Training as practice
Treating a session as skill rehearsal rather than a workout to be survived
Borrowed from music and martial arts: you show up to practice a lift, not to be beaten up by it. Sets end while form still holds, loads sit in a range where technique does not wobble, and a session is judged on execution rather than on how wrecked it left you. People who train this way tend to lift more often, keep sessions short and notice details that fatigue would otherwise bury. The argument behind it is that skill, not exhaustion, is what moves the numbers.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Pavel TsatsoulineRecommends
Strength coach · StrongFirst
StrongFirst practices rather than works out, in his framing, and he ties it to flow: keep the load between the floor of boredom and the ceiling of anxiety, treat the session as a quest for technical mastery, lift competently and avoid failure. Skills with layers to peel, he argues, can hold attention productively for decades.
Source: StrongFirst: The Will to Happiness“In training, you can achieve flow by learning to love the process, by treating it as a quest for technical mastery rather than a mindless smoker. You must go deeper into your skills rather than broader.”
StrongFirst: The Will to Happiness (opens in a new tab) · 5 Jan 2016
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under fitness or focus.
- Supplement$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Creatine monohydrate
Three to five grams a day, taken for strength and power output
On record from 12 of 62 tracked people: 10 do it, 2 recommend it - Supplement$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Alpha-GPC
Choline source taken before workouts or hard cognitive work
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - Protocol$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Dance training
Choreography and movement classes as conditioning and coordination work
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - Protocol$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Table tennis
Ping pong played as a brain workout, part aerobic and part fast decision-making
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - ProtocolFREE, no cost
The 40% rule
The idea that when your mind says you are done, you are at about 40 percent
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it - ProtocolFREE, no cost
The 85 percent rule
Working at about 85 percent effort so relaxation and form do the rest
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.