Getting stronger is simple. It really is. That’s the good news. In fact, that’s the great news.

It’s also the bad news. Let me explain.

Some of us come to the gym for our first time with fairly exigent issues. We are losing muscle mass and bone density. We have lost our balance, fallen, and are working through a significant rehab. A loved one has recently taken ill and we look at ourselves with a fresh, sober perspective.

Quite naturally, we experience our fears, motivations, and desires to change as the big, loud feelings that they are.

From there it follows that we assign complexity to these things we need to address.

If we have fallen, we look to balance balls and unstable-surface training for answers.

If we want to build muscle and bone density we look to specific body parts we need to address, perhaps with machines.

If we want to turn back the clock, we look to folks capering around a gym while someone barks out instructions.

We think we need to do a lot, right away. We think we need to do many different things, usually at once.

Unfortunately, more often than not, kitchen sink approaches lead to frustration and injury once the initial progress has stalled–usually more quickly than we’d expect. For want of a complex solution, the problems compound.

What we need to do is a little, and then a little more, and then a little more, and continue that process for a long time.

This is building a base, and it’s the foundation of every great resistance training program. Once you build that base, it is persistent. You won’t be losing that anytime soon.

For most everyday athletes, base is almost all you need to do everything you want. It’s simple, but not easy.

Tomorrow we’ll show you how.