What got you from point A to point B is not what’s going to get you from point B to point C. This is a simple concept, universally understood in every arena, yet muddied in the realm of fitness.
I played competitive piano during my formative years. I started by learning the proper keys and playing with my right hand only. Eventually, I learned the left. Later, in tandem, they synchronously tickled the ivories, prompting a melodious harmony of “Chopsticks” to emanate from the bowels of our Kawai.
“Chopsticks” led to “Happy Birthday,” and “Heart and Soul” soon followed. As my lessons intensified, and my instructors got meaner and meaner, I swept through the Baroque, Renaissance, and Classical periods. My professors taught me more, I practiced more, and as a result, I excelled. I racked up a bevy of trophies in competition and then took a grand pause—I stopped. In my infinite high school wisdom, I decided that I was too cool to continue—I regret that to this day. MAKING SMART DECISIONS AS A TEENAGER WAS NEVER MY FORTE!!! (piano pun 😉)
In my late 20s, I acquired a keyboard and endeavored to play again. Guess what? I remembered virtually nothing—the most I could muster was a shaky version of “Fur Elise” that would leave Beethoven postulating the bright side of going deaf. So I hired a teacher and started anew. It came back quickly. I started taking lessons one day a week and practicing one day a week for 30 minutes. I soon hit a standstill; I wasn’t getting any better, so I progressed to two lessons a week and two days of practice for 40 minutes. I started improving again. This ebb and flow continued until I was playing every day at a level greater than I ever had before. There was a direct correlation between my instructor advancing my lessons, the amount of time I devoted to practicing, and the improvement I made. The more I learned and rehearsed, the better I got. And then, once again, I stopped playing when I opened Fit House.
There was a song I truly loved called “Once Upon a December.” I promised myself that I would play that song one time per day throughout my piano sabbatical, so I would not forget. And I did—for about two weeks. I eventually stopped repeating it once a day and opted for three times per week. Soon enough, that turned into once a week. Today, if I want to hear the song, I must settle for YouTube.
Guess what works the same way? You got it—the gym and nutrition! You can be a complete neophyte, go to the gym, do essentially anything, and you’ll see results for about two weeks. Then you hit a standstill. Now you need to start learning and performing the basics of a proper program if you want to improve. Then what happens? You’ll hit a plateau again. You’re training 2x per week, and that’s not going to get you very far, so time to up it to 3. Then what? You hit a wall again. You’re doing the same workout you’ve been doing since Alex Trebek shaved his mustache? The question of you ever making strides forward is in jeopardy. Thanks for playing; we won’t see you tomorrow night.
Nutrition works the same way. You follow a program and see great results—terrifico! You’re inspired, feel incredible, and are about 85% diligent—but you’re still garnering results! Then it stops. 85% may have gotten you from point A to point B, but it’s not going to fly anymore. Time to up it to 90%. Then 90% may carry you from point B to point C, but if you ever want to arrive at station D, your effort needs to increase.
It works the same in reverse. If you train four x per week and cut down to three, you will fall back from point C to point B. If you miss multiple days of training, you’re going to surrender hard-earned results. If I missed multiple days of practicing piano, my skills regressed. If I miss multiple days of brushing my teeth, my pearly whites deteriorate. If I have a lackluster week of eating, my body composition results backslide taking my energy, motivation, and drive with it.
If you want to continue making progress, you need to keep progressing. What can you be doing better? At Fit House, the training part is easy; your trainer takes care of that. The reason we switch programs every month is because your programs are periodized to ensure that we are continuously marching forward in strength, muscle, and metabolism. What do I do with our old workouts after we’ve finished them? I can bury them six feet under or cremate and spread them at sea because they’re useless to us at that point. If we used them to get to point C, they’re certainly no longer going to get us to point D.
What can you be doing better to evolve into a stronger, healthier, happier version of you? Are there some nutrition efforts you could be more diligent with? Could you allot more time to training? Could you be more active in your spare time? Could you be going to bed earlier instead of staying up late watching mindless television? Could you be reading a book at night instead of fawning over Instagram?
Simple. You do more of the right stuff, you make headway and move forward. You do less of the right stuff, you lose ground and move backwards. You keep doing the same thing over and over, you stay stagnant. You’ll be stuck on “Chopsticks” forever, looking like a real dim sum.
About the author
Chris Rombola
Chris is the owner of Fit House. He's run the training departments at several commercial gyms, and after years of seeing how awful those environments were for his clients, he opened his own studio. He is devoted to getting people strong, lean, and healthy.
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