Have you ever felt unstoppable, like you could predictably set PRs and everything just clicked? You thought, “This is for me.” You were addicted to the progress and felt the trickle-down effect in all other areas of your life. The phrase, “If you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything,” felt true.
Then life happens…
For me, it was when the wheels fell off the car, not literally, of course. I was chasing PRs, not understanding where my limit was. That chase resulted in knee, lower back, hip, and shoulder injuries. Unlike some people, instead of progress simply stopping with no consequences, mine stopped so abruptly it felt like the universe was calling me out, telling me I wasn’t paying attention to the right things. And I wasn’t.
Common Limiters: Recovery and Expectations
Let’s talk about recovery first.
The GAS (General Adaptation Syndrome) explains the physiological response to any kind of stress.
Stage 1: alarm phase (stressor)
Stage 2: resistance (adaptation)
Stage 3: exhaustion (breakdown)
We’re first exposed to a stressor (good or bad), the body and mind recover, and then we build resistance to that initial stressor. The body becomes slightly more robust and can handle a slightly higher level of stress. Ideally, for progress, we stay within those limits, back and forth. In the beginning, this happens on a weekly basis; as time goes on, it happens more on an annual basis, and that’s how growth occurs.
However, the final stage of the GAS model is exhaustion. This stage increases the risk of injury, physical depletion, reduced ability to adapt, possible hormonal imbalances, irritability, and lack of motivation, just to name a few.
Here’s the tricky part: this doesn’t always show up in obvious, systemic ways. Sometimes it shows up through specific tissues breaking down, creating pain that inhibits movement patterns that were once fine.
Now on to expectations.
When progress halts, whether through pain or simply hitting a limit, frustration can keep you stuck in the exhaustion phase. The common advice is to “keep grinding,” but for many people, that mindset runs you into the ground.
If we expect linear progress all the time, what happens when it stops? What do we have left? Expectations not being met.
Everything works until it doesn’t.
If we come into every day expecting to hit a PR, we’ll most likely be disappointed. If we’re living with chronic pain and expect it to magically disappear, we’ll be disappointed. If we expect to cruise through life without setbacks, we’ll definitely be disappointed.
Life is about adapting to new situations. It requires us to stay composed and continue practicing the habits of successful people. People don’t get good at things because they constantly hit PRs or make huge gains, they get good because they show up every day with expectations that match their current state.
Our expectations either create progress or destroy it. Failures aren’t failures, they’re signals for change, for reevaluating goals and expectations. This mindset shift has to happen for mastery and longterm progress to continue. Deliberate practice must increase. A smarter, more intentional approach needs to be developed.
Reframing and Perspective
Not everything can be fixed by “just having the right expectations.” Sometimes we’re deep in the trenches of physical or mental discomfort, and we have to use reframing techniques.
The reason our minds make us feel bad about slow or halted progress is because it’s tied deeply to our identity. We think, “It shouldn’t be this way.” But we have to condition ourselves to be the kind of person who overcomes challenges, who has grit, who adapts to adversity.
These lessons apply to all aspects of life, because life constantly interrupts our expectations.
Remove the expectation and become an observer, nonjudgmental.
Everybody is unique. The anatomical structures of your joints, tendons, bones, ligaments, and muscles are not symmetrical, and not the same as anyone else’s. The way you handle stress, adapt, and move is specific to you. Your goals, your aspirations, your process, all unique. The way you handle the transition into being more deliberate with your practice is uniquely yours, too.
My Own Journey
For years, I’ve struggled with chronic back problems, they started at an early age but didn’t fully expose themselves until I entered the strength sports realm.
Shifting my expectation from “I will fix my back” to “I will increase my spinal awareness by checking in every day, paying attention to how I move, how I recover, what triggers flare ups, and how I respond” has been a huge factor in my continued progress.
For me, progress is now defined as being able to train and make the best possible decisions to minimize pain and discomfort, to follow the path I can take, not necessarily the path I want to take.
Long-Term Progress
Long-term progress is about entering that phase of growth that requires recalibration, adjusting goals, setting aside expectations, and taking a more sensible, intentional approach to training. It means paying attention to the details and training every day with purpose, not just checking a box.