Physical Feedback: The Mirror Within

REFLECTIONS IN MOTION

Talking physical feedback through the lens of purpose

Training has obvious physical health benefits. Those who’ve been training longer will also tell you it has countless psychological benefits. It shapes your character, your appearance, and your mood. The benefits are endless.

But there’s one benefit that rarely gets talked about — one that can help you perform better in training and your professional life.

Training your body gives you something no coach, psychologist, friend, or family member ever can.

The Stoics have known this for centuries. Using this approach changed my life — and it will change the way you see training forever…

Why should you care about using physical feedback?

Physical feedback is the most objective kind of feedback. It focuses only on you. It has no regard for external influences. How you perform during training is a clear reflection of your physical strength — but also of your mental state.

If you're distracted, holding tension, or carrying stress, it all shows up in training. The Stoics knew that if you pay attention to what happens inside, you’ll understand what’s going on outside.

Training reveals when you're off balance, lacking rest, tense, or mentally scattered. And when you recognize there's a problem early, you can fix it — before it becomes something bigger.

Where reading physical feedback often goes wrong

When you hear the words physical feedback, it sounds like it only refers to your performance — your speed, strength, or endurance.

That’s true. But also incomplete. Because to perform well physically, you have to be mentally sharp too.

Your mental state determines whether you push through or give up. And yet, very few people track this kind of feedback during training. Most focus only on the obvious metrics — reps, distance, pace, weight.

You ask yourself, “Is this better or worse than last time?” and use that to decide how fit you are. But those aren’t the only metrics that you can track.

The most powerful metrics you can track are not obvious. They only reveal themselves when you are close to giving up.

THIS WEEK’S STOIC INSIGHT

A moment this week that taught me something

Live from Eindhoven, Netherlands

This week, I’ve been finalizing my search for my why — my ikigai.
And when you go deep into what drives you, you’re also confronted with the projects or dreams that didn’t make it.

I realized something important: The projects I started didn’t fail because I lost motivation, had bad luck, or lacked good ideas. They failed because I worked backwards — starting from the big end goal.

I’m someone who wants to serve the world. So I started every project with that thought in mind — not to make money. But the reality is this:
In today’s world, you have to earn before you can give back in a big, meaningful way.

If your mission is to make a difference, to leave a mark —
First, earn through what you are uniquely good at. Then, use your wealth to serve the world.

This isn’t a new concept. The Stoics understood this too. As Musonius Rufus once said: “The man who is going to teach others must first train himself in the things which he is going to teach.” — Lecture 1: That One Should Disdain Hardships

How to read physical feedback the right way

So how do you track and read them, if they’re not obvious? The key is to create regular moments where it’s just you — no distractions, no teammates, no excuses.

A session where performance depends entirely on you. Where you have to push beyond what’s comfortable. That’s when the real feedback shows up. Not in the numbers — but in how you react.

Do you hesitate? Do you cut corners? Do you feel angry, anxious, or drained before you even start? These are the metrics most people never track. But they’re the most important ones.

Because how you show up in those moments is a reflection of what’s going on in your life outside the gym. And once you start paying attention, the patterns become clear — in your training, and yourself.

If I could only use one tactic to implement physical feedback, it would be this

Looking back at how I began using training as feedback — on both good and bad days — I’ve realized I follow a consistent process. One shaped by experience and grounded in Stoic principles.

It won’t give you instant answers. With consistent practice, it will turn your physical feedback into insights about your mental state.

I call it the 3R Framework:

1. Remove distractions
Create a session where you're fully dependent on yourself.
No training partners. No complex techniques.

2. Raise intensity
A regular strength session or recovery run won’t cut it.
You need a short rest. Full intensity. Exercises that push you to the edge — until quitting feels like an option.

3. Read your response
After training, revisit the moment it got hard.
Forget the numbers — focus on your reaction.
What were you thinking? What did you tell yourself? What did you feel?

Do this consistently for a few weeks, and patterns will start to emerge. You’ll begin to notice: “When training goes well, I tend to feel ___. When it goes poorly, I often feel ___.”

Now flip it: What if those same feelings are showing up in your daily life, too?

For example:
If you feel anxious before every hard session — is that training feedback? Or is it a signal that something deeper needs your attention?

If you are hesitating on lifting heavier, when you feel it is possible. Maybe you are hesitating on other big decisions too.

Let the feedback speak. The truth always shows up — if you’re willing to look.

END ON PURPOSE

One question to ask yourself today…

What small progress can I make today?

We always think that progress is made in big steps. Progress is actually small steps that add up over a longer period. You don't have to start with big steps to get to a big dream. The durable way is intentionally making small steps every day. They will add up.

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