You’re working out. You’re trying to eat well. You’re putting in effort.
But are you putting that effort into the things that will make the biggest difference?
After 25 years of coaching, one thing I keep seeing is that people don’t always need to work harder. Sometimes they need help figuring out what’s getting in the way.
Maybe it’s consistency. Maybe it’s food. Maybe their training plan doesn’t fit their schedule.
These are what I think of as your biggest levers: the changes that have the greatest impact on your progress.
Helping you find those levers is a big part of how we coach at The Get Better Project.
A workout program is only part of the picture
A workout can tell you what movements to do, how many reps to complete, and how hard to push.
But it doesn’t automatically tell you how to fit training into a week when work gets crazy, you’re sleeping poorly, or you barely have time to eat lunch.
That’s where things can get messy.
You might have a great program and struggle to follow it. Or you might follow it consistently but feel like you’re putting in more than you’re getting back.
At GBP, we want to understand how the workouts fit into your life, because that’s the life you need to make progress in.
Your biggest lever might surprise you
When you enjoy training, adding another workout is often the easiest answer.
I understand that. I’ve spent plenty of years thinking more training would solve just about everything.
But sometimes the most useful change is somewhere else.
Recently, as I ramped my training volume back up, I started feeling pretty drained. When I looked at my food tracking, I found that my carbs were consistently below my goal—sometimes by as much as 100 grams.
I was paying attention to the training, but I wasn’t keeping up with the food I’d planned to support it.
Another time, I measured the olive oil I’d been eyeballing and discovered I was using at least three to four times what I thought I was adding.
Those were two different situations that needed two different adjustments. In both cases, looking at what I was actually doing gave me something useful to work on.
That’s the kind of attention we bring to coaching. We don’t want to keep adding effort without understanding where it’s going.
How we use weekly check-ins at GBP
Weekly check-ins help us look beyond a single workout.
When someone checks in regularly, it’s almost like looking at a whiteboard grid. I can start seeing patterns across the weeks: what’s working, what keeps getting in the way, and where a small adjustment might help.
One difficult week doesn’t tell us everything. But if the same problem keeps showing up, we have something to work with.
For example:
- You keep missing workouts. We can look at whether the plan fits the time you actually have.
- You’re training consistently but feeling drained. We can take a closer look at your food, sleep, and overall workload.
- You’re having a great stretch of training. We can identify what’s helping and work on maintaining it.
The check-in gives us context. Then we can have a useful conversation about what to do next.
You don’t need a good week to check in
Opening up about your habits can feel personal.
It’s easy to share a week when you crushed your workouts. It can feel uncomfortable to say you barely trained, your food was all over the place, or you’ve been stressed out.
I get that. I feel that way too.
But we’re all going through sh**.
You don’t need to have everything figured out before a coach can help you. The weeks when things fall apart often show us exactly where the plan needs attention.
If you only share the good weeks, we miss the chance to help with the hard ones.
At GBP, a check-in is a conversation. You’re giving us information we can use to help you move forward.
We make room for the workout you can do today
Consistency is one of the biggest levers I see in coaching.
People often have an idea of what a workout should look like. If they can’t do the whole thing—or do it at their usual level—they skip it.
That can turn a busy day into a missed week pretty quickly.
GBP workouts have six levels. And even if you’re usually a Level 4 or 5 athlete, there are days when Level 1 might be the right choice.
Do it in your living room, yard, or the park. Get the movement in. Then, when you have more time and energy, return to the level you’re capable of.
That flexibility gives you a way to keep showing up when life gets complicated.
The question becomes: What can I realistically do today?
We also pay attention to what’s working
Coaching isn’t a constant search for things you’re doing wrong.
If you’ve found a routine that helps you train consistently, we want to keep it. If a simple meal makes hitting your nutrition goals easier, that matters. If your current approach is going well, you don’t need a new plan just because another week has passed.
Check-ins help us see those wins too.
The goal is to make useful adjustments while protecting the habits that are already helping you.
What’s your biggest lever right now?
You can start thinking about this before you join any program.
Ask yourself:
- What do I want to improve?
- What repeatedly gets in the way?
- What’s one change I could realistically make this week?
Be specific. “I want to get three workouts done this week” gives you something to plan around. “I need to get my act together” mostly gives you something to feel bad about.
And if you don’t know which change would help most, that’s a reasonable place to ask for coaching.
At The Get Better Project, we provide workouts and help you understand how to make them work in your life. Weekly check-ins give us a way to keep learning, adjusting, and building on your progress together.
Want help finding your biggest levers? Learn more about The Get Better Project.
Cheers,
Joe
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