The Two Components of Success
Most people are amazed at how early civilizations managed to build incredible monuments without the help of any kind of elaborate machinery. Think about Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid of Giza, or Chichen Itza for a minute. Even better find online some photos of these monuments and imagine how people carried huge stones over surprisingly long distances. Two key elements come to mind: effort and consistency.
Of course they needed impressive manpower (not always participating of their free will), but the fact is that nothing happens easily. Over our evolution as a species, we continually look for more efficient and faster ways to do things. We want to spend less effort and save more time. This thought process eventually pushes us to find shortcuts to reach any goal: elevators, copy machines, microwave, etc. But when it comes to achieving long term results in physical training – and most other things in life – there are very few hacks and tricks that work. The two key elements are still there, as they were a few thousands years ago: effort and consistency.
Effort
In sport science, the principle of Supercompensation has been studied over and over. In simple terms, our body is extremely good at adapting to whatever we ask it to do repeatedly. If your training is always the same, with the same movements and the same resistance (a.k.a. weight), at the same speed and with the same level of complexity, then we reach a plateau where no more progress is made. No muscle gain, no weight loss, and no skill improvement. We need to constantly, but incrementally increase the demand on our body. When a skill becomes easy with a specific kettlebell, or a specific weight on the barbell, it’s time to add a bit more weight or to find a way to make this skill slightly more difficult or complex, but still keep it safe. In other areas of life, the principle stays the same. Even if we dream about the magic pill that will help us to reach our goals easily and effortlessly, the reality is that we will achieve what we work hard for.
Consistency
In our training, our diet, our hobbies, our relationships or our, work the rule is to maintain consistency all the time. You wouldn’t think that sleeping non stop for 3 days then staying constantly awake for a whole week works. We know that doesn’t end up very well. Well, the bad news is you cannot train once a month for 8 hours and expect to see any results — unless massive muscle soreness is the result you desire. Not only will you make more progress by training for an hour twice a week, but the quality of your training will be massively improved. Starting fresh at the beginning of each session amplifies the physical results, the skill practice, and your ability to recover faster and to avoid injuries is additionally improved. So is it better to train or work at anything every day? Ideally yes, but only if you are able to let your body and your brain recover completely in between.
In summary, build your body and your mind like they built the pyramids, but without the whips and the chains – unless you are into that. Train often, train smart, and periodically challenge yourself. Remember that the pyramids weren’t built in a month. Everything takes time. There is no magic pill or amazing body hack. Consistency and Effort will ALWAYS get you where you want to go.