Many years ago (wow, that sounds like I’m an old dude!) my dad told me the secret to radically changing your body into a lean and mean performance machine. (he never used that phrase but it sounds cool)
What was this secret?
Show up and work hard?
He said those are important, for sure.
Without showing up you give yourself no chance.
And yes, you need to work hard if you want to get some results.
What is it?
INTENSITY
That’s it?
Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
Let’s get to the gym and I’ll show you what I’m talking about.
That day I learned a great lesson from the old man.
Intensity, as he referred to it, was pushing yourself beyond where you want to go.
You can get a little stronger and in better shape without going balls-to-the-wall but if you want to change your body dramatically, you will need to go way beyond where you are now.
Nothing groundbreaking right?
So I asked dad if you needed INTENSITY every workout? He said eventually you will need to back off and then you go in waves, but you are always TRYING to improve.
That was the point.
ALWAYS TRYING TO IMPROVE
There are many ways to improve in your workouts.
Lifting more weight is just one of them and not absolutely essential all the time.
Even with a program like Dan John’s “Easy Strength” you never max out on a lift but you gradually increase the intensity as you get stronger.
The key is to always strive to improve.
No matter if you are doing a bodyweight circuit, a conditioning workout or a strength training workout.
To force your body to become what you want- the strongest version of yourself- you need to make sure you are pushing yourself outside your comfort zone.
INTENSITY is not just the amount of weight lifted, but the effort and resilience you bring to each workout.
For a program that will keep you on track every single day, check out :