The Point of Diminishing Returns.

When More Becomes Less.

There comes a point—quiet, subtle, often ignored—where pushing harder stops working. Where every additional hour at the desk, every extra rep in the gym, every podcast on productivity offers less benefit than the one before. That point is called the point of diminishing returns, and it is where modern ambition collides with biological and psychological truth.

Mike Mentzer, the iconoclastic bodybuilder and philosopher of high-intensity training, understood this long before it became a TED Talk cliché. In his world, doing more didn’t mean gaining more. It often meant gaining nothing at all, or worse, regressing. Mentzer’s message? “Stimulate, don’t annihilate.” Push with intent, not compulsion. His was a rebellion against the glorification of endless hustle.

Let’s explore how this principle, deeply philosophical in nature, unfolds across the terrains of life—fitness, learning, coaching, career—and how recognizing your limits might actually be the gateway to greatness.

I. Fitness: The Body Knows Better.

Nowhere is the point of diminishing returns more physically visceral than in fitness. The first workout? You feel reborn. The twentieth? Progress is visible. But then—plateau. You grind. You up the volume. You train twice a day. But the needle barely moves. Injury creeps in. Recovery tanks. Your body rebels. Why?

Because you’ve crossed the invisible line where effort no longer equals output. What you need is not more sets, but more sleep. Not another drop set, but a week off. Adaptation requires rest. Mentzer’s minimalist approach—short, brutal, infrequent sessions—was revolutionary precisely because it respected biology.

Modern fitness influencers preach “more is more”, but the science (and the injuries) say otherwise. The wisest know: growth begins when stimulation ends. The gym teaches this with iron logic. But do we listen?

II. Learning: The Myth of Infinite Input.

The age of information tricks us into believing that learning is limitless. Watch another YouTube explainer. Read another summary. Attend another webinar. And yet—we forget. Overwhelm sets in. Knowledge slips through like water through cupped hands.

Cognitive science backs this: working memory has limits. Our brains are not hard drives. There’s only so much data we can absorb before fatigue compromises retention. The law of diminishing returns applies here too.

The real secret? Space your learning. Reflect. Apply. Rest. Just as muscle grows in recovery, wisdom grows in silence. That’s why intellectual digestion is just as critical as acquisition. Learning isn’t about how much you take in, but how well you synthesize and apply it.

In this sense, more knowledge isn’t always more power. Sometimes, it’s just noise.

III. Coaching: When Support Turns to Spoon-Feeding.

In coaching, the point of diminishing returns arrives when a mentor becomes a crutch. At first, guidance fuels clarity. Encouragement inspires action. But slowly, if unchecked, it morphs into dependence. The coachee stops taking initiative. Initiative dies in over-nurturing.

Great coaches know this. They design systems with planned obsolescence—they teach the person to outgrow them. Mentzer himself believed that clarity breeds autonomy, and that discipline is forged in solitude.

If a coach gives too much, they rob the other of struggle, which is the soil of real growth. One has to know when to stop giving answers and start asking tougher questions.

As in fitness and learning, helping more doesn’t always help more. Sometimes, stepping back is the most generous thing a coach can do.

IV. Career: The Cult of “Always On”.

Nowhere is this concept more dangerously ignored than in career culture. We worship long hours, perform burnout as a badge of honour, and equate exhaustion with dedication. But after a certain point, your eighth hour doesn’t produce twice the value of your fourth. In fact, it may produce worse outcomes—errors, poor judgment, emotional volatility.

Mentzer might say: "You’re training your career like a bodybuilder on amphetamines—no plan, just pain."

The healthiest professionals recognize this and work strategically, not constantly. They know how to switch off, to invest deeply and recover fully. Like the high-intensity principle in bodybuilding, deep focus for short bursts often outperforms the 12-hour day of diluted productivity.

And when we ignore this? Burnout. Cynicism. Collapse.

The myth of more collapses under its own weight.

V. Philosophy: Why Limits Set You Free.

Diminishing returns are not just economic theory or productivity jargon—they are a reminder of human finitude. We are limited creatures. Not weak, but bounded. And it is within those boundaries that true mastery is found.

Mentzer’s philosophy wasn’t just about biceps. It was about intensity with purpose, about cutting through noise, rejecting mindless repetition, and pursuing maximum output with minimum waste. That mindset applies as much to life as it does to lifting.

The lesson? Don’t fear the limit. Find it. Respect it. Operate near it. And then—retreat. Reflect. Recover.

To live wisely is to know when to stop. Not because you’re lazy. But because the curve has turned, and now, more will mean less.

Glossary of Key Expressions (Simplified Explanations):

Practice Questions:

1. In your own words, what is the point of diminishing returns? Can you think of a time when you experienced it?
2. Do you agree with Mentzer’s “less is more” philosophy? Why or why not?
3. How can recognizing your limits be a strength rather than a weakness?
4. Which area—fitness, learning, coaching, or career—do you think suffers most from over-effort? Explain.
5. How would you apply the idea of “planned obsolescence” to coaching or teaching someone?