Rift to Pump-topia: A Perspective Shift on Effort, Intensity, and the Art of Change
There’s work. And then there’s _the work._ We show up, we move weight, we accumulate reps. But at some point, what used to feel like fire in the muscles becomes just another box to check. That’s not a bad thing—routines keep us moving forward. But routines can also lull us into a kind of passive engagement, a mindset where we’re present but not _really_ here.
That’s not what the **Rift to Pump-topia** is about. This isn’t just another phase, another block, another stretch of the road where we "get work done." This is a shift. A conscious, deliberate flipping of the switch—one that forces us to feel the work, not just complete it.
Because here’s the truth: adaptation isn’t just physiological. It’s psychological, emotional, even existential. If you think you can just cruise through this without changing, you’re missing the point. The difference between someone who coasts and someone who grows is in how they engage with strain.
What you're asking to change isn't just tissue - it is habits and behaviors. It is refining or leaving behind old things that may not serve us, at least, temporarily, while we put effort towards something and above something that we currently see.
We excuse poor effort for just a "bump in the road." I have: a headache, low energy, not enough time...
This isn't a call for another training block - building some lean tissue. It is a call to change what is right in front of us and, is most likely, holding us back. It is a call against artifice - the artificers are us - we produce artificiality - nothing could be more artificial than gaining muscle and changing nothing else in the process because a “win is a win.”
The better we get at eliminating the things that are holding us back, and rearranging the things we want to keep, the more artificial it becomes -- yes, this is about training, and effort, but it's also about: nutrition, recovery, sleep, circadian rhythm, maybe meditation, perhaps walking in the sun, or cleaning up the clothes in the corner of your room (guilty). It’s trying something new to see if it works - it’s developing old habits that now lay dormant, or new habits that have yet come to fruition, stabilized. It’s about seeing someone pushing and hyping them up.
Perception ~ response - that is a way of learning.
It's about noticing - perception. It's about being more than artificial - everyone knows we need it - everyone's afraid to clutch it.