The Mystery of Mastery... (A Step-by-Step Guide)

by Ryan Humphries, Co-Founder & Fitness Coach, Axistence Athletics  
​
Mastery sounds pretty cool right? But what does it take to achieve it? Sure, we have to do the work, put in our 10,000 hours, and stay consistent. We all know that. But prior to our first repetition, there's something else we must do, and that's change our mindset.

Take your own personal fitness for example. If you think of fitness as "just something I know I should do", it's not going to be much fun, and you probably won't be very consistent. However, if you think about it as achieving mastery within your own body, you'll likely develop a deeper respect for the movements, leading to the results you're looking for...

The way to develop mastery is through practice, through training. The violinist at Carnegie Hall didn't pick up her instrument last month. She practiced. She trained. For years. And even though she is now a master of her craft, she continues to practice. This makes sense when we think about artists, musicians, top chefs, and other master craftsman. However when it comes to fitness, everybody just thinks they can speed up the movements, load more weight, and somehow they'll bypass the mastery aspect.  I'm here to tell you that in order to get to Carnegie Hall, you have to practice. You have to unlock the mystery of mastery.

---

Once you start viewing your own personal fitness as something that you can indeed master, you may experience the following as added bonuses:

• Higher proficiency with the movements
• Utilization of appropriate muscles
• Decreased injury*
• Increase in strength
• Decrease in body fat
• More consistency with your routine
• Increase in cardiorespiratory endurance
• Improvements in agility, coordination and balance
• Looking better naked ;)

 *Disclaimer: Even when practicing mastery, it's still possible to injury one's self. However, the risk is much lower, and although you may get hurt on your adventures; you shouldn’t get hurt training for them…

Few of us have mastered our own fitness. If we truly understand this, then we can think about our routine as more of a movement practice. It doesn’t matter if your movement practice is Olympic weightlifting, Parkour, Running, Yoga or Martial Arts. If you practice, you’ll become proficient. Once proficient, you can test yourself to measure your progress. Continue to evolve your movement practice and learn new skills to add to your routine. Practice the fundamentals, become proficient at them and you shall have all the GAINZ you’ve ever dreamed of.

Since your own personal fitness mastery shouldn't be a mystery, here's a quick guide to achieving it:

A Movement Practice Strategy, Step by Step

1. Find a coach or an online forum that you trust
2. Study and learn how to move well within the domains you've chosen (Get curious!)
3. Practice moving well often (Get in a routine)
4. Develop proficiency with the movements (practice makes permanent)
5. Become more proficient at your proficiencies (practice more)
6. Add intensity to your proficiency (speed, load, complexity, etc.)
7. Test your proficiency
8. Choose new movements and continue the cycle

You may have no desire to play at Carnegie Hall, to show your artwork in a New York gallery,  or to be on Top Chef. But just imagine what would happen if you chose to master your own fitness level... 

Whether you know it or not you're actually already mastering some level of fitness. It's the routines you're in, or not in. It's how often you choose to practice, or not. It's the mentors and coaches you've chosen to learn from, or not. It's the intensity you're adding, or not. Right now, with every repetition we do, we're all becoming masters of something...

Choose wisely.

---