Squats Again???

By Ryan Humphries
Co-Founder: Axistence Athletics

Yes. We’re squatting again. We’ll also do push-ups again. We’ll do pull-ups again. Then we’ll do cleans again. And then we’ll do (insert movement here) and we’ll do them again and again. Why?

​Results.

I understand the desire for folks wanting to do something different everyday. It’s a novel way to workout….but it’s no way to train. If we are really looking for results and we really want to get better, we need to apply a similar stimulus to the body on a regular basis so it has a chance to adapt and change.

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Imagine if Michaelangelo had wanted to paint something completely different everyday he picked up his brush… The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel would look a lot different.

To get good at anything, we need to practice. If you’re reading this, then you’re likely already workout out. You may as well become proficient at it…

“But coach, I’m not trying to be the best at exercise, I’m just trying to workout!”

I hear you, and if you’re working out purely to break a sweat, then I know a few bootcamps around town I could introduce you too 😁 However, if you’re working out because you want to be strong and well-conditioned for the rest of your days, novelty is not your friend.

Musicians, artists, fighters, and athletes… The masters in these fields may indeed possess “natural talent” at the beginning, but one of the traits that led them to their mastery was repetition. Doing the thing again and again.

You have reasons for going to the gym. You have goals. I want you to reach those goals.

In doing so, please know that you’ll need to repeat a few things. Will it be boring? Well, that depends on how you look at it. Being bored is a choice.

Is it boring to get stronger than you are now? Is it boring to get faster or more powerful? How about looking better naked, how boring is that?

I’ll tell you what’s not only boring, but also frustrating, and that’s THINKING you’re doing the right thing, when you’re really just spinning your wheels.

We have so many distractions with our phones, computers, and smart watches vying for our attention, I worry that no one will have an attention span in 10 years. I see this carried over into the gym all the time. Rather than repeat an exercise that’s known to deliver results, a lot of folks would rather try that new thing they saw on Instagram.

If you’re looking for novelty, scroll your Facebook Stories, Tweets, Instagram Reels, and SnapChats. In fact, scrolling and doing random workouts in the gym will return similar results. It’ll feel good for a little while and then you’ll realize you didn’t really do anything to get you closer to where you want to be.
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The next time you see the same exercise repeated, I encourage you to look at it with a different mindset. Could you do the same numbers as you did last time? Could you do it better? Could you do it differently? Questions like these can not only help you stick with your training, but they may also lead you down the path to mastery.