You Don’t Need More Discipline. You Need a Better Approach

A couple weeks ago it was my birthday, and I used the opportunity to reflect on the year. This post is specifically about all of the ways my mindset around fitness has changed in the last year.

I’ve been “fitnessing” for a long time. It’s been my full-time career for over seven years now. Very early in my career I fell in love with education, so at this point I’ve taken over 45, maybe more, courses. Education (and experience) is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you have a lot of knowledge that can hopefully help a lot of people. On the other hand, if you’re not careful, it can cause you to become closed-minded, disagreeable, and dismissive.

This last year my mindset around fitness has changed a lot. This has mostly come from being challenged and poked, and for me a lot of this was learning to completely trust someone else, their thoughts, and their decisions.

The biggest fitness lesson I’ve taken away from this last year is something that’s honestly really simple.

Less is more.

You’ve probably heard this advice before. A thousand times. But don’t actually listen to it. How many of us end up thinking we can do the thing we know we shouldn’t because we believe we’re invincible?

I know for a fact this is a common belief, not just because of myself, but because almost every client I work with has had this belief. Until they can’t hike anymore. Or they can’t chase after their grandchildren. Or they have a nagging ache that no matter what they do won’t go away.

We push through pain.

We ignore small signals.

We convince ourselves it’s “fine” until it isn’t.

Most of the time, these aren’t random. They’re built over time from how we move, how we load, and what we ignore.

In rehab-focused training, this often means doing less, but doing it better. Fewer exercises, more intention. Less intensity, more control.

For all of these clients, I’m sure I was not the first person to tell them to take a more sustainable approach, to focus on the preventative work. But it is so rare that people actually do the things that would enable them to take a more sustainable approach.

Things like:

• slowing movements down

• building joint stability

• addressing imbalances

• or modifying training when something doesn’t feel right

So why does slowing down get you further than speeding up?

I’ve spent a lot of time pondering this. Resisting this. But I couldn’t help but notice that every time I was forced to do less, I felt better. I had more energy. I was less bloated. I felt less anxious.

Not just physically, but in how my body moved.

More control. Less compensation. Less fighting my body.

But we have such a hard time slowing down.

We’d rather do something for five hours a week than three. It feels like you’re being more productive, but you’re not.

More isn’t better if your body can’t tolerate it.

Progress comes from what you can recover from, not what you can survive.

So why?

Why do we love driving ourselves into oblivion?

Is it society? Is it competition? Is it perfectionism?

Probably all three.

How many times have you told yourself that pushing your limits was the answer? Sacrificing everything else to achieve one goal?

I know I have. On more than one occasion.

This doesn’t always look like fitness. For me, it’s looked like my career too.

How many times have you told yourself that you just need more discipline? To work harder. More focus?

I know I have.

Other people have told me this too. Mentors, bosses, coaches.

“You just need to try harder.”

This is a huge belief in society. And I hate it.

Why?

Because I drank the kool-aid. I did those things. And as someone who has done those things and committed completely, I’m here to tell you that it isn’t the answer.

But in rehab, trying harder is often the exact thing that keeps people stuck.

Hot take: discipline and perfection are not going to get you what you’re looking for.

Sure, they might in the short term. But in 6 months, a year, five years… how long can you hold onto that discipline and perfection when it wears you down every day until one day you just can’t anymore because you’re so exhausted?

Eventually your body will force you to stop.

So what’s the solution?

Consistency, balance, and sustainability.

This last year taught me that grit is not everything.

You can have all the grit in the world. But you can’t survive on grit alone.

Last year I thought that if I had enough grit, I could do anything.

The result?

A foot injury, ankle pain, two knee injuries, a concussion, shoulder pain, neck pain, low back pain, and then finally a torn adductor, hamstring tendonosis, and hip arthritis.

In 12 months.

None of that happened overnight.

It was a build-up of signals I didn’t fully listen to.

I was forced to face the reality that you can have a strong mindset, but if your body is overworked and under-recovered because you’re trying to keep up with your peers instead of moving at your own pace, grit is meaningless.

So once you’re ready to actually take a more sustainable approach (a very hard mental shift for most), usually the first step is actually taking a step backwards.

For most, a scary thought:

“What if I lose what I worked so hard for?”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

In rehab, this is where real progress starts.

Stripping things back. Rebuilding control. Earning the right to progress again.

I don’t know a single person who likes moving backwards.

But it’s effective.

And not forever.

It’s how you build a body that actually lasts.

One that can handle more, without constantly breaking down.

This is the difference between training harder and training smarter.

If you want a body that feels strong, stable, and capable long term, not just for the next few weeks, this is exactly what I help my clients build.