Getting Better at Exercise Isn’t Progression

No workout in and of itself matters more than its ability to progress to the next day, week, month, or block of training. There is no single day of training that matters when it comes to developing fitness qualities.

The entirety of training can be described as progression.

However, there are some early skill developments that are helpful, but technically not true progression. If, for example, you went to the gym and started something new. Your ability to express your potential in those movement patterns will be blunted by your lack of skill in those patterns.

This is a trap.

It means that every training modality will show some progression in the beginning. Whether it’s pilates, weightlifting, Animal Flow, yoga, etc, the first few months of training are what Kenny Powers famously calls, “getting good at exercise.”

The million dollar question is does your program or coach have the ability to drive progression beyond learning the choreography of your movement. True progression is two fold in this way:

1. True skill development. Can the skills of your movement choreography be limitlessly improved? Many movement practices don’t have a pathway forward beyond the initial skill acquisition.
2. Development of physiology. Every fitness modality works on the de-trained individual. After your training age is two years or more, you need specific stimuli to drive physiological change, which is way programs that don’t offer progression like F45 or HIIT programs don’t continue to work.

Look around your training facility. If there aren’t skills being taught that are beyond your capacity or equipment with loads you can’t possibly lift, you’re not in a place that understands progression.