The word kaizen comes from the Japanese language and means "constant and never-ending improvement. They adopt this philosophy with everything in their lives. That's why they were able to come from a war-torn country to an economic power after world war II.
This philosophy is arguably the most important rule in the weight room if you want to keep seeing results. Anyone that first starts training will see improvement. But what do you do once you hit a stale mate?
Most people I witness training don't write down what they do, don't have a plan, and make jumps in weight from one set to the next with a ridiculous poundage. The guy at the gym that's barely able to bench 135 pounds for 10 reps, and then decides to throw on an additional forty pounds on his next set. Obviously he doesn't have a rep range he's shooting for since he has no plan. But somehow he thinks he'll get more reps than is possible.
I see this constantly and it boggles my mind why. It's not rocket science. You don't have to be smarter than Steven Hawking.
If you want to continue to see results in the weight room, you're going to have to coax the body into it. This will require small incremental poundages, that overtime, will add up to a lot.
For instance, If you could put just five pounds on your squat every other week and you trained for a year, this would add up to 130 pounds. If you try to go up in weight to fast like most people do, you could get plateaued for a long time.
Your workouts have to be progressive. The only way I know how to do this is by measuring what you do. Writing it down every time and attempting to beat it every time. Adopting the kaizen principle.
You won't always succeed every time you train and it doesn't have to be just about lifting more weight.
Right now I'm training some jiu jitsu competitors for the NAGA (North American Grapplers Association). With their workout, the progression is based off of rest intervals. Every week, I shave some time off their rest between sprint intervals. Their bodies are forced to adapt and become more efficient at removing waste by-products and, therefore, attenuating fatigue. The progressions in the rest, not the weight.
I can do this because I have a plan and it's measured. A chimp could give you a hard workout. But who's to say that the next training session will be progressive. Know one can answer that unless it's measured. We'll, maybe Stephen Hawking.
The kaizen principle is all about having goals and being able to measure them. And it can be adopted for just about everything.
Use it, and don't be a chimp.
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