11/06/2026
Somewhere along the way, we got the idea that making progress means making everything harder.
More weight. More reps. More sets. More sweat.
MORE EVERYTHING.
And while increasing the challenge is an important part of getting stronger, it’s not the only way we can recognize progress.
Let’s take something as simple as a squat.
Maybe when you started, you needed to use your hands to help yourself stand up from a chair.
A few weeks later, you’re doing it without your hands.
Then you notice you’re moving with more control. You’re not dropping into the chair quite so quickly, and standing up doesn’t feel like such a big production.
Eventually, we might add some resistance.
Every one of those changes tells us something about how you’re progressing.
Now, that doesn’t mean we avoid challenging ourselves.
If our goal is to build strength, we need to give our muscles a reason to adapt. And over time, that often means increasing the demands of an exercise.
But progression doesn’t have to happen every single workout.
And it doesn’t always mean adding more weight.
We’re building confidence with a movement.
We’re improving coordination.
We’re adding repetitions or gradually increasing resistance.
And sometimes we’re repeating the same exercise because we still have something useful to gain from practicing it.
That’s why I don’t automatically hand someone the hardest version of an exercise they can technically manage even if the technique is s**t.
I want to find the version that makes sense for where they are today, and then build from there.
Because getting stronger isn’t a competition to see how quickly we can make everything difficult.
It’s about making progress that actually means something.
Save this for the next time you feel like you should be doing more just because you can.
