While this may come as a surprise, fitness is a game that favors the beginner. Imagine chiselling a statue from a large block of stone. The first steps in the process are the simplest, fastest, and yield the most significant change. Huge pieces of stone can be hacked away with brute force, and what started as a shapeless block quickly takes form as an outline of the intended figure. This is the progress available to the beginner. As a blank slate, large changes can take place simply and easily.

What follows is where the challenge picks up and the details become the focus. No longer can large pieces of stone be hacked away -- instruments must be geared towards precision, and it takes a steady hand, more time, and progressively greater attention to the minute details. The upside is that this stage provides fertile grounds for endless development. But it is hard.

I can’t say whether it is better to be a beginner or at a stage beyond that. Each has its challenges and rewards. It is frustrating to be a beginner in an unfamiliar realm, but the fast, sweeping progress is a satisfying reward, and the game favors your body’s readiness to learn and grow. For the intermediate and advanced trainee, progress slows, but new avenues of specificity emerge, and progress is that much sweeter as each inch is hard-fought and hard-earned. Wherever you are in your journey, know that there is more to come. Relish in it!

- PS

8/15/19

• Good morning - 5x5

Then...

• For time:

• 800m run

• 40 alt DB snatch (50/35)

• 400m run

• 20 alt DB snatch

• 200m run

• 10 alt DB snatch