Beyond Numbers: What to optimize for?
Most people I have met workout to build their bodies. A common theme across bodybuilding is when we see someone lifting a plate heavier than us, we also go heavy. Here comes ego lifting, lifting an uncomfortable amount of weight to impress the people you don’t know. One of the common results of this activity is a muscular injury due to continuous excessive weight training.
I have also gone through this and got enough injuries to learn. Last week, I was thinking if I don’t optimize for lifting more and more then what am I optimizing for? What do I look out for? What do I maximum? What is the goal in the gym? The answer came from Kai Green(a pro bodybuilder) who said that the goal of bodybuilding is to develop our muscles via hypertrophy. Using progressively heavy weights is one way to achieve it. Other ways are controlling the intensity and there are many others. So, numbers or using heavier isn’t the only means to achieve it.
We began with a goal to look and feel fit and we pivoted it towards ego lifting (chasing heavier numbers) rather than understanding how to achieve hypertrophy. Maybe we didn’t know what hypertrophy is.
I think sometimes you measure the goal by how it feels and then find a way to track it. Like I had a great workout because it feels good. The result should be tracked by increment in muscle gain and not just look at the amount of new plates one lifts.
Start with how you want to feel → Find a way to track it.
