Principles
The short list of ideas every Selfmastery program is written from, and how we check that the programming lives up to them.
Principle 00 · Read this first
When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
Everything below is a diagnostic for the programming. None of it is a score you chase. When a number looks wrong, we read your log before we touch the number.
How we train
Fourteen principles
- 01
Minimal effective dose
What is the least amount of work I need to do to get the job done? Never go the extra mile, because the extra mile is extra.
- We watch
- How often each movement pattern shows up each week, and how many working blocks a session carries.
- The line
- Going over the plan is the real flag; a little under is fine. More than five working blocks in a session is too much.
- 02
Every session has a purpose
Who is this workout for? What do they want out of it? How will you know if it was effective?
- We watch
- Whether each working block states its intent: a load, a stimulus or a focus.
- The line
- At least eight in ten working blocks carry an explicit intent.
- 03
You don't need 100% to improve your 100%
You don't really need to push your limits. If you do, do it seldom and intentionally, mostly to test where you are.
- We watch
- Max-effort sessions: an RPE 10 lift or a benchmark. Your log decides whether it was all-out.
- The line
- Up to one a week is normal. Each main lift sees RPE 10 at most once every four weeks. A cycle with no test is also a flag.
- 04
Train in the Thrive Zone
Spend most of your time practicing what you can do successfully with a little help. Accept your present capacity in order to make it better.
- We watch
- What you lift against what was written.
- The line
- Above the plan three weeks running: too easy. Below it, or missing reps, three weeks running: too hard.
- 05
Small jumps
Fatigue is hyperbolic. Being a little conservative is a lot better than being a little over. You can always recover from going too low.
- We watch
- The change in load from one week to the next on each main lift.
- The line
- About five percent at most. Five pounds, or one bell size, always passes. A drop of more than ten percent that isn't a deload gets a look.
- 06
Build the base
Over-breathing is a sign of lack of capacity. Stay composed. Then, when you need to push, you will be able to.
- We watch
- How much engine work is easy (Zone 2, nasal, steady) against hard.
- The line
- General training: at least half easy. Endurance: eight in ten. Competition prep: easy never below one in five.
- 07
Plateaus are where you learn
It wasn't the day you got the PR that you got better. It was in the three months in which you didn't. When you get stuck, get curious.
- We watch
- How long a lift has repeated, whether the load still moves, and whether you still show up for it.
- The line
- Repetition is the method, never the problem. Eight weeks of the same skin, a flat load and fading engagement: change the skin, not the pattern.
- 08
Leave energized
Get out of your workouts energized, and make sure you're excited for your next one.
- We watch
- Your traffic-light picks, the words in your log, and how much you write.
- The line
- Yellow and red in more than one session of four, or soreness three weeks running, means we look at the dose.
From How Hard to Push - 09
Exercise is a stressor
Exercise is a stressor, not a stress relief. Leave life's stress outside the gym, and let your training carry into your life.
- We watch
- Weeks where missed sessions and hard days in your life arrive together.
- The line
- Those weeks are marked as context, never as a verdict.
- 10
Consistency is king
Consistency is the capacity of doing the right things habitually. It does not mean perfection; it means minimizing deviation from your plan.
- We watch
- Sessions done against sessions written, for you and for each day of the week.
- The line
- Around nine in ten over a month. A day that keeps getting skipped is a design problem for that day, not a character problem for you.
From Training Hard - 11
Experience is reflective
Time in the gym is not experience. Experience is intentional, and it requires reflection. Pain plus reflection equals growth.
- We watch
- Whether you log, and whether the log holds a number and a sentence.
- The line
- Seven in ten working blocks logged. Below that, we read you with low confidence.
- 12
Free movement, free time, autonomy
Your training should allow you to move through space better. The fitter you get, the less time you need to spend in the gym.
- We watch
- Squat, hinge, single-leg, push, pull, carry, trunk and engine; how long sessions run; how much needs no equipment.
- The line
- Every pattern at least once a month. Sessions that keep getting longer without a reason get a look.
- 13
Big monkey, small monkey
Some people need more volume, most need less. Start low and see what happens.
- We watch
- You against your own plan, not against everyone else.
- The line
- House guidelines are the starting point. Your cycle can set its own.
From How Hard to Push - 14
The boring work
Doing the effective thing, the boring thing, the thing that will not make eye-catching posts, is quite difficult and effective. You can never be too good at the fundamentals.
- We watch
- What the first block of each session is built on: squat, hinge, press, pull, carry, engine, and the old-time lifts.
- The line
- At least six in ten first blocks on a fundamental. Olympic lifts are those patterns strung together for power.