Purpose Over Performance Theater
by: Josh Bryant
We’ve already covered the Seven Granddaddy Laws of Training.We’ve hit the Fitness-Fatigue Model like a sledgehammer to a cinder block. We’ve explored training adaptations like we were prepping for a PhD in pig iron.
Now let’s pretend the Law of Individual Differences doesn’t exist.
That everyone’s the same. That a 260-pound fullback training for the NFL Combine should run the same program as Cletus from West by God Virginia, trying to get jacked before the old 4-H Club’s annual moonshine tasting.
Everyone knows his ex married that prick with the winery up in Northern Virginia—but this year, the shine’s gonna hit harder and so will his forearms.
Different bodies. Different goals. Different demands. You don’t build a sniper rifle the same way you build a diesel-powered skidder with no brakes and a log chain for a gas pedal. One’s surgical. The other’s pure destruction. Both effective—but you better know which one you’re building.
A tactical athlete, for example, might need to kick down a door in a half-second burst of violent, explosive power. Then sprint five yards in full gear just to get behind cover. Then ruck twenty miles with a busted radio and a fifty-pound pack. This isn’t a bodybuilding show. It’s not even football. It’s fight-or-die, adapt-or-fail.
Dive Deep in these variables
That’s why we focus on what adaptations we’re actually trying to impose—not just random suffering for social media clout.
You need a system built around:
- What you’re training for
- How you move
- How long you move
- How you recover
- And what tools you’ve got available
That’s the foundation. Everything else is window dressing.
Let’s break down the real variables that matter:
Movement demands
A boxer doesn’t move like a powerlifter. One needs rotational speed in the transverse plane, the other brute limit strength in a straight line. You train for the battlefield you’re fighting on—not someone else’s highlight reel.
Energy systems
An MMA fighter explodes, recovers, and explodes again. A sprinter goes full throttle for ten seconds. A marathoner stays in cruise control for hours. A tactical athlete might need all three, back to back. That means your training needs to build the right engine, not just wear you out.
Philosophy and style
Even inside the same sport, it varies. Nebraska linemen in the 90s were built for pulling and explosion. West Coast linemen needed to absorb force. Lennox Lewis fought like a sniper. Some folks? Things didn’t pan out stateside and they’re down in old Mexico, ducking warrants and fighting in dive bars for rent money. And when the bell rings, they don’t dance—they walk forward proud, take your best shot, and don’t back up. That’s the Mexican Style and ir requires a different kind of conditioning.
Sustainability
If your program looks great on paper but folds after two weeks, it’s not even a circle jerk—it’s mental masturbation. No one’s getting happy but you.
Methods that deliver
Running five miles a day to get better at basketball is certainly better than sitting on the couch. You’ll get some conditioning. Just like origami may give you finger dexterity, but don’t count on it in a fistfight. Hard work doesn’t matter if it’s misdirected.
Equipment and environment
You can’t run giant supersets in a gym packed tighter than a double-wide fridge. Training must fit the space, gear, and chaos you’re working with.
Cost to your energy bank
You only have so much recovery currency. Spending it all on high-volume squats might bankrupt your whole week. Sometimes, a well-placed belt squat or sled drag gives you 90% of the benefit at 30% of the cost.
Sports science bundles all this under two umbrellas: biodynamics (how you move) and bioenergetics (how you fuel the movement). For a tactical athlete, the “game” might be life or death, but the principles don’t change.
Yuri Verkhoshansky, Soviet strength pioneer, laid out the rules for this kind of transfer training with his concept of dynamic correspondence. In plain English? Does your training actually carry over to what you’re trying to do?
Here’s what he said matters:
- Amplitude and direction of movement
Your training should match the range and direction of your sport. Going up for rebounds? Trap bar jumps will build that vertical pop. - Accentuated regions of force production
A punch generates force early, not at the end. That means band-resisted punching won’t transfer well. You need to train the start, not the finish. - Dynamics of effort
Training must match the intensity of performance. If you coast in training, don’t expect to rage in competition. - Rate and time of maximum force production
A powerlifter can grind. A shot putter must explode. Both require high force production. The powerlifter has no time limit, while the shot putter must display it as fast as possible. So training is not identical. - Regime of muscular work
Are you using the right blend of isometric, eccentric, reactive, and explosive work? Gymnasts do—and that’s why they move like human rubber bands wrapped in steel cable.
Bioenergetics ties it all together. It’s the fuel system. Whether you need short bursts, steady effort, or rapid recovery, your training has to match it. No exceptions.
The takeaway? Real results don’t come from following random workouts. They come from understanding your own goals and matching training to what you need—movement-wise, energy-wise, and mindset-wise.
Don’t train like a clown and wonder why you’re not performing like a killer.
Get strong. Be mobile, agile, hostile. Or get left behind.
Use one of Josh’s Programs for your specific goal 👉HERE.
