by Neil Anderson
I think the above (title) needed to be said at some point. In fact, as you get better and better at the workouts, as you become more and more fit and healthy, you will find that these workouts just get harder and harder.
You'd think the opposite would be true. After all, that is how THEY sell exercise to us. THEY tell us the more you do, the easier it gets, right?
It is hogwash!
EFFECTIVE, life changing exercise that lasts forever and looks good ON will not get easier as you go. You may recover faster. You may not get as sore. Maybe you'll even begin to enjoy it more, but in our experience, exercise only gets HARDER the better you get at it.
This is as it should be.
You should know, as you get better at these workouts you will start to experience a VERY strange phenomenon. You are likely to become sure that the workouts are getting harder and harder when, in fact, they are NOT. You may also begin to become convinced that we are conspiring against you personally when programming workouts for you to perform. Again, we are NOT.
The truth is these workouts are only getting harder because YOU have become stronger. You have gained more stamina, endurance, power, speed, agility, flexibility, coordination, balance and accuracy. As you have become much healthier and more fit, your ability to crank reps has increased. This demands enormous levels of energy. You have now progressed to the point where your ability to produce work has outstripped your ability to immediately recover from it.
To get to this point you have done and learned much to assemble the basics of success. You have learned self-reliance and accountability. You have learned to muster the guts and the will to move forward through that which is painful, embarrassing, intimidating, unsightly and uncomfortable. You have learned to pay much closer attention to the auxiliary necessities of nutrition, hydration, sleep, stress level moderation, recovery, physical limitations and injury management.
These are not aspects of health which are considered by most. Neither are they well publicized. Why would anyone publicize this? Why would I? Hell, I can't think of a faster way to scare folks off. Nonetheless it is REALITY. And those who have walked through the fire that is "improved fitness and health" know all too well the realities of self-improvement.
If you are at this point, where you are convinced that these workouts are getting harder - I congratulate you. You are uncommon. And you are to be congratulated.
You have conquered this part of the journey. You have done the relatively "common," uncommonly well. While there are many more levels yet to conquer, your experience thus far predicts success in the upcoming challenges you have yet to face. It is our hope you will look forward to these challenges with an eye to ever increasing health.
Here is to you, and what you have accomplished. May you never look back.