Challenge Yourself to Change Yourself
By Chris Kacyon, MS
We can all agree that with repeated efforts of one task, multiple times a week, for continuous months of the year, we become “masters” of that task. Whether it is endurance racing, weight lifting, weight loss, after a period of time this task becomes easier and easier to accomplish. This phenomenon is simply our body’s natural ability to adapt to any stimulus we impose on it.
So, how could you change it up to make it challenging again, see continued gains, and avoid plateaus?
DO MORE…GRADUALLY
Progressive overload is the gradual increase in volume, intensity, frequency or time in order to achieve the targeted goal of the user. When done properly, progressive overload helps to reduce the risk of injury.
Let’s use Milo of Croton to help us express the merits of progressive overload. Legend has it that Milo would pick up a baby calf every day and carry it around on his shoulders. As the calf grew, Milo got stronger. Eventually, Milo was hoisting a full-size bull as evidence towards his body’s adaptation to the load he imposed on it.
CHALLENGE YOURSELF TO CHANGE YOURSELF
The body’s natural response is to adapt to the stimuli placed on it. To overcome this, we need to make the work effort gradually harder to achieve continual gains. If you want to get stronger, you must gradually breakdown your muscles more than previous bouts. To improve your endurance, you must run longer, faster, or implement some varied intensity training.
Let me give you an example of someone trying to lose weight:
Week 1: an individual walks on the treadmill for 1 mile and burns 100 calories.
Week 5: the same person walking 1 mile now only burns 80 calories.
This is our body’s natural response to adapt to the stimuli we place on it. In this case, becoming more mechanically efficient to save energy.
To overcome this, we need to make the work effort harder to achieve continual gains. For an aspiring weight loss individual, this cycle does not sound all that fun, however this principle applies across the board.
In the next blog, we’ll show you 3 changes to make to easily implement this principle in your training program to continue to see gains.
How have you changed your training to see more gains?
