I’ve exercised my entire life. I played varsity football in high school and basketball and baseball as a youngster. I worked at a Gold’s Gym for years and earned a minor in exercise science in college. As part of the kinesiology program, I worked with the collegiate swim team to measure the impact of explosive lifting protocols. During law school, I got my personal training certification and trained students at the local YMCA between classes. I’ve essentially always been around weights, athletes, and exercise. However, I only got truly strong once I set a performance goal—ditching a “fitness” goal—and focused on conquering the Beast Tamer.

This probably seems obvious, but it took me 35 years to discover it. More embarrassingly, I spent most of those 35 years in and around the fitness field. Chasing a fitness goal such as more muscle, less body fat, bigger biceps, more muscular shoulders, etc., was a waste of time. First, it didn’t work that well, and second, it was like chasing a ghost. After setting a performance goal, for the first time mind you, I gained more muscle in less time than ever before.

At risk of belaboring an obvious point, if I were working with students, I would do everything in my power to shift the following list from the former into the latter.