Continuum.
“Something that changes in character gradually or in very slight stages without any clear dividing points.”
One thing that I always see when people commence a training, diet or self improvement journey is that they try to jump ahead at the stage they’re at.
Imagine your favourite Netflix TV series.
If you watch each episode in order, you’ll enjoy it, you’ll understand it and you’ll probably finish the season.
Imagine you watched episode 1, then jumped straight to episode 6?
You would be confused. You would have no idea what was happening. You would not enjoy it.
And guess what? You would probably turn it off.
Let’s talk training.
Say you’re a complete beginner and you want to nail 10 pull ups.
Chances are you’ll start with 1, then 2, and work up to 10. Of course there are certain neunces, but you get the idea.
You would never expect to be capable of going from 0 to 10 without moving along a continuum.
When it comes to Fat Loss, people expect to be able to go from zero to hero within a short time.
Think back to the analogy of the Netflix show.
You’ll be confused, frustrated and you’ll give up when you attempt to skip steps.
If we use a ranking system for your Nutrition Habits 1-10.
1 being ‘shit’, 5 being ‘less shit’ and 10 being ‘not shit’.
If you’re currently a 1, do not try and skip to an 8 on week one.
This might be going from not knowing what a calorie is and not knowing what protein is at level 1 to being asked to track your micronutrients and reduce 10% from carbohydrates at point 8.
Too complicated and unlikely to make sense without having the appropriate knowledge gained from stages 1-7.
Moving one level at time is always achievable and manageable.
Trying to ‘hack’ the process and skip levels always results in failure.
The problem is that in a society of instant gratification, we want the end result yesterday.
Yes, the process of moving along a continuum will take longer, but you’ll get to your destination.
If you’re at level 1, focus on what small steps you can implement to move up a level.
Repeat the process. For months and years.
Coach Milligan 