Progress Isn't Linear
The temperature from season to season isn’t linear. There is no one coldest day that slowly warms up to the hottest day in summer and then slowly drops back to cold. It undulates, day to day, week to week, and month to month. Looking back though, you’ll see a trend of it eventually warming up enough to be summer, and cooling down enough to be winter.
Progress isn’t linear either.
It’s something I emphasize to my clients all the time. Just because you ate well for a day, or a week, or even a month, doesn’t mean the scale will change the way you want.
Following a training program for the first time will likely lead to gains, but after years of training, you may not PR every few weeks, or even months or years like you did at the beginning!
It can be frustrating. You do everything seemingly right, only to have your metric for success not budge.
Maybe you’ve seen some rapid progress due to making some changes to your diet and lifestyle. Does it mean those things don’t work anymore if you stop seeing the same rate of progress? Absolutely not! It usually just means you need to keep going.
Progress Happens In More Ways Than One
Progress takes time. Usually lots of time. And repetition. Lots and lots of repetition.
I was reminded of this myself today. Big Shoulders CrossFit doesn’t have the most members it’s ever had. It’s not bringing in the most money it ever has in a month. But progress isn’t linear. These also aren’t the only metrics that matter to me.
What has improved is my operations. My consistency in delivering a quality product. I’ve trimmed out unnecessary expenses. Overall Big Shoulders CrossFit is doing well, and in many ways better than ever.
We’re usually our toughest critics. We choose to only see what we haven’t done and overlook what we have.
Take a moment and reflect on this for yourself. What ways have you improved since you first joined BSCF? Maybe getting to the gym is a regular part of your life now when it wasn’t before? Maybe you eat a little better than you used to. Maybe you drink less coffee because you have more energy naturally?
Your fitness journey likely hasn’t been a clear linear path, but if you’ve stuck with it, you’ve probably seen progress!
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