Training Intent

Hey,

One of the most important factors in long term training success is something that is rarely explained clearly.

Intent.

Not the program. Not the exercises. Not the equipment.

Not motivation. Not discipline. Not effort alone.

Intent.

Intent sits between your goals and your actions.

Your goals define the why. The outcome you want.

Your intent defines the how. The way you execute, the principles you apply, the decisions you make while training.

The exercises you choose are the what.

When intent is clear, the how aligns naturally. When intent is unclear, even good programs stop working.

This framework applies everywhere:

Why: the outcome you want

How: the intent that shapes execution

What: the exercises and movements you use

Most people focus almost entirely on the what. Very few people understand or train the how.

Two people can do the same exercise and get completely different results.

The difference is not the exercise. It is the intent behind it.

If your intent is muscle growth, that has very clear implications.

You need meaningful stimulus.

That usually means working close to muscular failure. Not reckless failure, but real challenge.

If every set feels easy, the intent is missing.

That challenge is not only about load. It is also about:

All of these together determine whether a set actually drives adaptation.

You do not need to track scientific metrics to understand this. You can feel it.

Intent shows up in how demanding the set feels when done with control and awareness.

If your intent is strength, and especially power, execution changes again.

Here, the intent is to move the weight as forcefully as possible.

This does not mean reckless speed or explosive technique.

It means attempting to move faster.

If you perform a pull up with a very slow, comfortable concentric, it will feel easier than performing the same pull up with a faster, more forceful intent.

Even if the bar speed does not change much, the intent does.

That difference matters.

Power is trained by intent, not just by exercise selection.

Intent matters just as much for mobility.

If your intent is to improve range of motion and control at end ranges, execution has to reflect that.

That means:

If your goal is hip mobility, the movement needs to come from the hips.

Not from rounding the spine. Not from bending the knees more. Not from compensations.

The depth only counts if it comes from the joint and tissue you intend to train.

That awareness is intent in action.

The same principle applies to skill work, athleticism, and body control.

If you want to improve movements like L sits or toes to bar, intent determines progress.

Swinging into positions uses momentum. Pulling slowly into challenging ranges builds control.

Pausing, controlling, and owning positions is a different intent than simply completing reps.

That difference compounds over time.

Intent is more important than exercise selection.

It determines whether training actually moves you toward your goal or just keeps you busy.

→ This is why two people can follow the same plan and get very different results.

And this is why we focus so heavily on intent in our coaching and programming.

We teach it explicitly, but we also build it into how movements are structured, progressed, and layered over time.

If you are unsure how to apply intent to your own training, this is exactly what we help people with inside our programs.

But even on your own, this is the key takeaway:

Know your why.

Let intent define your how.

Then choose the what.

That is where real progress comes from.

Franz & Elliot

Strong & Mobile