Today is exactly 1 year since I published the first Existential Espresso. I think the fact that there have been 202 espressos published in the first year says enough about the effort put into it. For that, I can say I’m proud. To all those who take the time out of their day to read what I have to say, whether from day 1 or since recently, I cannot thank you enough. I’ll think about doing something special to celebrate this milestone, but now let’s get into today’s essay.
The value and advantage you are going to get in the next couple of minutes it will take to read this is unfair.
You will learn two things:
-The most underrated piece of advice from my 12 years of experience in physical training.
-How this same lesson can be translated from training into any and all other areas of your life and help you get better results.
This is not going to be yet another "work harder" lesson. You will learn a way to track your progress that most people aren't even aware of. Why is tracking your progress so important and having another way to do it an unfair advantage? It's simple: if you don't track your progress, you can't see that you are moving forward. If you can't see that you are moving forward, it's just a matter of time before you give up. The more ways you have to measure progress, the more often you can stack small wins on your journey. The more often you stack those small wins, the more motivated you are to keep showing up. The longer you keep showing up, the better results you'll get.
What I laid out applies to literally any goal or pursuit you could have. I will now explain the method through the lens of physical training and then show how it translates to other, non-physical pursuits.
One of the holy grails of strength and hypertrophy training is progressive overload. What exactly is progressive overload? It's a training method that advocates for the gradual increase of the stress placed on the musculoskeletal and nervous system. To put it in layman terms, it means making your workouts progressively harder over time. The principle behind progressive overload is simple: as your body adapts to the stress you are placing on it through training, it gradually needs more stress in order to be challenged to grow.
The most common ways of using progressive overload are increasing the weight you are using or your total training volume, week by week. But here is the problem: These two are just the most popular ways of applying progressive overload; they are not the only ones. However, if you stepped into any gym, over 95% of people would tell you that the only two ways to apply progressive overload are to increase either weight or volume. I'm not talking just about beginners but also about people who have been training for years. This is a sad reality of the fitness industry, where online influencers as well as in-person coaches have been miseducating the general public for decades.
And here is the result of this miseducation. I often get comments on my instagram page from people asking how I'm able to build muscle without going to the gym. If I have a fixed amount of weight in my kettlebell and dumbbells, I'm obviously not able to use progressive overload by increasing weight. And even if it were possible to progress in volume week after week, which isn't the case, you would end up doing sets of hundreds of reps on each exercise, which is highly impractical. So, what's my "secret"? How did I keep progressing?
There are actually at least five more ways, besides weight and volume, to apply progressive overload. Not knowing them leads people to think they can't make results by training with minimal or no equipment or to give up when they stop progressing with weight and volume in the gym, which is bound to happen sooner or later.
I don't think going deep into each type of progressive overload is a good idea because of all the people reading this who are not here for the fitness advice. But I can tell you that my favorite one is density, which means the total amount of volume done in a specific amount of time. It's something that I regularly use in my Daily Struggle programs. What I really want to discuss is the least known type of progressive overload amongst these already lesser-known types. If others are known by around 5% of people who train, less than 1% of people, including coaches, are aware of this one. And it just so happens to be that's the one that can be applied to all other areas of life.
I'm talking about the quality of reps.
Everyone who engages in physical training will come to a point where it seems like they can't make any more progress. Not in weight, not in volume, not even in the other types of progressive overload like density or tempo. But one thing you can always progress in, and sadly, so many people overlook it, is the quality of your reps.
Let's say you are following a training plan and the numbers haven't moved for a couple of weeks. Same weight, same number of reps and sets, done in the same amount of time. It seems obvious that you are not making any progress. But that's the problem; you are just looking at numbers.
Are you able to do at least one of those reps with better quality, meaning better form or better muscle-mind connection? Every time we do a workout, a significant number of reps are done by just moving the weight, or your body, from point A to point B without actually feeling the muscle you're trying to activate. Or, the reps are done in an unstable way, not having full control of the movement, and maybe not using the full range of motion. All of this refers to the quality of the rep. So, can you improve the quality of just one rep? I guarantee that you can, and often more than one. That's progress. An even better question is: have you maybe already improved the quality of your reps without recognizing it as progress? From my experience as a coach, I see that quite often. You could spend weeks putting up exactly the same numbers in your training while actually making great progress.
Now, here is the thing. Even though progressive overload is a strength training method, more and more people are realizing it can be used for non-physical pursuits. And for a good reason: it works. Complete more challenging tasks, put in more hours, and you'll progress. Until you don't. Eventually, you are completing the same tasks and putting in the same hours as the previous weeks or months. And if you know only a couple conventional ways to measure progress, you think you've stopped progressing. You get discouraged, and it's only a matter of time before you give up.
So let's apply what we just learned to other aspects of your life.
You've read the same number of pages this week compared to the last couple of weeks. You are still doing 10 minutes of meditation per day; you haven't managed to increase the duration since you started a month ago. You are "stuck" at writing 200 words per day; you can't seem to get more out of yourself. You wanted to increase the duration of your guitar practice sessions, but you still haven't moved past 30 minutes per day.
All of this seems like no progress, right?
Now let's look at it from the perspective of progressive overload through quality.
You've read the same number of pages, but have you maybe been more engaged in what you are reading? You didn't progress in the length of your meditations, but have you been able to be less distracted during them? You are still writing the same amount of words each day, but has your writing style improved? Are the sentences more coherent? Are you making fewer grammar errors? Your guitar sessions haven't gotten longer, but are you spending time in the flow state? Are you thinking less and letting your fingers glide over the strings more? All of these are examples of quality.
One rep with better form, one minute of more focus, one sentence better constructed, one concept learned with better understanding, one movement performed with less tensing—it's all progress. Not progress in the way we are used to thinking about it and tracking it, but progress nonetheless.
I challenge you to look back at all the progress you've been making without realizing it. Then, continue noticing and keeping track of this new type of progress you've become aware of. This doesn't mean you should stop caring about the more conventional ways of measuring progress. It's just that now you have more ways to measure it.
The more ways you have to measure progress, the more often you win. The more often you win, the more motivated you are to keep showing up. The longer you keep showing up, the better results you'll get. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s pretty simple.
Thank you for reading.
Free Resources:
My free ebook: The Lost Art of Reading
Paid Resources:
The Art of Showing Up: A Clear and Practical Method for Mastering Consistency
The Gold Pill: Timeless Ideas for a Life Worth Living
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