The rep effect (rep is short for repetitions) is a body building principle that can be extremely useful when working towards difficult goals, and they don’t need to be fitness related either.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was able to use “the rep effect” principle not only to dominate the Body Building world, becoming one of the most successful body builders of all time, he also conquered two other extremely difficult domains.
Schwarzenegger went on to become one of the most successful and highly paid actors at that time. He then went on to become the Governor of California.
This is extremely difficult to do, as goes the saying “once lucky, twice good”. Therefore, three times really takes some skill.
One of Arnold’s success principles is the “rep effect”. He understood from body building that every rep moved him closer to his goals.
He calculated how many reps were required, the weight, frequency, diet etc to reach the size and shape he needed to be a professional body building contender.
He then broke this down into a plan, and framed everything as “a rep” / “a repetition” towards achieving his goals.
This wasn’t just the literal reps of lifting, but the reps of everything. Every meal, every stretch, every pose, every show, every bit of studying. He visualised every bit of effort required as “a rep”, and understood, that each rep took him closer to his goals.
Arnold was well known for smiling during his brutal workouts. He often was quoted as putting this down to his reframing of the pain of every rep into a a postive step towards accomplishing his dreams.
Arnold used the same principle in acting. Every acting class, every audition, every film was a rep that bought him one step closer to achieving the goal.
And the same went for politics. Arnold worked out all of the steps, and saw every step as a rep until he reached office.
“The rep effect” principle can be a really good mindset to adopt when putting in effort to achieve any long term or difficult to reach goal.
For example:
With careers: Every CV, every interview, every bit of research, every bit of skill advancement is a rep.
For Financial Independence: Every payday is rep, every investment, every cut back is a rep
For Weight loss: Every 1lb loss is a rep, every healthy meal eaten, every fattening meal avoided, every workout, every rep within a workout
For stopping smoking: Every cigarette not smoked is a rep.
And so on….
Anything significant worth having, usually will take a lot of work. Staying focused on the end goal, breaking it down, and reframing the discomfort as reps that edge us closer can really help sustain the energy and motivation to accomplish it. It might even put a smile on our faces while we do it too.
