#08 - Infinite Fitness

Today we are going to cover my training philosophy.

It is called Infinite Fitness.

It is a spin on the concept of Infinite Games.

In simple terms, an Infinite Game is one where there is no defined endpoint and the main aim of the game is to keep going and keep playing.

This is what I believe fitness should be about.

Fitness should be a way of life.

Not something done for a series of short-term goals that stops when life gets in the way.

By turning fitness into a way of life, we can reap all the rewards of an active lifestyle.

We will have energy, look good and give ourselves the best chance to live a long, high-quality life.

Avoid the common fitness pitfalls.

The whole fitness space can be a hugely inspiring place.

It can also lead us astray.

Where we can easily go wrong is how we are driven to train.

Being overly focused on external or appearance-related goals is not a good strategy.

I think wanting to improve your appearance through training is a great goal to have. However, it’s unlikely to work if looking good is the only reason you want to train.

Improvements in fitness come from training consistently.

If we only have appearance goals in mind, we are likely to stop when we are happy with how we look.

But by doing so, we will lose the look over time.

This is also a short-term strategy.

If you want to look good for life, train for life.

Now let’s dig into what Infinite Fitness means.

1 - Be Internally Driven.

Psychologists generally agree that being intrinsically motivated is better than being extrinsically motivated.

Intrinsic motivation = doing things for personal enjoyment.

Extrinsic motivation = doing things for an external reward.

Infinite Fitness is almost completely intrinsic.

By being driven in this way, we are much more likely to stick to something long-term.

This is something that is at the core of Infinite Fitness.

In my experience, I was curious when it came to the science and application of fitness.

I enjoyed learning about it.

I also fell in love with training.

I felt better. I had more energy and more self-respect.

Find whatever it is inside you that drives you to train and stick at it.

2 - Be Consistent.

As the phrase goes, being consistent doesn’t guarantee success - but not being consistent guarantees failure.

Fitness is no different.

We simply have to stick at it.

Day-to-day. Week-to-week. Month-to-month.

This is how the most reliable and meaningful progress is made.

We lose fitness in much less time than it takes to gain it.

For example, if you train for 3 months, but then stop for 1 month, you’ve probably lost most of your progress.

No bueno.

Even if it’s just 1-2x per week, pick whatever number of days per week you can train consistently - and stick to this.

Then, aim to slowly increase this over time.

3 - Play the Long Game.

One of my core beliefs in fitness is that, whatever age we are, we should train in a way that keeps our 85-year-old self in mind.

That does not mean you can’t take advantage of your youth.

• Lift really heavy

• Run marathons

• Play sport

Life is to be lived.

But keep longevity in mind.

As we mentioned before, the value of training comes when we stick at it.

The longer we train consistently for, the better.

I want to still be doing calisthenics, lifting kettlebells and walking a lot when I’m very old.

I need to train in a way that makes this happen.

Step 4 - Keep going when you suffer setbacks.

Life isn’t perfect.

The journey is never smooth or plain sailing.

Things are going to happen that threaten to derail our progress.

The idea of Infinite Fitness states that we have to push through.

When faced with a situation where training a lot or often isn’t going to happen, do the bare minimum.

• Some press ups and squats at home

• A quick 20 min run

• 10 minutes of kettlebells

Do whatever you have to do to keep the chain going.

Your future self will thank you.

That’s Infinite Fitness in a nutshell.

I hope something resonated with you.

Have a good one!

• Adam.