The Pitfall of Routine: “I do the same thing but I never improve”
If you really get in the habit of paying attention to people, you will start to notice something. Most people honestly expect improvement without having to make any changes. They do the same thing every single day and just expect improvement to come to them. They are victims to the pitfall of routine.
You want to know what happens when you don’t change? NOTHING!! Actually what really happens is decay. You may do the same thing every day and think that this will bring about “maintenance.” However, the harsh truth is that slowly over time you will get worse.
Now why does this happen? The main reason why this happens is that society seems absolutely obsessed with the concept of COMPLETION. People want an end. And they want this end as fast as possible. Whatever goal or purpose that someone is working towards, they want to get there as fast as possible.
People have really lost sight of “embracing the journey” and refuse to believe that true success in anything comes about from small incremental improvement. I’m sorry to say it but this is a byproduct of our society today… instant gratification and the high demand for NOW.
Since people want completion there is no evolution of the individual. People want their end and when they get it they think they are done. “That’s it I’ve made it. I can just sit back and relax now. I’m finally successful.” As a result, people fall into a major rut because:
They are not constantly setting new goals.
They lose motivation. You see this all the time within the music industry and professional sports. People get all this money/fame and think they have made it (which they have). But they think it just ends there… they think they are done.
They don’t have to work anymore and can just live off of previous accomplishments and their celebrity status. Combine that with reckless spending of their finances and eventually a lot of them lose it all.
A big role model to look at is 50 Cent. He achieved massive success early in his career. But he didn’t stop there. He didn’t say to himself “Oh well Get Rich or Die Trying was a cash cow… I’m done. I made it.” There were always new goals, new challenges he had to take on. He really gets it… the hustle never ends.
I think a major arena where this mindset is very prevalent is in the gym. How many people do you see in the gym making consistent gains over the course of a few years? Not many.
It’s because they fall into monotonous routine. They start going to the gym. They establish some sort of routine. And they stick with it. They find comfort in completion. They don’t make any changes. They do the same workouts on the same day of the week for months or even years at a time. This is their “comfort zone.”
The problem is that you don’t get stronger by staying in your comfort zone.
This is especially true in the gym. You don’t get stronger by doing the same exercises in the same order using the same weight. It just doesn’t happen. That is stagnation.
Monotonous Routine=Stagnation=No Growth
One thing I cannot stress enough is that in order to be successful in creating the best physique for yourself, you must recognize and embrace the fact that THIS IS A JOURNEY. It’s a very unique journey though.
THERE IS NO END!!!
Most people don’t realize this because they either don’t have goals to begin with or fail to make new ones along their journey. You must have goals in the gym. YOU MUST HAVE GOALS ON LIFE!!! That is what gives you the motivation to push beyond your limits. When you have something (some tangible goal) to work towards, you are far more likely to actually complete difficult workouts where you are challenging yourself.
Have goals. And recognize the importance of EVOLUTION. In order to evolve, you must actively make adjustments in your workouts so that they serve your needs in accomplishing the goals you have set for yourself.
Sonny
13 Comments
Great post.
Keeping a workout log is, in my opinion, essential for progression in the gym. By tracking your poundage/reps/sets each workout, you eliminate the guesswork and know EXACTLY what you need to do to progress every time you hit the gym.
Yes. When you are really serious about making gains (especially strength) a workout log definitely helps.
Pointed and well said. Keep it up.
Hey I have a workout question. I incorporated your 5 essential exercises into my workout routine and I got pretty sore after doing that lol, which is a good thing right? My question is, when you’re sore, should you still go to the gym and push thru the pain to do a full workout, or do you take a day off, or do you just do like an easy day at the gym? To me, soreness is a sign from your body telling you that it needs to recover, but I’m interested in your opinion. Thanks for starting this blog by the way, it’s a goldmine of wisdom.
Thanks for stopping by. I think there’s a difference between muscle soreness and legitimate muscle pain.
I don’t think a little soreness is enough to stop you from going to the gym.
Also those exercises should not all be done on the same day but rather spread out during a 4 or 5 day split throughout the week.
Very realistic article Sonny.
I’ve been setting a few goals on myself recently, like for 30 days, each day I complete an agenda, do push ups in the morning and track my expenses, and at day 12, I’ve added a new goal to the list, so now I make more small improvements, besides the original ones.
Yea that’s a good one tracking expenses…. Very important to do especially when you are first starting out financially supporting yourself.
It’s very important to learn the value of money.
Although I am still working on supporting by myself only, tracking the money that I get from my parents has been helping me managing them better.
I’ve now set a limit of expense per day and trying to fit each day expenses on that budget. Learned to cook meanwhile, because I needed to cut down expenses in eating out and shit like that.
How do you manage your money Sonny?
I try to spend as little money as possible and try not to take on too many bills. My rent is cheap and I drive a used truck that I payed for in cash upfront.
I cook most of my food and rarely eat out. I also only drink water. So I’m not wasting money on beer or soda on a weekly basis.
This is a GREAT article. Thanks for this. It reminds me of a book I recently read – “The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olson. We either move a step towards our goals – or away from it. EVERY DAY counts, as these steps compound over the long run.
That way, goals are not some distant events that you eventually reach. They basically happen every single day.
And when you push yourself to go beyond your “normal” routine, the change does not even need to be dramatic.
A baseball player who “just” has ONE MORE HIT PER WEEK goes from a Batting Average of .250 to .300. And thus from $2 Mio/year to $20 Mio/year.
A subtle change over time can go a long way.
Yup that’s gonna be a big theme for the future of this site.
Mike Danger over at Danger & Play had a great podcast about relying on a vision rather than goals, definitely check it out if you haven’t. Have read your blog now since your first article and it keeps getting better so you have a regular in me for sure!
Thanks for the support man. Yea Mike has a lot of great info on his site… definitely a great source.