Jen Comas, a contributor to Girls Gone Strong wrote a post the other day that was straight fire. It got me thinking and put language to some stuff I had been mulling over. Most of the time, we think everything is way more complicated than it needs to be and fitness is no different.
It can feel overwhelming, like you’re trying to decipher a secret code that a select few broke. If you can find this secret sauce or this new program or this novelty exercise THEN you will achieve your fitness goals. You’ll get that PR or finally feel comfortable in your body or magically upgrade in your skill level. Jen Comas has something to say about that. She tells us, “Your endless pursuit of novelty is ruining your fitness goals.” It’s the pursuit of something new or different that hinders us from achieving our goals – not attaining them!
Consistency and hard work beat novelty every time.
We see those fancy exercises from our favorite fitness professional and think, oh that’s how they got their body or reached their goals!
No, they got where they are through consistency, hard work and a term called specific adaptation. It sounds boring, but a combination of the same few movements will get you a lot of places. It will get you achieving a lot of goals.
The movements? Squat. Hinge. Push. Pull. Lunge. Core.
It’s not the crazy fads that get people anywhere – it’s the hard work of day in and day out discipline, it’s the practice of consistency that will help you achieve your fitness goals.
People don’t like that answer. I get it. They want the process to be quick, but taking short-cuts will end up taking you longer to get there – promise. So count the cost and if you want that goal then get after it. You got this, momma.
Tell me – how can you switch from the pursuit of novelty to the practice of consistency? What would that look like for you?
