Optimal Progress Is Slower Than You Think
The pursuit of strength and health have taught me that consistent and sustainable efforts beat inconsistent heroic efforts every time. The last 2 years especially have been a game of progressing by inches instead of miles, but I have covered many miles none the less. It has taken me 18 months to fully recover from donating a kidney, concurrently with 13 months to recover from major knee surgery. I have found the following to be the safest and most consistent way to build durability, strength, work capacity, and mobility. Principles of Optimal Progress Durability: You need repeated exposure to a specific load to build up your connective tissue. Your tendons, ligaments, and cartilage strength more slowly than your muscles Work on stabilization: targeted core exercises help some. Controlling the rep speed and movement quality helps most Strength: Double progression is all you need to avoid plateauing for many years. My favorite approach is Volume Accumulation. The example below seems