Staying in our lane and keeping this post revenant to fitness I will use three common goals and scenarios.
Weight Loss is achieved by consuming less calories than you expend. Keep in mind I am not talking about muscle, health, or long term sustainability. If you aren’t losing weight you must first analyze how many calories you consume and how many calories you expend. If you don’t know the answers to these questions there isn’t really any reason to move on to steps 2,3,4 and so on. You don’t possess the right information within step 1 which means you are guessing. You don’t know where you stand!
Maximal strength is obtained by overcoming gravity with more weight in the movement patterns you want to become stronger. If you come into the gym and just throw weight on the bar with a guess from what you did a few weeks ago you also don’t know where you are. Gaining strength maximally requires knowing the weight on bench press you did for 3×8 last week so even if you only get 2.5lbs more on your final set you can leave knowing you actually improved from the previous week.
Pain IMO is mostly dictated by the quality or lack thereof within your movement. If you move the barbell away from your shins on a deadlift I can guarantee that you will have lower back stiffness and pain a few days later. If you squat and bounce off of your toes I can assure that you will experience knee and hip pain. If you do have pain in these movements do you know why? Have you asked for improvement?
Guessing and hoping isn’t a good way to reach your goals.
Count the cost. Move the dirt.
