Alright, athletes—this is what success actually looks like.
You’re going to make progress. Then you’re going to slide backward—almost to zero. Then you’ll push forward again, a little further this time. And then? Another setback, but not quite as bad as before. Progress, backtrack; progress, backtrack. Gain muscle, lose muscle. Hit a new sprint PR, then struggle to match it. Crush your lifts, then have an off day where the bar feels heavier than it should.
But here’s why you keep going: Every time you backtrack, you won’t fall as far as before. The loops get smaller.
And over time, you’ll notice something else—you’re not backtracking as often. One day, you’ll look up and realize, Wow, I’ve gone a whole season without a major setback. You’ll start to recognize that even your plateaus aren’t really setbacks anymore—they’re just part of the process.
Another gym owner, Nikole, coined the hashtag #highclassproblems. She’s got a point. It’s a reminder that problems don’t disappear, but they become smaller and less frequent. If your squat drops from 400 to 375, yeah, that stings—but guess what? You can still move 375 freaking pounds! If your sprint time slows by a tenth of a second, that’s frustrating—but you’re still moving faster than most.
Too many athletes get caught in that first loop forever—start training, make progress, hit a slump. Repeat. Maybe their nutrition isn’t dialed in. Maybe they’re overtraining. Maybe they just picked the wrong program. But if they stick with it long enough, they realize they’re still moving forward, even when they feel like they’ve fallen behind.
Maybe you’ve had a rough season—nagging injuries, confidence dips, frustrating performances. (#highclassproblems) But you’re still here. You can still compete. You can still push yourself. And next season, when adversity hits again, you’ll be even stronger. You’re building resilience. You’re creating a margin for setbacks.
If nothing else, train today because today’s challenges are better than last year’s. I’ve been there. Keep grinding.
Now it’s your turn. Show up, put in the work, and trust the process. If you need guidance, a push, or just a gym that gets it, Yakima Sports Performance is here for you. Let’s build that margin for success together—one rep, one sprint, one challenge at a time. Click the link below and lets get started!