From what we understand of motivation; proving reason to our actions, this becomes redundant when actions are not met with change. By this change, I am referring to positive change –results– indications of our efforts, reassurance that what we are doing is worthwhile. This is synonymous to the once referred ‘Sweat:Benefit’ and lends to the fact that even a determined attitude may not always serve us well in contrast to the expense of our effort. In simple terms, without the ability to quantify the exchange rate of the currency ‘sweat’ how would we know whether much of our energy is soon to be carelessly invested? Can we often to be so set on pursuing or achieving something in the short term that it detracts us from the ever looming end goal. Often those with a big enough reason to break bad habits and try their hand at regular exercise will likely commit themselves to difficult choices under the guise that change is likely to come with such habits suppressed and that alone. If the timeframe of said goals and aspirations for personal development is short, the sustainability of holding onto a certain weight, losing a certain amount every week or seeing improvements in strength will bear the same duration. If it has taken 10 years for the body to become morbidly obese or lose 10 stone of fat, each contrasting result in time will ultimately seek to undo itself. This satisfies a system which adheres to a constant internal environment, adapted over the course of a lifetime to keep us functioning at optimal capacity for the lifestyle we lead.

The truth is no one thing will have sufficient bearing on overall health just as no one car can extinguish fuel emissions by swapping out a single engine. The combination of better decisions alongside a strategy  that is conducive to change may collectively move the larger wheels as opposed to the smaller, cog. To see a change which will then reinforce the efforts of everything else in favour, consistency should remain a constant. Intensity or higher output, a factor most indicative to that of top athletes and the like, is something that can hinder consistency through ‘aimless’ effort. If an Olympic athlete only ever tested their podium-worthy throw and nothing else in between, the more humble throwing teammates would soon become their successors. It is the progression and reinforcement of a thousand lighter throws that come to build the eventual weightier record, lessons learned in the process and added to create the finished product. So what does this mean for the other majority of us that do not plan on setting records or committing to a life of sport? If anything can be said for the sustainability of success, it is the clamorous journey that paves the path with each gritty footstep or a multitude of jumps. The latter represent risks that one can take in order to surpass competition but are also instances of trying something new in order to break the mould of stubborn conformity. The inclination to front a thousand complex ideas as opposed to one easy one? Taking the long way round instead of the shortcut purely because of difficulty? Would this be something many consider to have any practical application? I am not suggesting that we run a marathon without any prior training because it is hard, but test the boundaries of our threshold with things we may not have a natural aptitude for, inspiring new processes and igniting dormant aspects of our predetermined makeup.  That’s enough evolution for one day.

So do the consistent throws come to surpass the brute force of intensity on the bounds of averages? The two coincide to litter points along a neat fringe of records, to be broken at the expense of someone delivering a better combination of these two factors, a point that each warrant a solid groundwork but also depend heavily on each-other collectively as a unit;

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Here the end goal of 40 is met in less time, is the reward upon reaching the goal to be as short lived as the journey or will it be more sustainable to apply consistent effort at the same intensity? This is something one can look at or apply to an approach which tackles each opportunity of progression with maximum effort. I am not advising to operate at a much lower intensity in order to see change but identify how the bulk of your energy may be utilised in some areas that could do with an adjustment period. Simply put we cannot physically operate at 100% all of the time without eventually having to ‘crash’ –sleep– imagine the state of change, whether that be weight loss, gain or changes to body composition, residing in a dormant state, in need of rest and yet equally awaiting a purpose to wake.