Progressive Resistance

On your first day stepping foot in a gym, you’re probably not going to try to pick up these.

 

 

More likely, you assess your starting point and gravitate towards some weights that will challenge you a little.

But not too much.

Maybe something like this:)

As time progresses and you become stronger, those little weights begin to feel puny. They are no longer a struggle as you become stronger.

So, you apply the theory of progressive resistance, trading in your little weights for some that are just a little bigger still.

And a strange thing happens as you progress to heavier and heavier weight.

If you do it right, the resistance always feels about the same.

Not because the weights aren’t changing,

But because you are.

 

It would be nice if life progressed like sessions at the gym.

But that’s rarely the case.

Often, you’re humming along, happily curling your 1 pound weights when life suddenly drops this in your lap-

And expects you to lift it.

 

Life’s challenges rarely come with a warm-up.

We usually don’t have the prior warning to begin training for the challenge.

The trial simply appears. And we either have to figure out how to lift it.

Or we end up crushed.

 

You can wail it’s not fair.

Or complain that it’s impossible.

Or you can get to work.

 

Take it apart. Break it down into manageable pieces. You can lift anything if you make it small enough.

Enlist a buddy. Ask for help. A load is lightened by many hands.

View your challenge compared to others. It may not be as heavy as it looks. Perspective has a way of making mountains into molehills. 

Tackle your trials a little at a time. Each experience will make you stronger for the next. Celebrate your growth.

Ignore the impossible for a time and build yourself. Get better, get stronger and then come back and show it who’s boss.

Seek out the experts. Learn how to lift and how to breathe. A little guidance can go a long way.

 

Progressive resistance teaches us that it’s okay to get there in baby steps.

That struggle is rewarded with strength.

And that there is no burden we cannot lift given enough time and enough effort.

 

So when life throws these at you,

 

get busy training.