BACK in 2014, I decided to take my health seriously again. One of the concepts I clung to dearly, especially during those dreaded late night gym sessions, was linear progression. “Just keep adding five pounds to your working weight,” Coach would say, “and you’ll be amazed at the progress you’ll make.”
The optimist in me gleefully calculated that if I consistently added five pounds every week, I’d be bicep curling almost a hundred pounds by the end of my first year in the gym. Perfect, just in time for boating season by summer.
Reality quickly set in and as of 2018, I have NOT bicep curled a hundred pounds. Ladies, I still do not have the Schwarzenegger body to go with my Adonis good looks, so I can understand your disappointment.
Kidding aside (and before lightning from heaven strikes me down), linear progression does work—up to a certain point. When you try something new, you are bound to make significant strides in terms of technique or proficiency. This is what’s known as “beginner gains.”
When you start from beginner level— what I like to call the “blank canvas” mode— everything you do is progress, since you’re starting from scratch. It’s when you’ve accumulated a few thousand hours of the subject (or of work, when talking about the gym) that linear progression becomes sticky.
All of a sudden you’ve stalled at the same working weight for a month now, or you suddenly run out of “new” material to promote for your fledgling YouTube vlog channel. Whatever the case, hitting the “wall” (or beating your head against it) is a common and normal part of the routine.
Usually it’s an indicator that in order to progress more, you need to change up or tweak a few things. Maybe taking some time to attend literary workshops would be the next course of action if you’ve been doing mental acrobatics to churn out interesting or #lit blog entries.
A friend of mine recently wanted to get stronger and faster, so he dedicated three months to a strength program, five times a week. It was tough to commit to (he’s a lover and a fighter, so no problem), but he stuck by it and got visible, tangible results.
This brings us back to the truth about linear progression. Linear doesn’t have to mean a straight line that trends upward forever. It can also mean peaks and valleys that consistently trend upwards over time. If you have to take a step back to take three steps forward, that’s still progress.
Getting good at something takes both dedication and time; you just have to trust the process and enjoy the ride, for what it’s worth.