If you’ve ever had the good fortune of wearing a tailored piece of clothing, you know the feeling of having a piece or an outfit that truly fits. Even if you’re lucky with pulling a piece straight from the store rack, it takes some level of tailoring to get a piece of clothing to really match your physical idiosyncrasies. For the same reasons, wearing a suit or dress or pants that are tailored to someone else’s body has very little chance of giving you that personally tailored fit. It would be an absurd request to go to a tailor and ask them to tailor your suit to the measurements of that guy pictured in the poster on the wall, or to visit a dressmaker and request that they sew a dress for you with the same fit as the one worn by the model in the magazine. It’s one thing to want a suit or dress designed with the same fabric and general fit as one you saw on someone else, it’s another thing entirely to want that exact same outfit, tailoring and all.

You’ve likely been nodding along in, “well duh” type agreement thus far, but as absurd as it sounds for a 6’3”, 245lb gentleman to request a suit tailored to Brad Pitt’s dimensions because he wants to look more like Brad, people eagerly and frequently make the same foolish mistake in following exercise and nutrition plans that are tailored for someone else. It’s easy to get swept up in the thinking of “well he/she did this program and performs at this level and looks this way, and so if I do I should look and perform that way, too,” but this is the same as having you dress cut to someone else’s dimensions. What’s more, tailoring clothing is a relatively simple task compared to tailoring exercise and nutrition: for every waist, hip, chest, and sleeve measurement, there are a dozen unique physiological and psychological qualities that will affect your outcome with a nutrition and exercise program.

The idea behind tailoring is customization, and customization is by nature personal. This is why your tailor spends time with a measuring tape before sewing and cutting fabric, your coach spends time learning, asking, and observing before tailoring your program, and your nutritionist spends time surveying and analyzing before tailoring your diet. There is no “one size fits all,” and there is no “their program fits you.” Let’s not fall victim to following the program that worked for someone else and assuming it will necessarily work for you -- you’ll be much better off wearing your own clothes.

- PS

9/20/17

• Hand over hand rope sled pull - 3x100’

Then...

• 4 rds

• In 75s:

• 100m sprint

• 8 deadlifts (225/155)

• AMRAP burpees

• Rest 2 mins

*record total burpees