All we need is just a little patience

It happens a lot that people tell me they need to "see where they're at."

Way too often in fact.

We all live in a society where results are immediate. Want a new shirt? Amazon will get one to you overnight. Want to know the director of photography on Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade? IMDB has your back. Want to save money on your car insurance...? Well, you get the idea. Instant gratification. We have come to expect it in every capacity.

Unfortunately biology has yet to catch up with Google, so this need for immediate results doesn't pan out too well in the health and wellness field. 

Say you test your bench press max this week...I know you want to. Great. You know it now. So what about next week? Test it again to "see where you're at?" Well...what have you done to improve it? Have you given it enough time and enough effort to elicit an adaptation or are you just going to push harder next time? Why didn't you just push that hard today? Point is, there is no point in testing and testing and testing again without giving enough training time to produce results. In fact, taking a one rep max over and over again will be counterproductive and may even DECREASE your max.

I see a similar trend in excessive use of the scale. Check the scale one day, get upset, start a new diet and hit the elliptical. Lather rinse and repeat? NO. Stay off the damn scale until you've given whatever protocol you may be using time to do its job. If you check to "see where I'm at" every day, you'll only frustrate yourself and potentially sabotage what could otherwise be a great program/plan.

And finally we come to the injury column. Point blank, injuries, overuse issues such as tendinitis, and other nonspecific maladies take time and rest to heal properly. If you're perpetually checking "to see where it's at" and trying the same movement over and over to see if it still hurts, you probably have your answer already. Your body needs time and the appropriate use of recovery methods to heal. Angering it every day is a one way ticket to the same place. 

Moral of the story here is that patience is not just a virtue, but a necessity when it comes to your body and it's well being and fitness level. Give your body and your plan time to work before you go testing "where it's at!"

That said...Amazon Prime ships 2 day for free if you need a new shirt, a coloring book, and a watch by Saturday.

Steve Decker