If you’ve read these blogs for any period of time, you’ll know that one of the key messages I try and get across is;
“Knowingly suboptimal and done being better than theoretically better but deferred”
Some degree of forward progress, or even damage limitation, will always beat doing nothing or sliding backwards.
From my experience (over 22 years), one of the biggest derailers of our success is;
“I’ll leave it till next week”
Which is often underpinned by “That’s not worth doing”.
This applies to our eating.
But just as much to our exercise.
If our plan is to “do three workouts per week”………..
And one week we think we could only get one in at most……..
Then it’s tempting not to do any.
Or even to maybe “catch up” with four next week.
If I had a pound for every time I’d asked someone “How come you didn’t do the one workout?”……..
And they replied with “I didn’t think it was worth it”……..
Well, I’m not saying I would be a millionaire……..
But I’d probably have a few thousand pounds.
So, is it true?
Is one workout not worth doing?
The answer, when we really stop and think about it, is a clear no.
Let’s do the maths on it.
You could argue that a fourth workout in a week is an extra 33% more effective than three.
A second workout 100% more effective than one.
So, what’s one divided by zero?
Infinity.
The difference between zero workouts and one workout is infinite.
Literally zero benefits versus infinitely more benefits.
A useful analogy is to imagine two otherwise identical twins.
One has done one workout per week for the last 30 years.
The other hasn’t exercised at all in three decades.
Does anyone really believe that there is zero difference in their health and fitness?
That first workout is the most beneficial.
Essentially diminishing returns after that.
And the same applies with duration.
Five minutes is infinitely more beneficial than no minutes.
The twin with 30 years of blasting out five minutes of burpees once a week clearly being in better shape than the one that had done nothing.
And it’s not just the benefit of that single workout.
It’s the effect on the probability of more.
Doing one workout this week makes three next week more likely than zero this week will.
We’ve not “stopped and need to start again”.
We’re slowing down and speeding up as circumstance dictates.
So, next time we’re tempted to “leave it till next week” because it’s not worth doing………
Let’s remember that some exercise is infinitely more beneficial than zero………..
And makes more exercise going forward more likely.
Much love,
Jon ‘and beyond’ Hall
P.S. When you’ve realised that forward progress now will always beat waiting…… then let’s stop waiting……. —> www.myirse.co.uk/apply
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RISE in Macclesfield was established in 2012 and specialise in Group Personal Training weight loss programmes for those that don’t like the gym and find diets boring and restrictive!
