When "Putting in the Reps" Doesn't Work | Bonus

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The advice to "just put in the reps" sounds motivating, but does it always work?

Today I'm sharing something interesting, something sad, and calling some people out.

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Chapters

• 0:00 The Problem With "Just Put In The Reps"
• 1:40 Spinning Your Wheels Despite Consistency
• 3:02 The Value of Physique University
• 4:20 Final Thoughts On Smart Training

Transcript

Philip Pape: 0:00

Hey Wits and Weights family, it's Philip here just dropping you another short bonus episode for your Saturday. I've been thinking about something. I wanted to get it off my mind and share it with you, and it's the phrase just put in the reps, or we need to put in the reps. And we usually talk about training, showing up to the gym three days a week, four days a week, putting in the reps, but we also use it as a metaphor for anything that we're trying to be consistent in, even if it's just tracking our food every day and putting in the reps. And yes, that mindset is extremely important, because the repetition is what builds the skill, it builds the competence and it builds the habit, which then creates sort of a frictionless discipline, and that makes you more resilient over time, so that anything that comes along in your life has a lesser chance of throwing you off track and you can continue implementing the process. But there's a big caveat or a big catch to this phrase, and that is what if you're putting in the wrong reps, or putting in reps on the wrong thing? What if you are training five days a week but you're still stuck in the same spot? You show up to the gym and pick up the same dumbbells or the same barbell, the same weight, do the same thing or the same exercises, same program, whatever, or maybe it's totally random, but you're showing up, you're putting in the reps, but you're stuck. And that's the part that makes me a little bit sad and why I wanted to create today's episode. Because, first of all, it's not your fault, right, you've been told we've all been conditioned for our whole life and this is what I subscribe to is you just got to work harder. You have to hustle more, you have to have more volume, you have to burn more, you have to cut more. Sometimes you even have to suffer more. Right, there's that idea of discipline and white-knuckling it through to success, and if you don't, then you're somehow lesser than but. What you really needed was a smarter system, a better framework, just enough clarity to stop spinning your wheels and put in the right type of reps.

Philip Pape: 2:00

And then, something that really hits me when it comes to this and this is also why I thought of making this episode today is when someone joins my Physique University right, which we've been open now for a year very exciting time because there's been a lot of growth and experimentation and when someone joins and I give a free two-week trial a two-week free trial so that you could just test it out, see what it's all about. And rather than ask me questions and I tell you, no, you got to pay for it. To figure it out, I have a demo on the sales page. I can do a free demo with you. I can do a call, all this, all the ways, so you can see what it's about.

Philip Pape: 2:39

And then someone joins and they barely even start. So what they do is they do the first few steps. One of those is an intake, and then I take, I take the time to put together a custom nutrition plan for them that lays everything out, but then they don't log in or they don't post, or they they cancel after a few days, without ever experiencing the coaching, the community, the relief of finally seeing their body respond without having to figure it out all alone. And I rack my brain sometimes because at what is it? 87 a month, now it's. It's probably less expensive than any other possible program you could imagine that does this.

Philip Pape: 3:15

And and when someone joins in the like they don't even kick the tires. It's like they kind of look at the tire from a mile away. And then they walk away and they miss out on the live coaching. They miss out on the workouts and the training and the form checks and the feeling of seeing real change in the mirror for the first time in years because they're finally working on the right kind of reps. And I'm very sad because I know that they're going to miss out and they might not even regret it because they never knew what they missed. But they're going to continue spinning their wheels.

Philip Pape: 3:44

And I get it right, we're all skeptical. I'm skeptical. That's the premise of this show. We've all been burned, but I built Physique University because of that, because I was once spinning my wheels and I finally got to help individuals privately initially, and then take that system, build it out and make it more accessible to more people at a lower cost. And maybe that's maybe that's a problem with my pricing structure in that it comes across as too cheap, I don't know. Um, I think it's a phenomenal value and everyone inside the program is now thriving.

Philip Pape: 4:14

Who decides to actually try it out and stick around for even a few weeks and take advantage of what's there? And then they're like oh, I didn't realize that this is what I would get out of it Now. I need to stick around. So if that's you, if you feel like you've been putting in the reps but you feel stuck, maybe it's not you, maybe it's the reps, and maybe it's time to try something different. All right, that is it for today. I just wanted to get that off my chest. Enjoy your weekend. I'll see you on Monday for the next full episode, and stay strong.