A Simple Workout Routine Taught Me What I Needed To Know About Business Growth

Those who don’t understand the Intensity Curve will likely fold within three years

Image By Author. And this is why I’m a writer and not an artist.

Like my drawing? Good! This is exactly how I learned about this very important principle years ago.

We were about to begin a workout when our coach drew this sketch on the whiteboard (honestly I think my artwork is probably better).

He explained the workout and warned us to beware of deceptive simplicity.

You see, we were only doing one exercise that day: burpees (drop down, do a push-up, jump back up). Every minute on the minute, we would add one burpee.

So it would look like this:

First minute: 1 burpee

Second minute: 2 burpees

Third minute: 3 burpees

And so on… until you can’t complete that round — then you’re done.

Simple enough.

The group of us began the workout. As soon as the timer began, we busted out of the gate and completed our first burpee. Then for the next 58 seconds, we stood there, waiting for the next minute.