If you haven’t read THE ASCENT Part 1 – here it is.
ONE PERCENT IMPROVEMENTS // In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about forming habits in a way that will last. He gives the example of starting the habit of first showing up to the weight room, instead of starting out with a big workout routine. If you overdo it right away, it probably won’t last. But if you can get yourself in the habit of showing up every day for 5 minutes, that can eventually turn into 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, etc. The initial barrier to breakthrough isn’t working out for 60 minutes daily for 30 days straight to establish a habit. The initial barrier is getting your butt out of bed, dressed, and to the gym.
He goes on to talk about 1% improvements each day. This may seem pretty irrelevant – I mean, how much of a difference can 1% make? Well, thankfully, James Clear does the math, so I don’t have to! “…if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.”
This doesn’t account for the ceiling of certain goals. For instance, if I started January 1 by doing 20 push-ups and improved by 1% every day for the entire year, I don’t think I’d actually be able to finish the year strong doing 740 push-ups on New Years Eve.
I actually did do 20 push-ups on 3 separate days the first week in August, along with 20 sit-ups, 20 squats, 20 lunges, and 3 pull-ups. My goals isn’t to improve 1% every single day, but what would it look like if I just improved by 1 each week? By the end of 2022 would I be happy being able to do 41 push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and lunges. Would I be happy with 24 pull-ups? You bet! Could I imagine doing 71 push-ups and 54 pull-ups a year later? No way, but that would be amazing! So, I’m going to give it a try. 3 days a week I am doing what I call 20 push-ups+ (the + is all the other exercises of 20) and 3 pull-ups, and I’ll move up 1 additional rep each week. As I write this I’m up to 22 push-ups+ and 5 pull-ups.
MY UPDATE // 07.21.2022 vs.08.18.2022
7.21.2022 [above] // 8.18.2022 [below]
| BASELINE // 07.22.2022 | UPDATE // 08.18.2022 | |
| WEIGHT | 209 LBS | 205.5 LBS |
| LDH | 120 U/L (low by 35) | No Update |
| Cholesterol | 209 mg/dL (high by 9) | No Update |
| HDL | 132 mg/dL (high by 32) | No Update |
| 3 Mile Run | 33:04 | 28:56 |
GETTING STARTED // What area of your life would you like to see improvement? What is that 1% that you can focus on tomorrow to start getting you where you want to be? Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn a new language. Maybe you’ve always wanted to run a marathon. Maybe you’ve always wanted to go on an amazing destination vacation. It was starts with one step in the right direction. What is your one step to take each day, or week, or paycheck to get you there? You’ve got this!
TO MY BOYS // “I’m so proud of you. I’m thankful every day that I get to be your dad! You are the very best parts of me. You are dearly loved by your mom and me. Now go out there and do your best.” – Dad
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