Push Little, Push Hard

I had a fascinating conversation with a close friend yesterday. Her father's health had taken a turn for the worse.

He was finding it hard to walk or breathe. His energy had dropped. He wanted to sleep or lie down all day. 

We fixed the energy and the breathing by rebalancing his minerals and vitamins.

But then I asked her to ask him to do something counterintuitive. 

Push hard, but push a little. 

We were trying to restore his ability to do things. Generally speaking, when you feel better, the notion that would cross your head would be to do a lot. 

You feel better, your mood is better. Physically you could be feeling energy that you have not felt in a few weeks.

So it would not be amiss to push yourself hard to get back to where you were before or even better. I would advocate pushing hard, but pushing a little. 

What do I mean by pushing hard but pushing a little. 

Imagine that he is now walking a little. After taking a hundred steps, he is exhausted. Pushing hard would be to take five more steps and then stop. He pushed his limit but only by a little. 

The next time he walks, he does the same. Then again. 

Your body builds capacity around the edges. It is when your boundaries are being pushed that the body works to become stronger. 

If he had decided to go on a thirty minute walk, he might have pushed himself beyond his capacity. It could result in injury or worse. 

But by pushing himself just that little bit and repeating it over and over again, he is building capacity. 

Anyone who strength trains will validate this for you. It is the last few repetitions when you are pushing your boundaries that creates the maximum growth in muscle. 

We are using the same concept for more basic activities. 

By the way, this applies to everyone, regardless of your state of health. So push hard, but push a little. Do it over and over again. 

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