Life today is different from 100 years ago. Industrialization and the Internet changed everything.

We live now in a world of instant gratification. The time has come in which people want physique goals as quick as an Amazon delivery. As instant as the hit of fast food. A date with a girl by a simple swipe. Sex by looking at a ZOGGED video… you get the point.

Ultimately people want the "hack" that fixes digestion overnight. The pill that gets abs instantly. The perfect routine that feels easy every single day.

Just look at the ads. The products that sell best. The regulation in place for these things in the health market.

There’s a reason the EU doesn’t allow for health claims for Big Pharma or supplements. To not get the people hooked on this “magic”, the consumer blinded.

And what happens when you're that person that doesn't get that immediate feedback? You assume something is WRONG.

You might even feel yourself reflected reading this.

How often do you look for the next best thing? Keep scrolling and reading to find out the missing puzzle piece for your own progress? To finally build muscle and have a visible sixpack.

I see it all the time in the industry. You start a new training block or a nutrition protocol. You’re motivated for two weeks. But then, the scale stalls for a few days, or you don’t feel "sore" enough after a workout, or you just get bored. Extrinsic motivation, the initial spark you had in the beginning fades…

So, you switch!! making it all fall apart.

You jump from one training split to another. 3 training sessions didn’t do anything, so you need 5 days of training.

You look for a new diet. You change your calorie target every 2 days based on how you feel looking at yourself in the mirror.

You read about this amazing supplement speeding up your metabolism, this exact food you need to eat to lose body fat effortlessly.

Here’s the honest truth: You are KILLING your progress by trying to always "optimize".

The body doesn’t follow the same timeline as your motivation. Physiological/bodily adaptation, the real lasting change in your physique, your metabolism, and your nervous system is slow.

It is painfully slow compared to the speed of our thoughts. Especially now with our dopamine circuits cooked by algorithms on the phone.

When you constantly change your inputs, your body never gets the chance to adapt to the signal you are sending it. You miss out on the positive feedback loop, the momentum really pushing your progress.

You are essentially planting a seed, digging it up 3 days later to check for roots, and then wondering why it won't grow.

You have to return. Calm your mind down again. Think about how people lived 100 years ago. You can look into the daily routines of any of the legends that shaped our culture and society.

THE MAGIC OF THE COMPOUNDING EFFECT

You know about compound interest in finance. The power of Dollar-Cost Averaging. How small contributions, left alone to grow over time, give a good return (even more so before we got blown up by inflation and our markets manipulated. But that’s a completely different topic lmao).

You invest regularly without stressing yourself out like crazy. Without looking at charts every 5mins, panic selling or buying…

But you forget that your biology works the exact same way.

Here’s how I like to break it down for clients:

Week 1-4: You are just learning the movements, adjusting the diet. Everything feels painfully slow and exhausting. You’re breaking homeostasis and need TIME.

Week 5-8: Your body and mind are finally adapting. You see first results. You’ve created the momentum, get into a flow state.

Week 12+: This is where the magic happens. This is where the compounding effect kicks in. You look back to week 1 and see drastic changes. Look at your weight logs. Everything clicks even more, further pushing you into the upward spiral.

If you switch your routine at week 4 because you "aren't seeing results yet," you are basically panic selling. Right before your investment starts to pay off.

BORING IS GOOD. BORING WORKS.

Or another one I’ll keep repeating until it sticks: slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Consistency doesn’t feel special in the beginning. It just feels repetitive. You are doing the same exercises, eating the same/similar meals, and hitting the same step count every day.

But the boredom you feel from that is the actual momentum building! That’s how you reach a runner's high while jogging. It’s the rhythm, the ease that gets you a natural high.

Every successful person, regardless of any area in life, does "boring" basics for a long enough time that they stop being a conscious effort and start being simply who they are. Only the masses, the normie slop gets blinded by the next shiny thing…

I CHALLENGE YOU!

For the next 2-3 months commit to NOT CHANGING THINGS. And to focus on the fundamental pillars of health and fitness.

• Stick to your training split and simple exercises, even if you had a “bad” workout.
• Stick to your diet plan even if the scale didn’t move for two days.
• Trust that the work you are putting in is actually compounding.

Use meditation, breathing exercises, doing home chores in complete silence to slow your mind down.

Give your body the time it needs to respond to the stimulus. Stop interrupting the process and sabotaging yourself. Patience is the only shortcut that actually works.

“Slow and steady wins the race” and it’s how you actually get to keep your progress. How you become a new person with complete habit change.

Now, regarding weight loss: if in fact your scale doesn’t move for a whole month, cut the calories by 300-400cals.

AND if you ever need help to really push your progress forward, just reach out to me and reply to this mail. I'm taking on 1-on-1 clients.

Many thanks to the recent X/twitter chat I had with a fellow sculptor who inspired me to write this mail.

Keep sculpting,

Marcel

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