I have heard it said (full disclaimer: I say it too) that if you are not getting better, you are getting worse. If you have experienced constant progress, you may feel the same.
Either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Is it possible to merely be stagnant for a while and then pick up where you left off? Why or why not?
Josh
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{ 14 comments }
josh
Being stagnant is where i used to be those days are over, the movement has forced me too question everything i am doing and why i am doing and forcing me to take action where i see fit, it forces me to think about everything and being true to myself inside and outside the gym it is a work in progress but i am really enjoying the ride and learning alot along the way, progress all around me thanks josh
Sure, it happens all the time. I used to stay stagnant between improvements quite frequently (as far as my very limited training career can allow me to generalize).
Despite appearing less-than-optimal, stagnation seems to characterize most people’s training, at least those I’ve seen. It escapes me why anyone would prefer that model to one of perpetual progress, but the phrase “too good to be true” probably haunts many minds.
Not mine, however.
Not mine.
I’ve always felt that being stagnant = rut = bad and a plateau = not necessarily bad if you are making progress in ways that might not be easily recognizable (for example, staying steady despite rough waters).
I wrote about ruts and plateaus a bit at my blog (not trying to plug it here, just sharing my thoughts).
http://squatrx.blogspot.com/2009/03/rut-versus-plateau.html
http://squatrx.blogspot.com/2008/05/plateaued-so-what.html
“And the price we paid was the price men have always paid for achieving a paradise in this life — we went soft, we lost our edge.”
The only constant is change. Staying the same is accepting death.
I have seen no evidence of “staying the same” despite homeostasis….
and that’s all I have to say about that.
I think that if you ever think any two states of anything are the same, you’re not looking close enough.
Don’t they say that even observing something alters the outcome/its behaviour?
I had this arguement with a workmate the other day, my side being that every single second is completely unique in one way or another, even if only on the surface by the virtue of BEING a different second at all.
You can never pick up where you left off, in my opinion. You will always have changed, even if seemingly only in outlook, so your starting point will never be where you stopped.
Piers, have you been reading quantum physics too?
Our nervous-systems appear to need continuity, which explains why we so desperately project it outwardly to our environment.
That does not, however, mean that there “is” continuity.
Brad, delayed response; no, I haven’t been reading quantum physics, but I am intrigued to start. I’ve realised recently that I function better in general when I am mentally engaged in thought exercise to complement my physical endeavours. QP seems like a good place to start.
The outlook I expressed above is actually influenced moreso by research and contemplation on what I have encountered of Yin/Yang theory and the Chan theory of the Ultimate Reality (or however you want to phrase the whole duality/singularity kinda conundrum).
Relating to QP, do you have any recommendations for a good starting point?
Disagree.
In my opinion, you can maintain you’re current capabilities, but when you’re not improving, you’re not improving and could get worse. If you are improving and KEEP doing it, you’re not getting worse.
stagnant cannot be found in nature…
If we are always learning, then the association
can be made that we are either learning better
or we are learning ‘worse’. Think about how many
movements we have ALL done in the past that we thought
would make us better, but might not have tested well… we were getting
worse. Now it’s time for better!
Josh, I love the pic of the EKG as that pretty much sums it up!
peace-
Even if you could stay the same, everyone else is busy getting better so by comparison you’d be getting worse.
Can you stay the same? Yes. I have to believe that you can maintain a status quo, an equilibrium.
You can swim, you can sink, you can tread water or you can float.
I see people everyday, working to maintain what they have. People holding tight to what they have obtained, trying very hard not to lose any ground. But not getting any further ahead.
(gotta love quantum physics, any “science” that you can prove that it is possible/probable to walk through walks is just plan awesome!)
**walk through walls