You’re Already Smart Enough, Probably.

You’ve become so smart that you’re missing the big picture. You’ve probably read a lot: different training methods, programs, cues, philosophies. Maybe you’ve even argued about them. All of it’s valid.

But too much information can be paralyzing. There are many schools of thought. A hundred squat cues. Thousands of influencers share slightly different ways of saying the same thing. Eventually, it becomes noise.

What’s not talked about often is the actual skill of training.

You could stop reading now. Never learn another cue, never change a set or rep, never add a new movement – and still make progress. Because most of us aren’t being held back by a lack of knowledge. We’re held back by how we apply what we already know.

Too much knowledge

Learning is valuable. Consuming fitness information will generally leave you better off. 

But at some point, learning can turn into layering. Each new program or coach adds another coat of paint. You lose the original wall underneath. Everyone starts to blur together. Are they even saying different things? Most of them aren’t (me included). They are articulating the same fundamental truths through their own filters. 

The more you train and coach, the more obvious it becomes: most of us are working off the same source material. The real difference is in how clearly we’ve come to understand it and how well we apply it in the gym. 

The skill of training

So what is it?

It’s how you move through a session. Two people running the same day of STRONG 2.0 can get wildly different results depending on their approach.

Let’s look at one example: what you think about while you train.

Person A shows up and sees a 5x5 programmed. They move through it. No real thought before the set. No check-in after. No attention to rest. Just ticking the box. They did the work, but that’s all.

Person B walks in and notices their pecs feel tight. So they take five minutes and get blood flowing. They see the 5x5 and remember doing something similar a few weeks ago. They think about what weight they used? What did it feel like? Were they undershooting or overshooting?

Before each set, they visualize the whole thing. Unracking the bar. Every rep. Racking it. They focus on controlling the descent and driving up with intent. They time their rest, but also listen to their body – do they feel ready? Should they wait another 30 seconds?

Same sets and reps. Entirely different session.

If you train like Person B, you will get more from your training, regardless of the program.

The difference is in the skill

That’s the skill. Intention. Presence. Self-awareness. It’s not some hidden advanced method. It’s the same stuff you already know. You probably read Person B’s breakdown and thought, Yeah, I know that.

The hard part is doing it every time.

Repeatable excellence compounds. It’s not sexy, but it’s what separates the lifters who plateau from the ones who keep moving forward.

It’s not a better program you need. It’s better work on the one you’ve already got.