The Juice Boost Bite-sized wisdom for goal-chasers

No. 24 — 9th July 2023

Focus on Front-loading

If you ask a regular gym-goer about the best way to build muscle, you might hear something like this:

Work on the fundamental exercises called compound lifts. Focus on challenging yourself by lifting weights you find heavy or challenging. Maximise how much you can lift by positioning your hardest exercises at the start of the workout. Keep upping the weight over time, and be consistent. You’ll see results soon.

Despite decades of advancements in science and technology, these principles have remained at the core of strength-training philosophy — and it makes sense why:

• Fundamentals build strength within the core muscles
• Heavy weights break down muscle fibres and rebuild stronger ones
• Doing the hard stuff first means you do it with full energy, focus and willpower

If you build your regimen around these principles, it’s likely that you’ll see results and achieve your goal of building muscle.

Zooming out, what was the point of exploring this idea?

For me, the idea of working on fundamentals and doing what pushes me outside my comfort zone is well understood. But one particular principle stood out — and that’s doing the hardest stuff first.

For working out, it makes sense: if you complete the majority of your workout before your compound lifts, you’ll have less energy, focus and willpower to perform the lift at your best. That may affect how quickly you can progress to heavier weights, and thus build muscle.

Knowing that this principle is essential to muscle-building, it's intriguing to ask where else it could apply. After doing some research, I found that this phenomenon is called Front-loading, and it applies to a wide range of disciplines to fundamentally achieve more with the same amount of effort.

Here are a few areas you can apply it to boost results:

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Building momentum daily

When starting your day, tackle the hardest task first. By completing the most challenging tasks when your energy and focus are at their peak, you’re more likely to successfully complete them. Once you do, you gain momentum and motivation, having already checked the hardest task off your to-do list. The rest becomes easier.

Prioritising growth

When looking to better understand yourself or improve specific skills, schedule tasks like reading, journalling or meditating at the start of your day. When you do this, you get yourself in a clear headspace before distraction and chaos roll in. You’re well prepared for whatever the day holds, and maintain a positive mood for longer.

Mastering a new domain

When exploring a new space and seeking mastery, focus on understanding the fundamentals first. The fundamentals, often the hardest to grasp, build a strong knowledge base, which make the following topics easier to learn or explore.

Starting a new project

When starting a new project, plan it first. Outline high-leverage tasks, assemble ideas in your head into a strategy, and account for why it might fail. This allows you to understand the path ahead, making it easier to navigate later on.

Building better habits

When seeking to build a better habit (or kill a bad one), identify the most useful action you can take to build this habit fast. Then take that action early on in your habit-building journey. Practice it consistently, so that your mind and body become familiar with the new way of doing things.

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Front-loading as a strategy has remarkable potential. With roughly the same amount of effort but a more structured approach, you improve your trajectory exponentially.

Give it a try in an area you have room to experiment in (say fitness), and see what changes. It’s simple enough to execute and has the ability to significantly boost results… why not?

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Till next week,

Team Juice — Ria, Jay and Akash

Sera, Law Garden, Ahmedabad, India, 380006
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