Diminishing Fitness Returns are Real

And That’s Exactly Why You Should Start

This is me at the start of my fitness journey.

The first year I trained hard, but not very much: 30–40 minutes 3–4 times a week. Let’s call that 2 hours per week. I trained probably 45 weeks of the year. 90 hours total.

This is me roughly 6 months into year one:

On the right. Obviously.

During the first year, I went from 68kg to 82kg, and put on about 8-10kg of lean mass, meaning that every kilo took a reasonable 9–11.25 hours in the gym.

The second and third years, I increased my training. This was because I enjoyed it, and because my results encouraged me. I also read more about training and understood that to get more, I’d probably need to do more.

I spent maybe 45–75 minutes per session, 4–6 times a week, increasing gradually. Let’s call it 5 hours per week. I trained maybe 45 weeks of the year, again. 225 hours +225 hours=450 hours.

This is me after year two.

And year three: