Why The Sequel Is Never As Good 

Ridiculously common if you coach people or own a gym, the “fitness rut” is one of the leading causes of quits, cancels, and holds. And this diagnosis we far too often examine the solution and ignore the cause. We prescribe a number of strategies in attempt to re-configure behavior that will lead to improved habit. We try to unplug the motivation, and plug it back it like it’s lost wifi.

That’s a misfire.

We need to be examining the root cause of the symptoms. First, we must understand the general and often predictable timeline of a rut. Usually, the rut with fitness occurs after the initial results spike and our progress begins to level out to normalcy. Yes, normalcy. We know with scientific certainty that beginners make the biggest jumps in their progress the first three years (because the stimulus is all new), and typically after the initial peak is achieved, as the curve starts to flatten out and we no longer see “results” in the same jaw dropping fashion, the rut begins to set in and makes itself at home in your brain.

Where you previously PR’d every time you attempted a new weight, now, you realize your gains are slowing. Where you previously lost a pound per week, now, your weight is beginning to level out. All normal, all healthy. But your expectation of what to expect with fitness was so great based on your initial success, that you have forever set yourself up for frustration in next phase. It’s the same reason that we are always disappointed by the sequel. While it may be great on its own it is always unfairly measured against the first act.

Surely, there is a way we can void the rut altogether.

Solution: Don’t judge the sequel by the original.

Understand that as humans, we are all unique, we age, we have varying stress levels, we have lives. When you start to expect three to four hours of weekly fitness to act as your magic pill that cures and fixes everything, that’s when you run into trouble. Use fitness as part of a greater healthy life with many contributing factors to success, not as something you can constantly squeeze more and more out of to continue chasing the result high.

Said differently, stay the course. It’s not always a straight line.

-Dave