Let Me See You Sweat

A frequent conversation I have with friends, loved ones, and clients is about how long it takes to see actually results from training.

People, please understand, that no matter what anyone tells you, the science is irrefutable.

There are three fundamental laws of physical fitness.

The Law of Specificity

The first law is the law of specificity. This means, you train what you want to improve the hardest. For example, if you want to increase your endurance so you can run a few miles without getting tired, you train by running. You must resistance train to lose fat and tighten up your body, or even build bigger muscles. Permanent change because of training takes 6 to 12 weeks. The amount of fat loss, toning, and muscle-building you want influences the amount of resistance training you do, which leads us to the second law.

The Law of Overload

The second law of fitness is the law of overload. In order to stimulate change in our bodies, we must challenge ourselves to greater and greater degrees periodically. So if you squatted 150lbs this week, you might squat 165lbs next week or if you did 10 reps at 150lbs this week you might do 12 reps at 150lbs next week. The point is to challenge yourself significantly enough each week to stimulate continuous change in your body. Consider the third law if you think about quitting because you didn’t plan on working that hard.

The Law of Reversibility

The third law is the law of reversibility. This simply means that you should not quit your new training routine. If you quit, you find that it gets harder to get back on track every time. As fitness professionals, my colleagues and I are both familiar with more complex training fundamentals such as periodization, to keep you improving, which is why you should hire or consult a certified personal trainer when you are serious about making lasting significant changes.

The bottom line is that change takes hard work and time. If your intention is to improve the way your body, looks and works, then you need to be prepared to sweat.