Burn the bandwagon 🔥

You’re rejecting biology with this unhealthy habit

When last were you on a “productivity roll”?

You know, those times when you’re hitting goals consistently, day after day, and you wish you could remain there forever, never being unproductive. It’s a nice place to be.

But should you sustain it long term?

The Glucksman Art Gallery, UCC, County Cork Ireland

“Ehen Daddy, I also wanted to tell you, my school is taking us to Kubwa NYSC Camp in Abuja for a national volleyball competition. Students from other universities will be there, and my school will pay for our food and where we’ll stay.

We’ll finish on the 16th, and I will come home the same day”.

“Ah ah, so you play ball now?” Uncontrollable laughter follows.

“Daddy it’s not football. It’s volleyball, we use hands.”

“Oh.. hmm. Ok now. You said it is Kubwa, that is not far. And you will come home on the 16th? No problem.”

This was December 2017, I was in my final university year, and my experience at the Nigerian Private University Games that year marked a milestone in my journey with fitness and exercise that is still ongoing today.

After graduating from University in 2018, volleyball was also my Community Development Service (CDS) as a Youth Corper. From November 2018-September 2019, I was obligated to play volleyball once a week, and I enjoyed it. Not sure how it helped develop the community though 😂

With time, I turned some drills from the volleyball court into a consistent home workout routine. I was on a productivity roll, hitting my exercise goals daily. I vowed to be more consistent with exercise than anything else. I loved doing it everyday, and didn’t want to drop off the bandwagon.

Not long after, I hit a wall. Between February and March 2019, I didn’t exercise for 6 weeks. It started slowly, 1 week, then two, three… six. I can’t remember why it started, but in hindsight, I know why it lasted so long -

I wanted to jump back into my exercise routine exactly as I used to do it. To wake up one day and do all the jumping jacks, plank, and lunge reps as ‘productive me’ does. It was all or nothing.

I didn’t want to start again slower — with fewer reps and little progress. But again, ‘lazy me’ didn’t have the energy to just wake up in the 7th week of no workouts and start hitting the exercise goals of ‘productive me’. So I let time pass being undecided.

The Giant’s Garden, Dublin 2, Ireland

I watched my body lose some of the muscle it had gained months before. How long would it take to build it again? I was more angry at the thought of starting from almost scratch.

At the time, I didn’t know the concept of muscle memory — “a neurological process that allows you to remember certain motor skills and perform them without conscious effort”.

According to Dr Mike Israetel, an exercise scientist, muscle memory means that if you build muscle for months, and afterwards take a break in between (even for months still), the muscle can be regained in a few weeks, if you start the same workout, or similar workouts that target the same muscle. Even with less intensity and reps.

That’s biology. Biology says our muscles were built to be put under stress, and then rest, AND RECOVER EVEN FASTER WHEN WE START AGAIN.

But I was too busy trying to stay on the exercise bandwagon. I was counting every day of being productive exercise-wise, and didn’t want to break the streak.

But staying on the bandwagon also kept my muscle growth stunted. When I started exercising again later that year, while allocating days for rest, I saw better muscle growth and felt stronger. My new format is simple: Consistency — Rest — Consistency. So I can experience long term growth.

Are there areas of your life where you’re rejecting biology? Trying to stay consistent with a habit/activity without taking adequate rest? Time to burn the ‘unhealthy consistency’ bandwagon

Create your own routine of high effort times and rest times. Even nature has seasons. Don’t try to do exactly the same thing, the same way, everyday, forever.

Rest means introspection, identifying opportunity for 1% improvement, and going again stronger. And sometimes, rest just means sleep 🤷‍♀️

So, what area in your life do you need to incorporate more rest?

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