Consistent Effort is a Principle, Not a Hack

Lifting 12 pounds today. Will I one day make it to 45?

As a woman in midlife, I’m determined to build and maintain muscle to help me stay healthy and strong as I get older.

The past few years, I’ve poked at my workouts with a stick. I haven’t really committed to anything consistent in about four years now.

And this week that caught up with me. Big numbers in all the wrong places.

So arm-in-arm with a healthy eating plan focused on protein and fiber, I decided also this week that this four-year streak comes to a close.

The first bastion to build is strength training, starting with the big butt and leg muscles. Followed by building a strong back and core.

For conditioning, I’m starting with 12 pound dumbbells. A place that will allow me to rebuild safely and that won’t blow me out of the water. You can go too hard, too fast when it comes to exercise.

I do feel a little like a girly-girl with my small 12 pound weights. But I’m also okay with the time needed to build these muscles again.

After yesterday’s inaugural workout, I would have loved to wake up this morning with all the extra weight gone and my glimmering quads on display as the thing of beauty they once were.

Sadly, I woke up to the same body.

But I expected that. Because there’s zero scenario where I should see visible changes overnight. That’s not a thing.

It’s easy to accept that principle with exercise.

We’re quick to give ourselves time and margin for growth at the gym. You have no problem giving yourself lots of atta-girls and you got this, you’ll see results if you don’t quit, rah rah rah.

We understand that the visible results of fitness take time.

So why do we feel so helpless when we don’t see overnight success in other parts of our lives?

When our business doesn’t make the big money in the first year, or five?

In our relationships when we keep seeing the same results even though we’ve tried hard to improve communication?

In changing the erroneous ways of thinking that keep defeating us?

All of those things require enormous repetition, over and over and over until you wonder if any of this is even remotely working.

Until one day, you notice that things are moving a little.

• Your clothes fit looser, and you don’t get winded walking up the stairs.
• Your ledger steps one toe into the black.
• You get through a disagreement feeling a little bit more empowered about how you both showed up.
• You reframe a tough thought before it completely takes the wind out of your day.

Consistent effort isn’t something you pull out to solve a problem right now. It’s not something you can maxx or hack.

It’s a principle that relies on the volume of repetition that makes you blind to the results.

After a while, you learn to love the reps.

The principles are the same.

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