Small Steps, Big Strides
I hit a fitness milestone at CrossFit a few weeks back. Part of the workout that day included five sets of seven burpee to pull-up moves. That means hitting the floor with your hands in an all-out sprawl, chest to ground, and then using the momentum of the push-up to jump your feet back into a squat position. From there, you spring up, grab an overhead bar and perform a jumping pull-up before jumping back down and repeating the exercise for the required number of reps.
Why am I sharing this? Because before I turned 58-years-old, I couldn’t even dream of pulling myself up once, never mind 35 times in a workout as I did that day.
So what changed? Consistent small steps…
In January, I set an intention to move from my beginner status at CrossFit to intermediate for my age group. I set goals for squat, bench press, deadlift and power clean lifts along with wanting to build the strength for unassisted pull-ups.
As winter turned to spring, I achieved and surpassed most of the weightlifting goals, but the pull-up remained elusive and frustrating. I was still relying on a resistance band that I would loop over the bar and slip my foot into to assist with the movement. And while I continued to do that in the gym, I came up with an ancillary plan.
Sometime in June, I placed a pullup bar in my home in a doorway that I pass multiple times a day. It’s at a height where I could just wrap my hands around the bar if I stood on my toes, but I couldn’t pull myself up from that extended position. But if I jumped up and grabbed the bar with my arms at a 45 degree angle, I could pull myself up and edge my chin over the bar.
On July 1st, I set a goal – five sets of one jumping pull-up and five full push-ups that I spread throughout the day. I tracked my progress on a monthly calendar. By the end of the month, I had done more than 750 push-ups and 150 jumping pull-ups – one at a time – over 31 days.
On August 1st, the goal became five sets of two jumping pull-ups and five push-ups. I kept increasing the jumping pull-ups by one each month. As I finished up October, the volume increased from 150 in July to 600 in October.
If I had set a goal to complete that many pull-ups back in June, I would have felt overwhelmed. But my mantra, whenever I passed the bar during the day, was “Just one.”
What turned it into a habit, though, was calendar tracking. When I started in July and completed a set, I marked a “1” for the pull-up and a “5” for the push-ups. I repeated that three more times. On the fifth set, I put a line through the “1s” and a line through the “5s.” That gave me a sense of completion and satisfaction each day. And the longer my streak, the more committed I became to keep it going. At the end of the month, I totaled up all the reps, which got me motivated for the next month.
So my takeaway for you is to bring an elusive goal of yours to mind. Think about the end result you’d like to achieve. And then think about what’s possible for you to do today.
Once you have your goal and end-result in mind, here are a five questions to help focus you on creating a path of continual progress and momentum:
Why is this important to you? My pull-up goal not only ties into my overall desire to stay healthy as I age, but I want to build muscle as I get older without risking injury. After all, the ultimate goal is to feel good and enjoy life.
What modest, manageable action can you take today? The point is to build consistent action – something you can commit to for the next 30 days. Perhaps you want to play the guitar – depending on your current level of ability, you may choose to learn a song, a chord progression or a scale. You can apply the same approach to establishing any wellness, business or creative habit.
How will you track your progress? I like my monthly calendar because I can keep it near the pull-up bar not only to track what I need to do for the day, but as a visible reminder of the journey throughout the months.
What can you learn and explore? Part of the beauty of this approach is the knowledge and experience you gain by taking consistent action builds trust with your inner knowing. You’ll find that over time, you’ll rely less on external guidance and more on your own.
How can you continue to up your game? At the end of your first 30 days, how can you modify to keep challenging yourself and moving forward? If you missed some days, what can you do to learn from the experience and set yourself up for success the next month?
Small steps establish habits, give you confidence when you hit your micro-goals, and provide motivation for the enduring success. Your aspirations become doable and your progress additive – you can see and feel yourself moving toward your desired destination.
The day I walked into the gym and burpee pull-ups were part of the workout, I had no idea if I could do them. But months of preparation gave me the confidence to try. To my delight, not only could I do them, but I actually enjoyed the movement – a full body exercise. And I left the gym that day with a big smile on my face, revved up on endorphins, and ready to continue my routine the next day.
Over time you’ll prove to yourself that small steps add up to big strides and long-term gains. In the words of legendary UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, “Little things make big things happen.”
Journal Reflections: What is an aspiration you’ve been holding for a long time? What’s the smallest step you can take toward it? When will you take that step?