Autonomy 🤸‍♂️🍔✊ GMB Fitness

Trajectory of a Fitness Journey

December 31, 2020 GMB Fitness Season 2
Autonomy 🤸‍♂️🍔✊ GMB Fitness
Trajectory of a Fitness Journey
Expectations of a Fitness Journey
Trade offs, Adjustments, and Choices
Time and Progressing
Example: Beginner, New to Fitness
Example: Regular Exerciser, Plateauing
Example: Recreational Athlete
Goals and Planning
Autonomy 🤸‍♂️🍔✊ GMB Fitness
Trajectory of a Fitness Journey
Dec 31, 2020 Season 2
GMB Fitness

Everyone starts the new year with a slew of well-intentioned goals. And with goal setting comes questions of how to take the steps to reach them, when you'll hit that mark, and how to know if you're doing the right thing.

In this episode, Andy and Ryan talk about ideals, expectations and reality, and how to honestly and confidently start or continue your fitness journey.

We cover:

  • why there is no set path and no optimal rate of progress
  • 3 examples of where you might be in your fitness journey 
  • how to assess and progress from where you are
  • trade-offs you might need to make
  • how to set a goal and take the first steps

Learn how to assess where you are and take the first or next step to get where you want to go.


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Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers



We cover:

  • 3 examples of where you might be in your fitness journey 
  • how to assess and progress from where you are
  • trade-offs you might need to make
  • how to set a goal and take the first steps



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Andy: [00:00:00] All right. All right. Welcome to the Greasy Melted Butter podcast.

Ryan: [00:00:03] Yummy yummy.

Andy: [00:00:05] We are going to teach you how to get slick, get smooth, and perhaps not coagulate when things cool down a bit.

Ryan: [00:00:12] Sounds delicious.

Andy: [00:00:15] So this is Andy. Ryan is here. 

Ryan: [00:00:17] What's up everybody.

Expectations of a Fitness Journey

Andy: [00:00:18] And today we are going to be talking about the fitness journey. People ask about this a lot of times: I'm just getting started. What can I expect to happen over my first year of training? 

Or I've been practicing X, Y, and Z for the past 15 years. What is a realistic way to look at what's possible for the next five years or the next few months? Or how do I make decisions about where I should be in my journey.

 And I think that one of the things is interesting is that we hear about journey so much with stuff. And I think that's great. I think it's good that people are focused on the process rather than a goal a lot of times, which I think is actually really refreshing to hear. 

Because so much of what you do see about fitness and training is focused on getting a handstand, getting a six pack, losing 978 pounds, fitting into the swimsuit, all of these things which are not bad goals necessarily, but they're definitely focused on arrival somewhere rather than the things that you have to be doing to get there. 

And since, GMB, we're very much about making this a part of your life, we want it to be something that you're focused on doing, rather than something you're focused on getting and then stopping.

Ryan: [00:01:41] Yeah, I think, well, I know that so many places out there are so focused on the end goal, that they really lose sight of just being here right now and just actually enjoying what you're doing and having the opportunity to actually understand that right now is really all that matters. To go pretty deep on, life and things like that.

You can always have a goal and goals are great but, focus on what you're doing right now and try and stay focused on the here and now. Being able to do that better is going to make you better and actually help you to reach those goals more efficiently, but also with less stress.

And I think that's the big thing too, because let's be honest. We can become quite frustrated for thinking that we don't have something, but gonna tell you a little secret. And this is actually isn't really what we're talking about today. Just as long as you put in the work, you'll eventually get it,  that's always been my thing.

Thanks to my gymnastics coach, Mark Folger. He was always like, just do the work and it'll happen, and so just focus on what's right in front of you. And that's where, I always say make it pretty because that focuses on the here and now. And that's something that you can really focus on.

But today though, we're going to be looking at the actual, that journey, if you will. And some examples of  what's going on and things you can focus on right now in order to help you as you're working towards whatever goal you are working towards.

Andy: [00:03:08] Yeah. And so I think it's important to start at the beginning and look at this in context. I do want to say that I think a lot of times when people are asking about what they can expect or what their journey or their trajectory should look like, my concern is that it can, a lot of times be too focused on an idea of comparison to some sort of imagined ideal.

And this is something that we've talked about a lot of times on the show in the past too, is that even though we do have, of seven point whatever billion humans we do share a lot like 99% of our DNA. Most of us share the number of limbs we are born with. And within a certain range of cognitive abilities, physical capabilities and whatnot most of us live in societies that look pretty similar.

So there are, there could be a bell curve of standards where you would expect to fall somewhere in the middle of that, of what you might consider normal, but nobody wants to consider themselves normal. If you ask 10 people, do you consider yourself above average? Nine people will consider themselves above average.

And this is statistically impossible. We know this, we know that at least seven of those people are average. But the thing is that a lot of times when we're talking about where should I be in my fitness journey, what should my trajectory be? What can I expect in a year? These are attempts a lot of times to compare against an imagined ideal. 

And what I mean by that is that this ideal is, it's not wrong, it's not bad, but you need to be careful that you're comparing what you can do versus what somebody with a different set of circumstances might be able to achieve in a year. And we'll talk about some of the things that affect this.

But the most important thing is to know that your trajectory is not a set path towards some optimal rate of progress. There is no optimal rate of progress. Just like what Ryan was saying. If you do work, you will progress at the rate you progress. And there are things you can do to speed that up, but you also have to recognize that if you invest in speeding up your progress of your physical training, you're also diverting resources from your progress or quality of life and other things. 

And this is what a lot of people don't want to recognize is that yes, you can. And we talked about recovery methods before, and we've talked about buying gadgets for recovery and yes, if you have the money and you will use it every day, then like the massage gun Ryan has is great, but okay.

Recognize that's a hundred dollars less, you have, and 15 minutes a day that you're not spending on other things. And if that's the way you want to spend your time, that's fine. But you need to understand that there's no right answer about what your fitness journey should look like. There is no correct trajectory, but we can try to project averages.

Trade offs, Adjustments, and Choices

Andy: [00:06:14] And then it's your job to understand what your trade offs are and where you'll be on the, over, under, at 3 months out, 6 months out, 12 months out. So we're going to talk about some of those factors now. So trade-off wise, Ryan, what are some of the things that people need to be trying to keep in mind here?

Ryan: [00:06:32] Yeah. And  and also to just throw that continue on what you just said just very quickly, and this is why it's difficult for us to actually give an answer for when somebody asks us how long handstands going to take, how long a planche is going to take and things like that. Even within that practice of working towards a particular skill, there are also further deeper questions that you could ask, but there are literally no answers because so many different factors and that's what we're going to be talking about right now.

Everything comes back to that trade-off of management of what you mentioned earlier. And so therefore, if you do want to focus more time on let's say for example, your planche, then you just have to understand that you're going to be sacrificing something else time-wise. Lot of people will look at that sacrifice as a bad thing, but it has to happen because there has to be a balance. There is nothing else. If you want to do something therefore something else is going to have to be decreased or whatever it is in order to make sure that you're moving towards whatever goal it is.

Again, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just a choice that you make.  For example, as you get older, you're going to have more responsibilities maybe, depending on your job and what you're doing. So therefore you have to make that decision. Are you going to work more in order to move towards whatever it is you want therefore have less time to work out?

Or maybe you have children, maybe you get married, your priorities are going to change. And again, this is not a bad thing. The important thing though, is that you just need to understand that yes, it is going to change. Therefore, when you go into your sessions, you need to go into it with a new mindset and that new mindset is very simple. It just needs to look at exactly where you are right now in your life and say, this is where I am. This is what I can do and say, okay, let's do it. Instead of maybe looking back to I don't know, 10 years ago when you weren't married, when you had all the time in the world for your workouts.

So that comparison is something that we do need to stay away from as we move towards wherever it is we're going with that. What it just comes down to is just being real with yourself. And this is actually a refreshing thing.

If you can truly be real with yourself and say, all right, this is where I'm at. And this is what I can do with the amount of time that I have, because there are other things that I want to focus on. That's freedom because then you won't be stressing about it. You're actually, you know exactly what's going on. And I love that to be honest. Now I know exactly what I can do.

And so I don't have this extra pressure that I try to put on myself to think that I should be doing something just because I had the time X number of years ago or whatever it is. So again, don't think of back in the day.  Think of right now and really appreciate that because where you are right now is where you've chosen to be. And where you want to go, you decide right now where you want to go. And that's a cool thing. So yeah, anything to add to that?

Time and Progressing

Andy: [00:09:41] Yep. Yeah. Well, I think that, even to get very specific, we often get questions about, how long do I need to do this variation before I can progress to the next variation of an exercise? How long do I need to be able to hold fully tucked back lever before I'm ready to extend one leg or something like that. And sometimes it's not even about how long do I need to practice this, but do I need a 10 second hold, a 15 second hold? 

And here's the thing exactly what you were saying, Ryan, is that focusing on what you're doing will actually answer that question most of the time. How long do you need to hold until you can extend a leg? Well start holding. And then when it feels like it should be easy to extend a leg, you'll be holding. It will be like, huh, I bet I could extend a leg. And then you try it and see, and that's when you know, you're ready to extend a leg. 

That's the answer to most of these progression questions is to not worry about the next step, but to be where you are completely. And then you will get the signals from that, that, "Oh, well, I think I can just do something else."

Ryan: [00:10:43] Exactly and it happens naturally. So this is, what's so difficult and as a human being, we are looking for control. We want to have control because we feel better when we understand and we can say, "Oh, okay. If I do this, therefore this, okay. Now I don't have that fear of not knowing."

 But the important thing is, and what is so difficult is to understand that there is no set program out there. Okay. So surprise. It's exactly what Andy just said. And that is: what does it feel like to you at that point right now? And that's why in GMB we're so, so adamant about saying, being aware, feeling what's going on. 

No. One minute, hold. I don't think you need that personally, because, I mean, I don't know if it's going to work for this person. Maybe it won't work for this person, but hey, 10 seconds might be just good enough. 

And here's the other thing too, is you can get so anal about things that you can miss out on the fun of everything and the exploration. And so my thing, stop counting seconds. Just go by feel. If this is feeling good and you're happy with where you're at, great. Appreciate that. 

Then, push that leg out a little bit, just see how it feels. Does it feel like you can still work on it? Okay, cool. Then continue working on it. The other thing too is understand that today you might be able to do that. Tomorrow when you try it, it might not be as good as it was yesterday.

Okay. Why? Who knows? It doesn't matter. Okay. It is what it is. Just understand that just because you don't have it. Or it's not as good. And I hate to say good, but because it's not as it was yesterday, doesn't mean that you're getting worse at it. There's so many different factors in there. 

Just understand that day it's not there. Come back to it the next day and you know what, it's probably going to be there. And so this is especially true for something like the handstand, where there's so many different factors that come into play when you're doing this based off of strength, flexibility, and control.

And so again, let's be in the moment if you will, and just say, okay, "This is where it is today. Cool." Work with what you got and just take note of it, be aware, and then the next time you come back to it, just keep bringing that awareness and then over time you will get it. How long will it take? I don't know, but you will get it as long as you're in tune with everything and you keep looking at it that way. Yeah, it doesn't- 

Andy: [00:13:25] Yeah. It doesn't matter how long it takes. And the thing is we can't tell you. People always ask us, well, just ballpark. How long does it take to get a handstand? I don't know, dude. I have no idea. I have no freaking clue. Can you support your weight on your hands?  Have you done anything like this before?

Ryan: [00:13:42] Are you overweight?

Andy: [00:13:43] How's your balance? How's your shoulder strength? How long is it going to take you? How long is it going to take for you versus someone else? I have no idea. 

How long are you going to practice each day? How many times are you going to practice? Are you going to practice with the right attitude? Are you going to practice with your full attention? 

Yeah. And so this is also even if we take two people that let's say they're the same size, same weight, same background. And they both start doing our Elements program and they do the program four times a week, 30 minute sessions, same days, they are eating the same foods, they get the same amount of sleep. Everything's identical right?

One person opens the program looks at and says, "Yeah, I know this thing. I'm just going to do it." And moves onto the next one and keeps going through it. The other person, reviews the cues and says, "Oh, I need to focus on this. Okay. I'm going to focus on keeping my butt up in my Bear. Oh, I'm going to focus on pulling with my shoulders and lats in the Frogger instead of pushing with my legs, I'm going to actually follow the instructions."

These people are going to get extremely different results. And the way you approach the same exercises makes a difference too. And so getting back to trajectory. The trajectory of growth doesn't necessarily only depend on the time you put in and the things we do.

And so we talked about trade-offs, but of course, just because you're working out, doesn't mean you're not spending time with your family. You could be working out with your family. There's different ways to approach all of these things, but you have to figure out your own set of trade-offs where these things are and the way that you're approaching each of these steps.

Example: Beginner, New to Fitness

Andy: [00:15:19] So we're going to give some examples of the way, three examples of how a fitness training trajectory might look for three archetypes of people that we tend to work with a lot that do our programs that we hear from. But keep in mind all of this context that we've just been talking about because these aren't rules.

And these aren't saying that this is how much you'll get done in a certain amount of time, because it is going to vary wildly from one person to the next, based on where you decide you are putting your emphasis and energy into the way you approach these things. 

Your trajectory is always going to be a function of the amount of focus you put into a thing. And as you divert focus from one thing, it changes your trajectory from other things that you're not putting as much focus into. All right?

So with that, let's go on and get into some examples. The first one, we'll just talk about somebody who's just never done any training before, would describe themselves as out of shape.  And they are just getting started with  exercise. How would this person's fitness journey  tend to look? And let's not say ideally, because I don't want to. I don't even want to pretend to be making comparisons here, telling people that this is the way it should be, but what would you say would be a typically good way that this could pan out?

Ryan: [00:16:43] Yeah. So the cool thing about this particular example is that you're going to see like results, no matter what. Now what are those results? I don't know. But I can pretty much guarantee they're going to have an increase in strength, better flexibility, and their control is going to improve because they're pretty much coming from nothing, if you will.

That's a cool thing. And first thing though, that's very important is you got to make sure that you assess where you're at. And not thinking that you should be doing more. If anything, in the beginning, thinking of just doing less,  bringing more focus and attention to what you're doing. Basically easing into it. 

Looking at, after you do that assessment, let's say that it says, okay you need to be focusing on your strength, then you realize, "Wow.  I thought I had the strength in X place in my body, but I actually don't. So I'm just going to focus on that."  And, you know, an example that we have now in here is it could maybe just mean that you start going for a walk. And some people will be thinking, wait a minute, that's not strength, but yes it is.

If you haven't done anything up until this point, the simple act of just going out and walking more is going to strengthen, not just your legs, but also your lungs. It's also going to help with the endurance so that when you start to get into something, for example, like our Elements program, it's going to help you to be able to do it better. 

And yeah, you can just jump right into Elements, but again, if you've never done any of this kind of thing, you really want to make sure that you're taking note of where you're at, doing the assessment. And of course, this is the thing that we have you do when you start in Elements.

So it's not like we're asking you to do this and not giving you any examples of doing it, but, start to work on that and just focus on a single point. Really that's really what it comes down to. Because again, just the sheer fact that you've started. The fact that you're in there doing something now, it means that you're going to see progress in your strength and flexibility and your control.

And just appreciate that. Again, don't think you should be doing more stuff. Just focus on something. One thing, ease into it. And the cool thing is that after you do focus on that one thing, other things will come up that you'll start to take notice of.

And I mean this in a good way, for example, you start to feel better and you're like, wow. You know what? I think I want to really start to improve my strength or improve my flexibility. For example, if it were strength, then great. Move into Integral Strength program. And again, you'll go through the self-assessment and let you know exactly where you need to be focusing.

And then within that program, you do the same thing. You just focus on a single point focus and then just continue to work through that. And again, at this stage, it's super cool because everything is new. Feels good. And the only thing though, is that at this stage, people can get really excited and thinking that they should be doing this and this and this and this and this and this. And instead what you really just need to be focusing on is that single thing and just sticking with it and, yeah, that's it. 

Andy: [00:20:01] So if you're really just getting started and you've never done anything before, your trajectory should really just start with an honest self-assessment. You need to be finding out your readiness level for doing a certain kind of exercise.  We have assessments for our things. You need to see if, can you squat down and touch the floor? Can you put some weight on your wrists? If the answer to that is no, well then you're probably not going to be able to start with something like our Elements program.

You need to start with something that's a little simpler, like walking or something like that. But then once you're able to, and you might do a program like Elements and go through that. And then after that, you might decide you want to continue building strength. So you might do something like Integral Strength, but the idea is you have to assess yourself and see if you're ready to start doing something. 

And if you are, then you ease into things and go from there and just take the next step. If you were just starting out before, you should not be thinking about the steps that come after that, because what's going to happen is as you take those first couple of steps and you really do your first program, you're going to discover so many things that you never knew about your body and how you feel when you're doing things that whatever you were thinking was going to be your goal or the next steps at the beginning of this process will probably not be right for you anymore. 

So that's why we think your trajectory should really just begin with starting with assessing yourself and then doing your first beginner level program and seeing where that takes you . Beyond that, it's then again, reassessing and taking the next step.

Example: Regular Exerciser, Plateauing 

Andy: [00:21:42] All right. So let's talk about now somebody who has been working out for several years, somebody who's been training for at least two or three years. They've gotten pretty strong and they've gotten to the point where either, they're starting to pile up nagging injuries, some aches and pains that keep coming back, or they're really just not making the progress that they used to anymore.

And this is something that's common and we all know that your new gains go away after a while. You stop making linear progress after a certain amount of time. Your body's adaptation catches up to  its ability to meet these constant challenges and you have to start making some changes. And you'll find that you do have some limitations that have cropped up because of, maybe you have pain because you have neglected mobility in certain areas.

So here again, the first step is to begin with assessing yourself and really taking a step back and trying to figure out, okay, you haven't made progress. Why is that? You're hurt? Why is that?Assess these things and see. Is it something where you're lacking strength, you're lacking mobility or you're lacking the control to be able to use your strength?

And so from there, your trajectory should really start with addressing your biggest weakness first. 

Ryan: [00:23:04] This is a tough place to be in. And the reason why is because you've worked your ass off to this point where you felt so good and you're strong. And what's going to happen is your ego is going to jump in and you're going. And somebody like me and Andy are going to come in and say, "Hey, listen, you need to take a step back and assess. And actually stop worrying about making your gains right now because they don't matter. And the reason why is because if you don't address this problem that you have going on, you will not continue to make gains. So just forget about it." 

And being able to take a step back and say, "Okay, listen, I'm going to take the time in order to work on the things that are my weak point, so that I can stop getting hurt. So that I can make sure that my flexibility or mobility, or my control is at a point where it's actually going to help me to get stronger." Because typically that's people at this stage, they're just looking to get stronger.

That's what it's about. And so you're going to be fine. Okay. Yes. You might not be able to, load up the bar as much as you used to, but listen, take this step back. Look at doing something that's going to help to further strengthen your foundation. And that's really what this is looking at is what are the foundational movements whether it just be your squat possibly range of motion in your shoulders.

Super simple stuff. To be honest, that gets overlooked over time when you start focusing and seeing like amazing gains elsewhere. And I hate seeing gains, but gains.  

People don't like it when people take a step back and if we were to rephrase it. Okay. Let's instead of taking a step back, let's just take a little break in order to address stuff so we can take a huge step forward. Stay where you are. 

Andy: [00:24:58] Take a step to the side.

Ryan: [00:25:00] Take a step to the side. There you go. That's it. That's what it is. And interesting thing too, it's talk about that foundation, but we found so many people who, if they were to go back and work on our Elements program, which a lot of people look at and they're like, "Oh, that's so basic."

 Yeah. For a good reason. Okay. And the thing is it's going to help you. And people saying, "Well, I want to barbell squat. I want to work on my bench press." Okay, cool. Work on your Frogger, work on your Monkey. Okay. Your squat is going to get better. I guarantee you. Okay. Unless you're doing something super stupid, then you know, you're going to, you're going to see gains in your squats by going back and looking at improving your foundation. So again, it comes back down to that assessment, just like we were talking about with the newbie, the person who's just coming into it.

Taking a step to the side and then looking at focusing on strengthening your foundation whether that be through Elements. It could be for example, if you  need more control for something, then it could be a matter of looking at more variety in your movement instead of performing the same movements over and over and over again. Maybe what's keeping you from moving forward is the fact that you've been doing the same movements over and over and over again.

So put some variety in there for just a little while. Vitamin or something like that. And so that's a good example of where taking a step to the side is actually going to help you to make huge leaps and bounds later, as long as you're addressing what you really need by performing the self evaluation. 

Andy: [00:26:40] Right.

Ryan: [00:26:40] Assessment.

Andy: [00:26:41] And so the thing is, is like humans, we think in terms of pattern matching and really reductively, to be honest. We find a thing that works and we repeat that thing and then it keeps working and we keep repeating that thing. And we create this feedback loop where we ignore more and more things that aren't the one thing that we think is the best.

And what happens is that is pretty much 99 times out of a hundred, the exact reason that we get to a point where we are at a plateau or we start to get injured more. And a lot of times people say, "Oh, am I over-training?" Sort of you're over-training one thing and under training a lot of other things.

Ryan: [00:27:24] Yeah, yeah.

Andy: [00:27:25] You're over-focused on the things that give you that feeling of reward, but the answer to making progress again is to stop doing the same thing. It's to take that step back or to the side, but people don't want to do that because it feels like we're not making, we're not gaining any more. We're not making progress.

Ryan: [00:27:44] Yeah. 

Andy: [00:27:44] Well, here's the thing dude. You haven't been making gains anyway. So shut the fuck up.

Ryan: [00:27:49] Exactly. 

Andy: [00:27:50] You need to shore up your foundation at this point. You need to re-add the things that you have progressively neglected. You need to reintegrate movements that aren't usual for you. You need to rebuild your control in extraordinary, odd ranges of motion.

You need to increase your mobility in things that aren't the classic six push, pull, et cetera. That's what you need. And so then once you do that, you'll find that you can return to like your main lifts or your main movements or the things that you've been focused on.

You can come back to your planche work or your handstand work after doing something else. And you'll find that you might have lost a little bit of your ability, but that you gain it back much more quickly and are able to move beyond that point because you have added abilities that you have progressively removed from your repertoire by over-focus on the thing you've been doing.

And that's why you need to first work on the foundation. Then reintegrate with what you've been doing, then add in some variety to prevent you from having this problem come up again. 

Ryan: [00:28:57] Yeah. This is the biggest thing that's helped me in order to continue to move forward for a particular goal. And that, is understand where I'm starting to get stagnant, plateau, if you will.

And then just say, all right. I'm going to take a step to the side. I'm going to look at, okay, what's going on? And then I just focus on that when I come back to it, I know that I'm going to be better. And so that's why it's actually so important to do this. If you want those gains, everybody, then do this. Very important.

Example: Recreational Athlete

Ryan: [00:29:25] All right. Next up, recreational athlete. 

Andy: [00:29:28] Yep. So this is somebody let's say you're a cyclist, you're a climber, martial artist. You are into archery , whatever sport or activity. You're not a pro level, but you've been doing this for a while. It's how you do your recreation. It's how you hang out with your friends.

It's the thing that you were into, and what should your trajectory, what should your journey towards training be like if you're mostly training for a combination of overall fitness and to get better at your sport? And big surprise. Again, we're going to start with having you do a bit of assessment on yourself.

Ryan: [00:30:04] Yeah, it's an assessment to start off, but I gotta be honest. This is one of the easier things for us to look at. And the reason why is because you're not so focused on exercise, if you will . It's your activity that you're focused on and your main concern is, "How can I be able to continue and, or slightly improve my activity ? Or possibly keep myself from getting injured?" Which relates to the other two that I mentioned. 

So the thing is this assessment can be super easy and in that you just say, okay, strength, flexibility or control. And then you don't try to do a whole lot of stuff. You do the minimum amount of whatever that is in order to help you just to be able to focus on your activity.

And the cool thing is, is it's just following that protocol and just doing it. And again, not trying to cram a bunch of stuff in. The unfortunate thing though, that we see is where the recreational athlete starts to understand that they need this help. And then they start throwing in a bunch of stuff, supplemental X and X.

And what happens is that their sport, their activity, actually the performance and the enjoyment starts to wane because they're too tired to do their sport or they're too sore in order to do their sport or activity. And let me tell you what. That is sad because you're doing this for your activity and your sport. So the exercise, the supplemental stuff that you're doing should not interfere with that activity. So this is where this - 

Andy: [00:31:44] And we did a whole episode on this before, so if you are a recreational athlete, go back and look for the episode that's, "Don't Let Your Fitness Hurt Your Sports Performance" or something like that. We talk about this exact phenomenon because it's so common.

And because we also are recreational athletes, we got into this to make us better at martial arts. That's the reason Ryan and Jarlo and I all started for, so this is something that we feel really strongly. Listen to that episode too, but don't fall into this trap. It's very important. 

Ryan: [00:32:13] Yeah. Yeah. And so when you assess it's just that one thing. And just see if that one thing like, and let's say mobility, and let's say that oh goodness. I have no idea. Whatever sports you're doing. 

You mentioned archery. Now I think this is pretty interesting because there's a lot of repetitive motion in this. But the thing is, let's say like your shoulder, you're starting to feel something in your shoulder and so you assess. And had you not assessed, you could just say, "Oh, I probably just need to strengthen my shoulder, also work on some mobility and then go get some massages and stuff like that." 

When in fact it could just be a matter of making an assessment and saying, "Oh, my range of motion is actually decreased because of something. And so what I just need to do is focus on a little bit of mobility, then going and just working on your shoulder, maybe doing two or three times a week to see how that goes."

If it gets better. Cool. You're good to go. But the thing is, if you go gung ho and then you go and you start to do go back to your archery. Because archery is not just a matter of strength or something. You also have that concentration factor. You also have the CNS, the control that's necessary so that you're not shaking when you're performing this activity.

Do you need to make sure that you're slowly, slowly implementing things back into it to make sure that it's not taken away from that activity. And this goes really for everything, but I think that archery is maybe a good example because right away you can see if you were to have a huge shoulder workout using heavy weights or something.

If you're really sore, that's going to carry over into you trying to hold your bow and think that you're going to be able to hold it steady while you're trying to shoot the target, which you won't be able to do. So again, slowly easing into it, looking at a single thing to see how that goes and then assessing again.

So that's what it is. Assess. Add one little thing. Try that out for a little bit, then assess again to see how it goes and if it's going better, cool. Stick with it. And that's it. Again, this is why I think with recreational athlete, it can be super simple, but unfortunately we see so many people trying to complicate it by adding in too many things.

Andy: [00:34:29] Yeah. If you working on a sport or an activity, most people, the first step is just going to be integrating some regular mobility practice to start removing some of restrictions that you've built up from repetitive motions. Then after that, something like our Integral Strength program . Just to add more strength, just to build general strength or possibly Mobius if you have a lot of rotational movements depending on your sport.

Once you've addressed the restrictions, you're just trying to add more strength to what you do and more ability to move in the ways you need to move. And while you do that, just keep focusing on the goal being the goal. Don't let your fitness overshadow your activity. 

So we covered like three basic examples here. If you're just starting out, really assess your readiness, start with something basic and then, take the next step from there. If you've been doing stuff a long time, you need to look at, what's been holding you back and fill in the cracks in your foundation that you've been neglecting. Then start to reintegrate more variety into the things when you return to your regular preferences. And if you're a recreational athlete, you probably just need to remove some restrictions and an add a little bit of strength while keeping the focus on your activity. 

Goals and Planning

Andy: [00:35:45] What all these things have in common is that you need to start with assessing where you are at and what your issue is rather than trying to compare against some idealized, optimal idea of what your path should look like.

And this is one of the reasons why if you read about planning or long range planning, you'll find that there's a lot of literature on this in business and strategy and sport and fitness as well. That we can have like long-term plans, like 10 years, five years. We can have short to midterm plans like over the next week, over the next month, over the next six months, maybe, but beyond six months, like six months to two years is a very difficult range to try to plan in, because we don't know what three steps from now is going to look like. 

We can say five years down the line. If we keep taking the right steps, we can choose the steps that keep moving as in that same direction. And we can get there and we can know what the next step is, but the middle steps are often really, really hard to tell.

So, if you're looking at trajectory, if you're looking at what your journey should look like, it's great to have a goal that you can be working towards. Even if that goal is something that's fairly general, but don't worry too much about what it's going to be looking like in the midterm. Focus on the step that you're at and then be ready to take the next step when it presents itself to you.

Ryan: [00:37:09] Nothing else to add. That's great. Yeah. So yeah. 

Andy: [00:37:14] Man. It's good. It's like we've been talking about these things for years. So that's the thing. Your journey is your journey, and I hope that, what we've talked about today gives you some confidence in, really just being at the step that you're at and taking the hell out of that step so that you can be ready for the next one.

Always just focus on assessing yourself and, looking at what you need to be doing and play your own game. You have to play your own game and play the ball where it lies instead of trying to think three or five shots down the road. 

Ryan: [00:37:48] Right. Well, thanks for listening to everybody. Bye bye.

Andy: [00:37:54] Cheers.

Expectations of a Fitness Journey
Trade offs, Adjustments, and Choices
Time and Progressing
Example: Beginner, New to Fitness
Example: Regular Exerciser, Plateauing
Example: Recreational Athlete
Goals and Planning