overestimate the amount of work I can actually accomplish within a day, weekend, or even weekend. The same goes for my workouts. When I was working (3) jobs, I only had my lunch hour to workout. With no trainer available, I paid for a 12-week program that was far above my abilities, but I wanted to challenge myself. I was confident I could figure it out. So I pushed through. It was tough and long!!! I couldn’t finish it with perfect practice and it left me feeling too sore to workout the next couple of days. I easily fell into that 1-2 workouts per week because I was overworking and pushing myself too hard. I had the motivation to succeed but again went too hard too fast and totally hindered my success. I am not saying lower expectations, but rather look at what honestly can be accomplished this week. Do you have crying children? Major work deadlines? Unfinished project after project that seems to never end? Immediate gratification can be a killer of our dreams. Big grandiose ideas have lots of moving parts, complexity, and an overwhelming sense of too much to do. We either don’t start or tend to try to fit the plans into a picture perfect framework where all the details line up just right. We design this great plan, buy the perfect outfit, the best alarm clock, order the right equipment, and wait for the first of the month. We do everything EXCEPT the most important thing and that is MOVE!!! Change is scary. It exposes vulnerability and weakness. It opens up a ton of excuses of why we can not rather the CAN. Change is also EXTREMELY REWARDING! Before getting overwhelmed, take your plan and cut out 50%. Focus on increasing your intensity and perform the exercise with the 100% that you have to give. If you are stressed out about finishing the workouts, cut it again. The point is to add consistency to your routine and know that you gave the 100% that you had at that moment rather than stressing out and not doing anything at all. 2) Hire accountability - If I haven’t said it yet, my youngest is 6 months old and teething. (EEK). I started working out again about 3 months ago. I hired my trainer for her expertise and accountability. Because of crying babies, sleepless nights, cold infections, etc, it took me over a month just to check off the consistency button. There were many nights where all three kids were up multiple times a night and as a result I would miss my 6 am scheduled training session. I felt terrible to leave my trainer hanging like that. But I just didn’t have it together every morning AND that is OKAY. Instead of saying this is never going to work, I focused on the mornings that I could make it and give it my all. Reality is, I still miss a session here and there, I have my trainer plan for missed sessions by sending me at home workouts designed for continual progress. I trust that she can give me the guidance needed to succeed. In addition to holding me accountable, she plans workouts tailored to my needs which means that I don’t have to overwhelm myself with various workouts online, exercise how to’s, or set myself up for failure with the “All or Nothing” mentality. Bonus - remember that 12 week plan I bought years ago. Well I showed it to her and now she is editing that plan to meet MY needs and goals so that I can get back to the amazing shape I was once in. 3) Try the 2 minute rule. Nearly any habit can be scaled down into a two minute version. Pump out as many pushups, pullups, or squats in two minutes or work on movement patterns. Coach Josh created a great reference called the pillar squat. This movement is amazing to add into your pre or post workout, recovery, and stretch routine. This is a simple move that you can rinse and repeat multiple times throughout the day. These movements are key to being able to exercise correctly and with heavy weights in the gym. Next time you sit down to watch a youtube video, take 2 minutes to pump out as many pillar squats as possible (or pushups or pullups) first. You will feel the difference by the end of the week. On my off days, I add simple recovery movements like this into my daily routine. When I take a break from designing I get down and pump out pushups, anytime I go downstairs to change laundry I complete 1-3 pull ups, and work on pillar squats with my kids when we are cleaning/cooking dinner. I am not perfect. There are days when I don’t get downstairs at all. There are days where I only take a break to feed my children, but knowing that all I need to do is work in 2 minute breaks gives me the confidence and motivation to work on it. 4) Dive Deep - On yeah and that part where I said to cut 50% of your plan and cut it again if needed. You are probably thinking, WOW is it even worth it? Take that cut plan and go DEEP DEEP DEEP. I don’t mean ass to the grass squats, but rather practice how to perfect the exercise with slow tempo movements or even repeat the workout from start to finish. Think about this. My gym warmup consists of: 10 pushups 10 air squats 5 pullups Repeated 3x. For some people this is a full workout and that is great!! Know that where you are starting is exactly where you need to be. But if it is not and you need more, try to complete these 3 sets with no rest, or complete as many sets as possible in 15 minutes, or even rinse and repeat by completing 6 sets instead of only 3. The possibilities are endless. Now adding all for into your week could be overwhelming. So instead, take it slow. Pick 1 idea and add it into your day immediately. If you start to see success immediately GREAT!!!! Take another idea and add it into your week. Whether you add one or all four, you are going to see and feel a difference in your week. Looking forward to hearing how these work for you. In this world of stop and go, crash and burn, and shiny bright objective syndrome (SOS) it's easy to start a new ambition one week, crash and burn, and then wait for the “right timing”(hint it is never the right time) to start again. This is a recipe for failure. A recipe that you are the key ingredient in. What would you say if I told you that with one small change you can be 37x better this exact time next year. Well you can and it doesn’t involve drastic life changes or decisions to make it a reality. Let me introduce you to my “50% rule”. This rule is a pillar in real, sustainable body-transformation and will become one of your best tools in the fitness (and life) tool-box. It goes like this: “If you can execute 50% of a good workout and nutrition plan every single day, then you will be much better you 1 year from now than if you give 110% effort on an ideal plan in any given week.” This is because big, heroic efforts almost always backfire. On the other hand, actual, real change comes from developing consistency. I see this all the time from guys and gals that want to start getting fit, and especially when they want to be leaner. It’s all motivation and “I want a killer workout!” and very little day-to-day commitment. The two contrasting pitfalls are crashing and burning, or LOTs of low-quality exercise that doesn’t get results. If you’re feeling internal resistance to this idea of 50% right now, it probably sounds something like this in your head: “Hey, no PAIN no GAIN, right?” or “what a croc, everybody knows you have to give 110% to get results.” Well, sort of...it’s true that you need to work hard. It’s true that you need to invest yourself in your workout. But that doesn’t do you any good at all if you haven’t developed your deep internal athleticism and cultivated the Art of Consistency. Let me tell you about a young lady that I worked with for about a month. She really wanted to get a lot leaner, and honestly already was in a decent weight range. So I began the training plan, like I always do, on developing full range-of-motion movement patterns and developing deep technical proficiency in lifting. (If you can move better and load stronger and safer than you can ultimately exercise more intensely and develop your physique). But within a session or two I could tell that she was unsatisfied. “I want something harder! Make me get lean!” Ok. But the problem is that she already couldn’t perform with enough intensity. Any cardio or interval work looked like she was in slow-motion. She only lifted light weights. She wasn’t developed enough to actually do a hard workout. A few weeks later she confessed that she’d been working out with 2 other trainers at the same time! No wonder she wasn’t getting results. A lot of low-intensity sessions, never staying someplace long enough to get better, on top of not being coachable was a recipe for mediocrity. On the other hand, some folks (usually beginners) DO have a lot of energy! If that energy isn’t channeled effectively it very quickly leads to a mental crash-and-burn or an actual injury. Let me demonstrate with a drawing. The middle line here represents your performance ceiling. If you’re inconsistent, when you get motivated to go to the gym and “go beast mode” or whatever you tell yourself, you hit this line and there’s a hard crash.  You’re sore and stiff and foggy headed the next day. Motivation has vanished. Before you know it, days or weeks have gone by and all your good intentions to get back to the gym have been flushed out with the high and sweat of that one heroic workout that you did weeks ago. It’s kind of like a bird hitting a glass door. BONK! Grounded! Ouch!  This is usually cyclic. Look familiar? For some people this represents their whole last year or maybe their whole last decade! On the other hand, someone who respects their limit, trains to a 8/10 difficulty, and practices doing their workout each day, over the long term will increase their performance cap. This is what athletes do. They’ve been doing it for so long that they can recover quickly from hard workouts.  This is where the 50% rule comes into play. It gives you permission to “have a bad day” but on that bad do you choose to do something active, or do part of your workout, or do exercises that don’t beat you up. It gives you permission to show up and practice your Consistency Muscle as well as your body’s muscles. It allows you to keep moving the ball forward. (By the way, The Consistency Muscle is the flip side of the coin from the “All-or-Nothing” Syndrome)
The point it’s better to be consistent than heroic. Your consistency will develop a true level of high performance. For the record, I’m not saying that you should only workout at 50% effort all the time. Once you’re adapted to training, getting a 10/10 difficult workout every 1-2 weeks is actually good. What I am saying is you have permission to take a “mental health day” while working out by doing a lighter workout in order to keep moving forward. Nothing kills results like long periods of missed workouts. |