The Only Way Up Is Down

2 Minute Read

More is the instinct. It is not always the answer.

More Is the Default

We're not getting faster, mileage isn't coming easy, progress stalled, etc. When something's not working... what do we do?

We add. More miles. More sessions. More intensity. When in doubt, do more.

It is the most natural reflex in all of training (and most of life). Stuck? Push harder. Want more out? Put more in. It feels right because most of the time, early on, it actually works. We add a little, we get a little better, and the lesson gets burned in deep: more in, more out.

That instinct is not stupid. It built every bit of fitness we have. But it can backfire. "More" needs to be used strategically.

We Climbed the Wrong Hill

Our fitness is just like a mountain. Every time we add volume, we're walking uphill. For a long time, up is up, and it feels great to go higher.

But eventually we reach the peak of our current path. And once we are at the top, adding more does not take us higher. There is no higher, not from here. It's just... not a thing. You can see other peaks in the distance, but the only way to get there, is by going down a little first.

Life is the same way. And this is exactly why "always do more" will not get us where we want to go.

So here is what to actually do. When more has stopped working, do less on purpose. That is the deload: a lighter week, or a block where we deliberately cut the volume and let the body catch up.

Backing off is not quitting, and it is not losing fitness. It takes more discipline to step back when every instinct is screaming at us to push. And the deload is not a pause from progress. It is where the progress happens. Easing off is the thing that finally lets the body absorb all the work we have thrown at it, so we come back stronger than the level we were stuck at.

The Work Lands When We Back Off

Adding volume is only half of training. It is the stress, the signal, the request. The actual building happens when we ease off and let the body respond (i.e. recovery).

Pile stress on top of stress, and the signal never gets answered. If we're in a constant state of breaking the body (and mind) down, there is no way to build back stronger. It just can't happen. We stay in a permanent state of breaking down, and we call the flat results a motivation problem. It's definitely not a motivation issue. It's a recovery problem.

The mind works the same way. The love that got us into this needs room too. Stack enough on top of it and the thing we once loved, will start to feel like a chore. That is not a small side effect. That enjoyment is the engine of consistency, and burying it under volume is how good training quickly turns into dread.

We cannot move forward by only ever adding. At some point, going forward requires stepping back.

How to Catch It

The hard part is that the "more" instinct does not switch off. It's just a part of how our brains work. Which means, we can't get rid of it. And we shouldn't try.

The skill is noticing it, and then deciding on purpose: more, or less?

Because sometimes the honest answer really is more. You can probably think of someone in your life who, truly, could handle a bigger load and should really just do more. The point isn't that less is always right. The point is that more is not always right, and we owe ourselves the question instead of the reflex.

A few simple signals that the answer is probably less:

• Sleep is getting worse, not better
• The thing we used to look forward to now feels like a chore
• Our legs are constantly heavy & stiff
• We are putting in more and the results are flat or sliding
• The motivation that used to be automatic is suddenly gone

In this scenario, we don't need to hype ourselves up into doing more. When effort goes up and results do not, that is the signal to come down the hill, not to shove harder into it.

Wrap It Up

More is the default setting, and it will be for the rest of our lives. We don't have to get rid of that instinct. We just have to pause long enough to ask the question, honestly, one session at a time.

Sometimes the answer is more. But when the work has stopped paying off, the way up is down.

Step back, let it all catch up, and build toward the taller mountain from there.

With this mindset, we build a routine we love and train consistently.