I came across an interesting article about ‘Supercompensation’ the other day that really struck me.
In sports science theory, supercompensation is the post training period during which the trained function/parameter has a higher performance capacity than it did prior to the training period.
Starting small allows you to get out of your head and start building the momentum necessary to make the habit stick. But once your new behavior is a reliable part of your daily routine, it’s equally important to increase your efforts to get better at what you do. Here is where the idea of ‘supercompensation’ comes.
The idea is that since the human body is an adjustable organism, it will not only recover from the exercise. It will also adapt to the new strain placed on it and get a little bit stronger than it was before. Supercompensation will only occur if you increase your efforts to a level that is higher than your body is already used to. For example, if you do the same exercises over and over again, there’s no new level of strain for your body to adapt to and because of that, no supercompensation will occur. So, if you want your fitness level to improve, you can’t settle for running the same trail at the same intensity week in and week out.
This is not only for Fitness…
The concept of supercompensation isn’t just helpful for fitness. In fact, it’s a very useful concept for any positive change you’re trying to create:
- Want to be more mindful? Add one minute to your meditation habit every month.
- Want to sleep better? Make one small improvement to your bedroom every week.
- Want to clean up your diet? Remove one type of unhealthy food from your diet every week.
- Want to become a prolific writer? Add 100 words to your daily writing goal every month.
You get the idea.
Always look for ways to raise the bar just a little bit and push yourself to get better at what you do. If you can do that, your consistent, tiny improvements will lead to massive results over time.