09/22/2026
A client said something to me that explained why he kept wanting to change his program.
āI just feel like I am supposed to be doing more.ā
He was training, tracking his food and asking whether he should add cardio.
He wanted to see more change, and doing more felt like the way to get there.
But he was also dealing with persistent soreness and poor sleep and a history of overtraining.
So I reduced some of his working sets.
(One day I even told him to skip the workout and rest)
And we kept looking at his progress pictures alongside his weight and strength progression.
At another point, he told me, āthis is where I would usually change something.ā
That was an important moment. He could recognize the urge before acting on it.
Later, even with a disrupted schedule and fewer training days, he told me he could finally see a difference.
And thatās what I mean when I talk about āgiving yourself some graceā.
We still had standards. He still had work to do and more progress to make.
But resting when we agreed he needed rest counted as following the program, too.
Fast forward 3 months and his buddies are asking him how he got so jacked and lean š
Itās okay to want more, to work hard towards your goals, but if you get to your goal without understanding how to hold those goals long term, you will cycle through the same frustrating patterns that lead you to break whatās working.
