Classically, a lot of health & fitness advice was focused on working harder and doing more. Train harder. Eat cleaner. More, more, more.
In recent years, the general sentiment of most personal trainers has softened. We tell our clients to take it easy in the gym, not to go too hard too soon, to stay away from failure, to sleep more, to rest well, to take days off, to avoid hunger, to maintain balance outside the gym, and more.
There is a lot of merit in such advice.
However, we often give this advice having pushed too hard ourselves in the past. We dieted hard. We trained hard. We pushed our bodies too far. We burned the candle at both ends.
Consider the following scenarios...
Person A -
Operating at 60% of capacity consistently, careful to avoid overdoing it.
Person B - Pushes to 100% capacity, recognises it, and pulls back to 70-90% over time.
Person C - Repeatedly pushes to 100%, with diminishing capacity over time as a result.
Person A might make progress in life, but they will
be limited by a lack of effort. This is safe, as it avoids the ruin that can come from overdoing it, but it also ensures falling short of one's potential.
Person C will make progress, but they
are at high risk of ruin from overdoing it, and they may even find themselves regressing over time from an excess of effort.
Person B seems to have found some sort of sweet spot. This occurred
despite pushing too hard. The period of pushing too hard led to a better understanding of where that sweet spot was.
The lesson here applies to all areas of life. Don't be afraid to overdo
it every now and then. Lots of people get crippled with anxiety about overtraining, under-recovering, sleep deprivation, and more, despite barely deviating from the norm.
Most of you could
probably work harder without ruin. There are some of you who might be pushing too hard in all domains of your life, but is that the norm? No, it's not.
If you are already like Person C,
this isn't for you.
If you are Person B, well done, you made it.
But, if you are Person A, you need to get out of your comfort zone. To sweat. To hurt. To get tired. To feel like you have done too much. Not always, and not forever, but I want you to be honest with yourself about whether you ever really push yourself?
Think about it...
