Easier and Harder than you think.

Easier and Harder than you think. 

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Easier than you think: For as long as fitness and exercise has been around we have been overthinking it. People are constantly looking for simple, fun, easy solutions to exercise. Think infomercials and all the fancy gadgets that promise the results you’ve been looking for. Hate to break it to you, but the shake weight isn’t going to deliver its promises. When we look at how the fittest, strongest, healthiest people workout, we’re typically surprised at the simplicity of what they’re doing. Professional athletes, elite military, and olympians have very different looking gyms than your typical globo gym. No TV’s, minimal machines, and plenty of open space to work. The easy prescription is to above all else be consistent, to lift weights, to break a sweat, and to move your body in functional movement patterns. It really is that simple, don’t overthink it. 

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Harder than you think: Turns out being consistent, while simple in theory is harder in practice. It’s so important though, even if you shorten a workout, or modify it, stacking workouts day after day, month after month, year after year is the key. The other hard truth is to really make progress we have to push ourselves in the gym. That means adding a little more weight than we’re used to, or going a little faster/harder than we’re used to. In order to build muscle, lose weight, get fitter, we need to basically tell our bodies that they are not meeting the standard currently. The way we do that is by pushing it past the easy and comfortable, and then our amazing bodies adapt to the new stimulus. So let’s say you do 5 sets of 5 reps back squats and on the last set you barely get 5 or maybe can only do 4, your muscles are going to be damaged in the process, you’ll be a little sore (maybe a lot sore) but then your muscles repair and become stronger and adapt to what you’re doing. Again this is why getting fit can be hard, it’s uncomfortable at times, but it’s necessary. Now that doesn’t mean you have to go super hard every time, be selective when you push hard. If it’s between being consistent and going hard, be consistent and go easy.

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