Adaptation Makes You Stronger

Chest and abs on Monday. Back and legs on Wednesday. Bi’s and tri’s on Friday. Again. And again. Do the same routine enough times, eventually you plateau. Why is that? In a broad sense, adaptation is how you adjust to your environment. If your environment changes, you change. If your environment, or routine, stays the same, except for a few weeks worth of adding a few pounds to your exercises, you no longer need to adapt. You, both mentally and physically know what to expect. This leads to complacency, and weakness. Indeed, in any biology class, you will find that adaptation in a main component in a species ability to survive.

So, this is what makes you stronger: the destruction of routine in your workout regimen. Some of you may be creatures of routine. Meaning, your routine is that you come into the gym Monday through Friday at 5:00 A.M. That’s fine. Just know that you have embraced a ideology where routine is the enemy. And the preparation is worthwhile. Instead of having specific application to a football field, ice rink, or track, our specific application is to life. As in, you have know idea what life is going to throw at you today. Maybe you will play a game with your friends. But maybe your child needs to be picked up off the ground for the 38th time today. And maybe you need to rearrange your house. Maybe you want to give your significant other a bear hug and lift them off the ground. Just cuz. That’s what adaptation gives you: the ability to take on anything that arises with a greater degree of success than you previously had been able to. 

This is especially the case when it comes to weaknesses. Often times with new athletes, a weakness is overall strength. Many of us have either neglected the squat, deadlift, and press movements, or really haven’t had quality instruction in how to perform them. Just know, the benefits from lifting are just as real and tangible as any hard-core, 35 minute work-out we may throw at you. So, one adaptation we’d love to see is more buy in to heavy lifting days. Get stronger (not bulkier), build bone density, and overall confidence. Adapt and overcome.

(CrossFit Verve: Luke Palmisano)