The idea of fitness progress is often associated with rapid change right after you begin exercising. However, real physical progress occurs slowly through the mechanism of adaptation. The body slowly adjusts to the stress of training, getting stronger, more efficient and better able to handle the load over time.
With strength training, a small amount of stress is intentionally introduced to the muscles and the stress prompts a recovery mechanism that results in stronger muscle fibers. This is what causes muscle building; it occurs during rest periods, not during exercise. If recovery and nutrition are not optimal, adaptation will be severely hampered.
A parallel occurs when engaging in cardio activity. As you do more cardio activity, the heart and lungs work harder to transport oxygen in a more efficient manner. Your body adapts to the demands by building up endurance, lowering your resting heart rate and increasing your energy stores. This makes your daily activities much more effortless and your general fatigue much less.
One of the most critical aspects of progress is consistency. Sporadic bouts of exercise do not produce significant changes; the body adjusts itself to the patterns it is regularly exposed to. This is why frequent exercise, regardless of intensity, is more effective for long term results than a few intense training sessions followed by a period of inactivity.
Progressive overload is another crucial component. For continued improvement, the body requires gradually increasing demands. This can be done by increasing weight, reps, volume, or intensity. If you do not progressively increase intensity, the body becomes used to the demands and improvement comes to a halt. That is how you hit the plateau.
Recovery, on the other hand, is just as vital to the process of adaptation. When your body is adequately recovered, including sleeping, eating, and getting some rest, it repairs itself to become stronger than it was prior to exercise. Many new exercisers overlook recovery because they think workouts are all that counts but recovery plays an equal role in the balance of stress and restoration for progress to occur.
Consistency on a mental level is also important. Motivation will always fluctuate but habit and routine keep you moving forward. Individuals that use the system over mood swings are the ones that tend to see success for a long term.
Fitness is not a short term change but it is more about a long term process of adaptation. Your body will change according to how you train it, recover from the training, and support it over time.
This is a concept ActiveVitalFit teaches in the context of a practical way in order to help individuals know what progress really is and how you can create systems to train you for better long term outcomes.