Attaining vs Cruising

Training – especially when making a significant, life-changing transformation – is an arduous, long-term commitment that requires unrelenting focus and consistency.

In fact, consistency is easily the most important part, with months and potentially years of mindful eating, mindful living and showing up to the gym even on your worst days.

Anyone who’s been through this process, or is going through currently, knows all too well the FOMO of swerving boozy weekends and becoming overly pedantic at restaurants/meals out to avoid jeopardising the preceding week of graft.

Imagine then, how infuriating it is, to see some of the best physiques in your gym or your personal life, carry on at times so recklessly with their eating and their attendance to the gym.

We all know that “one guy” that has conveniently not had the time to train for two weeks and looks no different.

Despite recently returning from holiday, being sapped of motivation and struggling to snap out of holiday eating habits (all-inclusive buffet anyone?)

It’s extremely hard to impress upon people who are, as cliché as this phrase can be, in the “midst of their fitness journey”

But that doesn’t stop it being any less accurate (and it is…)

Maintenance – the act of preserving the HARD-FOUGHT gains you worked so long for – is infinitely EASIER than attaining them in the first place.

Simply put, once you’re at cruising altitude having achieved the greater proportion of your natural potential, it’s very hard to return to baseline (and certainly much easier to gain any losses back)

But why is this?

You know about muscle memory – it isn’t a myth-  but the physiological reasons behind it are due to two distinct factors: neural attenuation and myonuclei.

When you first start lifting, especially when on a professionally designed plan (wink wink) your strength increases dramatically between sessions for weeks and even months before true, cosmetic improvements are really evident.

This is due to neural attenuation: your nervous system gradually releasing the brakes on how much muscle tissue your motor neurons can innervate (use) at one time.

An untrained individual might only be able to use 30% of any particular muscle tissue, massively limiting the muscles output and potentially ability.

The more you train, the more access your nervous system gains, until eventually you’re able to routinely use 50-60% for most lifts and situations.

This explains some of the phenomenon of why some people are much stronger despite being comparatively sized.

And why after time away from the gym, it takes only a week or two to get close to your previous lifts despite the first session lagging way behind.

At this point you may ask, why don’t we use 100% of our muscle tissue all the time?

Well, like redlining an engine, you’d become extremely prone to injury and tears, and the limitation is essentially your body’s way of protecting you.

In times of crisis – like life or death – adrenaline allows you to recruit a much higher threshold.

But the point of all this is, once these units are accessed, it’s easier for your body to maintain and access them again.

Now, myonuclei.

These are essentially cells which become embedded within muscle tissue, and tell proteins, amino acids and nutrition where to go to stimulate growth and repair.

Think of it as having builders on a building site.

You may have 100,000 bricks to lay and only 10 builders.

Training is a way to boost the number of builders and get more done in less time.

This is the same with myonuclei, and well-trained individuals will have significantly higher numbers than untrained or in-training, meaning for every rep they perform and every 1g of protein they eat, the body responds better and more effectively.

And the good news about myonuclei? They’re permanent (well, at least up to 15 years)

Another reason those who’ve successfully transformed themselves or been training for years can take time off, skip gym session and eat badly and still emerge remarkably unscathed at the end of a 2-3 week hiatus.

Take all this with a high degree of positivity: if you’re currently in process, working your ass off and being diligent with your food…

…this is the hardest it’ll be.

For every week you improve, for every 1lbs of muscle you build, and 1lbs of fat mass you drop.

It’ll be easier.

For now, and for next time.

Transformation difficulty is an inverse graph – steep at the start and flatlining as you approach the denouement.

Commit to the process, delay gratification just for a while longer, and then reap the rewards of a much more liberal fun way of living with a body that is resilient to all you throw at it.

Jordan