Fit Tip Fridays: #57

Diligence Works

February 10, 2023

Fit Tip Friday #57

💪A Sure Path to Strength

Welcome to this week's Fit Tip Friday!At the end of December, I released a 5-week bodyweight program. This is a program with a simple principle behind it, that focuses on only 4 movements:

  • Pull-Ups

  • Push-Ups

  • Body Squats

  • Planks

I want to share some results with you from a guy who just finished his five weeks.  

  • Pull-Ups: 120% increase

    • Week 0 Max: 10 pull-ups (5 non-assisted, 5 assisted)

    • Week 5 Max: 22 pull-ups (all 22 non-assisted)

  • Push-Ups: 59% increase

    • Week 0 Max: 27 push-ups

    • Week 5 Max: 43 push-ups

  • Body Squats: 28% increase

    • Week 0 Max: 47 body squats

    • Week 5 Max: 60 body squats

  • Planks: 114% increase

    • Week 0 Max: 64 seconds

    • Week 5 Max: 120 seconds

These results are phenomenal. Adding an additional 17 non-assisted pull-ups to your max in 5 weeks is an extraordinary improvement. Why does this program work? Keep reading if this question interest you. If you find yourself bouncing between random workouts, and are looking for a plan that will help you steward your body for God's glory - take action and try the 5-week program. It's free. 🔗5-Week Bodyweight Program 

📃"Consistency" is Diligence

For the 5-week program, I use the following rules:

  • Test your max reps in 1 minute (for Planks it's 2 minutes)

  • Use 50% of your max reps as your working set for 2 weeks. 

  • Retest after 2 weeks. 

  • Use 50% of your new max reps as your working set for 3 weeks. 

  • Do the same 4 movements in every workout. 

The main idea is to do the same things, at a manageable intensity less than your max, and to do it over and over again. It's boring. But it works.The fitness world calls this trait "consistency". And the Bible calls it "diligence".  

"The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty"(Proverbs 21:5)

The word for diligence (ḥārûṣ), carries the idea of incision. Like the use of a sharp tool to thresh grain, mine for gold, to chop down a tree, or to dig a trench.  

My brother and I spent a summer in Africa several years back. And one of the projects we worked on was digging an irrigation trench using hand tools. The project took several days of long, back-breaking work. We had to move one inch at a time downward, and one inch at a time forward. That's the idea of diligence. One chop at a time, repeated over a long period of time, until the project is finished. Doing the same things, again and again, is boring work. But it's the sure path to abundance. To apply the principle to exercise, doing the same movements, again and again, will lead you to strength.  

    📃Resources 

    Here are some of my favorite finds from the last two weeks.

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    🔗3 Simple Nutrition PrinciplesThis StrongFirst article dives into 3 principles a fitness blogger learned about nutrition while training: 

    • Exercise, Eat, Eliminate

    • Eat Fat First

    • Morning Assessment

    I found the piece on the morning assessment particularly helpful.  

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    🎙️Are You On Mission or Just Running Errands?Nathan Spearing is a U.S. Army Special Operations veteran, and he hosts a podcast called Life On Target.This was a great episode focusing on your personal alignment with your vision and mission. 

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    🎙️5 Minutes in Church HistoryThis podcast has been a great encouragement lately. Stephen Nichols hosts this weekly podcast, where he provides an informal and informative look at church history.