The question I asked 3 clients this week

This week I had three separate conversations that all circled the same thing: what does "doing your best" look like when your life isn't cooperating?

One client was recovering from surgery.
One had a sick kid at home.
One was buried at work.

Different circumstances, same question.

The question: What's the minimum that still counts?

Minimums aren't about lowering standards — they're about making sure your standards survive contact with reality.

The client who held on through surgery didn't do it by going harder. She did it by getting very clear on what mattered most and protecting that. We define minimums in good seasons, so we have them in hard ones.

What would it look like to revisit yours right now?

Here is a tip to make it stick - be realistic, not idealistic.

Realistic standards are the ones you know you can actually hit. Idealistic standards are the ones you wish you could. If you start slow and build, you’ll see evidence of success and get closer to the ideals much faster than if you set the bar too high and can’t live up to it when things get hard.

Not the version of your training and nutrition that exists when everything goes right, the version that keeps you engaged when it doesn't.

Do this while things are calm. The week your kid spikes a fever is the worst possible time to decide what your baseline is.

Pick the smallest honest version: two sessions instead of four, a protein target instead of a full macro split, a walk on the days lifting isn't happening. Write it down. Put it somewhere you'll actually see it.

Then when the hard stretch shows up, and it will, you're executing something you already decided instead of negotiating with yourself at 9 pm.

That's the whole point of a minimum. It carries the standard through the season where willpower can't.

If you want help figuring out what your minimums should be given your training goals and your actual schedule, that's a conversation we have with every client. Start at www.masterathletic.com.

Olivia Oneid
Coach, Master Athletic Performance