End Training Frustration With This Strategy
In 2017 I made a major shift in programming for my clients to help with that very notion of progress.
Specifically, the shift made progress transparent.
Now, I don't mean transparent in a way that you can clearly see it. I wish it was that easy.
"Okay, put 5 more pounds on the bar and go"
Boom. Progress. Right?
Well yes. That is indeed progress. But, what if the weight doesn't go up? What happens if you can't increase the difficulty of the movement?
What happens next?
This is the challenge my clients were facing and this is the problem I knew I needed a solution for.
So, here's what I did.
To start, I identified the root of the problem with progress. The problem with progress is that it is often assumed to be binary. It either happens or it doesn't. Stemming from that notion, the secondary problem is that is has to be linear and always a measurable improvement from the previous 'progress marker'.
Well, it doesn't have to be. I actually wrote a list of 22 ways to make progress back in November, you can check out that article here, but I wanted to outline a very specific strategy to ensure progress month over month with your fitness program.
The strategy I am talking about is what I call 'paths of progress'.
Fancy name, right?
What I started doing was telling my clients how they can create their progress. I found that by outlining paths, I was in a way, giving them permission to remove the thought of binary, yes/no, progress that they thought they had to make.
No more, "oh man I didn't get more weight on the bar".
BUT...what it did force them to do was make a decision. That decision was the ticket to making this strategy successful.
You see, when you have options, and the autonomy to make that choice yourself, you choose the path that you find the most curious, or in this case, the path you think you can be the most successful at.
And that autonomy helps drive motivation.
That's why it's a path to progress. The path is the ticket to unlocking the progress itself. In a way you have to work harder to achieve the progress you desire so much.
Take a look at the picture above and the image below. What is important to understand is progress isn't going to achieved by just doing more weight for 4 sets of 6 reps, or not even 4 sets of 10 reps. Progress can be achieved by doing the same weight as before for more reps. Moving up in weight and performing less reps. Taking more weight for more reps as the training goes on, or even taking the same exact weight from last block and progressing with confidence.
And that's just to name a quick few...
I'm not sure if I sold you on some huge fitness industry secret when you first started reading.
There isn't a secret.
But what I hope you take away from this article today is that there are always options to achieve progress. Options that you can unlock, or, I can help you unlock, as you train week over week, month over month, and eventually year over year.
It isn't as simple as yes/no. It isn't quantum physics either. What it is, however, is about giving yourself permission to find progress on the outskirts and to ride the autonomy down the path to progress that you choose.