If given the choice of receiving $10,000 a day for 30 days, OR doubling a penny every day for 30 days, which would you choose?
Most people would choose $10K/day. Without hesitation... Before they realize that they are totally wrong and have just missed away a bigger opportunity in front of them.
It’s the same with fitness.
You see, when we go with a 10 out of 10 max effort on every rep, every set, and every workout, we quickly hit a point of diminishing returns.
Maybe you’ve experienced this back in your "extreme fitness days." Maxing out every day gets you some gains for a while, but "no pain, no gain" eventually catches up with you.
Been there? I sure have.
Thankfully, now I know better.
So let’s go back to our money example – courtesy of my friend Nathan Stowe – and see if we can apply this to a better approach to fitness.
Days 1-25 of receiving $10,000/day would leave you with $250,000. Woah an instant $250,000, who wouldn’t want it? Right?
Comparing this to…
Days 1-25 of doubling a penny every day would leave you with $167,772.16. A little bit smaller compared to receiving $10,000/day.
With the computations and comparison made, more than half of people would prefer the $10,000 instantaneous over the latter.
Right? Right? Right?
But what about Days 26-30?
Days 26-30 of receiving $10K/day leaves you with $300,000. Not too shabby!
...BUT...
Days 26-30 of doubling a penny every day leaves you with $5,368,709.12! Holy crap!
What lessons can we learn from this that we can apply to our fitness?
Small gains add up and in the long run, they add up to something much bigger than we thought. The results of consistency and the slowly but surely process are overwhelmingly great.
Another lesson?
We need to be more patient and just trust the process. Small improvements over time always win out over the constant pursuit of max effort all the time.
Follow a well-designed exercise program, give what feels like 80% of your max effort most of the time, and take breaks when your body needs them
NEVER "push through the pain."
You’ll be better for it, and wind up stronger and healthier as a result. And richer, too.
Health is wealth, a saying that is overused yet so underrated. People sometimes think that the more suffering we endure, the more we will gain. However, this is not always the case because when you are over exhausted, you tend to perform worse the following day, and this behavior becomes a habit, resulting in less improvement. Compared to doing something like 80-90% of your maximum effort and performing the same every day, which yields more consistent and excellent results.
Consistent small victories lead to big rewards!