Vic’s Log, June 3: Novacula Occami
I have to admit I have no patience. I am to patience what German engineers are to standup comedy.
I simply cannot wait. And that’s in most areas of my life: I don’t want to queue in a store or a restaurant. I can’t stand the commercial breaks during a TV movie. I’d rather drive an extra 10 miles than getting stuck at a railroad crossing. I hate when people are late at an appointment.
But I have suffered from common sense most of my life, and I know that some things are worth waiting for because they just can’t happen immediately. One of those things is body transformation and strength gains. No matter who you are, it’s simply not possible to get real results in no time. Strength, fat loss, mobility, speed and endurance are improved one day at a time, and many people are not ready for that.
They wake up in the morning, guzzle with strong authority their first protein shake made of raw chicken, MyoOxidized Branched-Chain Amino Acids 3000 and krill oil, train at the gym with enough intensity to refill the battery bank of a scientific base in Antarctica, and realize after a week that there is no noticeable change in their body composition. They give up and decide that they will never be lean and strong. It’s not their fault, and they have plenty of excuse to back that up: they were dealt the wrong genes at birth; the training protocol they followed was the wrong one for them; their life is too busy to have time to go to the gym or train at home; losing weight is for ego-driven narcissists; as a kid, they were part of a medical experiment that immunized them against tetanus, polio and fitness…
We’ve been conditioned to rush, get results, find the magic pill, to bio-hack the heck out of our training. We think that there is always a way to avoid the hard work, to minimize the time we put in, to not need the discipline necessary to progress at a steady pace. We’ve been bombarded with advertisements about how to “Lose 200 pounds in 2 weeks”, how to “Get a beach body for this summer”, how to “Be ready for the Olympic Games in 5 easy steps”.
The reality is way simpler than that. It can be summarized in two words: consistency and perseverance.
When it comes to the body, progress and improvement are slow. Don’t rely on a magic root from Tibet, a revolutionary equipment used by astronauts on their way to Mars, or a fitness guru who promises extraordinary results in just 7 minutes a day.
There is no groundbreaking way to get in shape or to become stronger. It cannot be delivered in 24 hours by Amazon. The reality is anything but fancy. As we regularly remind participants of our Kettlebility Transformation Challenge, and everyone we work with whose goal is to get stronger and more able, the recipe has been the same since the dawn of age: train consistently, move more often, get stronger, watch your diet and get plenty of water, fresh air and sleep. Take your time. Enjoy the journey and focus on practicing the fundamental skills while learning new ones in a safe and efficient manner. It’s that simple, and it works.
–Vic Verdier
