EP48, Chase The Stimulus

Are you the person who tries Rx and grinds through a workout in 25 minutes when it was supposed to take 10? Or the one who scales so light you're done in four and barely breathing? In this solo episode of Unstoppable by Design, Matt Terry breaks down what it actually means to modify with a purpose, why "Rx" isn't the goal, and how to make scaling decisions that match the intent of every workout.

"Rx is not the goal. The stimulus is the goal. The Rx is just one of many paths to get there, and for a lot of people, on a lot of days, it's not the right path."

In this episode, we deep dive into:

• What "Stimulus" Actually Means: The word coaches throw around all the time, finally explained in a way you can use the next time you walk into the gym.
• Why Rx Isn't a Badge: How chasing the prescribed weight can quietly steal the workout you actually needed today.
• Knowing Your Own Engine: The data you should already be collecting on yourself, no notebook required, that turns scaling from a guess into a calculated decision.
• The One Test for Smart Scaling: A simple question to ask before every workout that keeps your modification honest to the intent.
• Modifying Around an Injury, the Right Way: A real wall ball example with three different scales, each one keeping the stimulus while protecting the limitation.
• Why Scaling Is a Skill: And why getting it wrong sometimes is part of getting it right long-term.

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Transcript

Welcome And The Real Problem

Matt 0:00

Let's go. Welcome to Unstoppable by Design, where we talk all things fitness, mindset, and what it means to truly be unstoppable inside and outside of the gym. I'm Matt Terry, and today's topic came from one of our goal reviews. So, for anyone new to the show, every quarter or every 90 days, our coaches sit down one-on-one with our members and ask them a handful of questions. One of those questions is what do you want to learn more about? I was reading through the responses from this past round, and one of them stuck out to me. This particular member wanted to learn more about continuing to modify with a purpose, and that they express that they tend to try RX, but they won't hit stimulus, and if they scale, they typically overshoot their scaling. If you're sitting there thinking, yep, that's me, you're in the right place. This is one of the most common gaps I see in people who have been training for a while. They know the movements, they know the workout, but the scaling decision is where we leave fitness on the table. So let's talk about it. So, what is stimulus anyway? So, first, we have to talk about a word that coaches use quite a bit and is really hard to explain, even harder to understand, but that's stimulus. When we write a workout, every workout has an intent.

What Workout Stimulus Means

Matt 1:25

It's designed to do something specific to you. Sometimes the goal is conditioning, finishing under 10 minutes with your heart rate up, and sometimes the goal is muscular endurance, hitting a specific muscle group with high volume. Sometimes it's mixed. It's like a workout that's supposed to get you breathing hard and burn out your shoulders at the same time. That intent with that is stimulus. So here's the thing the RX version of a workout, the prescribed version with the prescribed weights and reps, that's calibrated for an athlete who can hit the stimulus while doing it. If you can do the RX weight, but the workout takes you 25 minutes when it was supposed to take eight, you didn't get the intended workout. You got a different workout, maybe even a worse one for what your body needed today or for what your goals are. And on the flip side, if you scale way too light because you wanted to finish fast and you're done in four minutes, barely breathing hard, you also got a different workout. Same problem, opposite direction. If you're ever unsure what the stimulus of the workout is supposed to be, ask the coach. That's literally what we're there for. Before the workout starts, walk up and say, Hey, what should I feel during this workout? Three sentences from a coach can completely change how you approach the next 15 to 20 minutes of your day. One of the things that can really help you and your coach decide how you'll scale for the day is knowing how you perform. Here's the part that nobody likes, but it's where the answer actually lives. You have to know how you perform on these

Know Your Engine With Data

Matt 3:08

movements. How long does it take you to do 50 wobbles unbroken? Do you even go unbroken or do you break at 30? How long does a 400 meter run take on a normal day? And when you do 2159, are you the kind of person who chains the first round and then has to break the next two up? Or do you break early and you stay steady throughout? This isn't about being slow or fast. It's data. Every time you do a workout, you're collecting information about yourself. The more reps and the more workouts you log in your head or in wad up, the better your scaling decisions get. If you want to make calculated decisions about stimulus, you need calculated data on yourself. That means paying attention. How long did the workout take? How many breaks did I take? That weight felt heavy by round three, or the weight felt easy by round one. You don't have to write it all down, but the people who modify with a purpose have a feel for their own engine. They know that ninety five pound thrusters chip away at them around minute four. Or they know that they can hit a set of five comfortably, six is pushing it. They know that they need 30 seconds of rest after 20 burpees, not ten. That's the magic that's reps, that's miles, that's showing up enough times to actually learn yourself. Okay, so let's say you know your engine and you know the stimulus of the workout. What does smart scaling actually look like in practice? The simple test is this. Does the way I'm scaling still accomplish the intent of the workout? If the

The Smart Scaling Test

Matt 4:50

workout is supposed to be done in under 10 minutes and hit a certain muscle group, however you scale has to accomplish both. Not one, both. Scaling the weight down so you can finish in time, but skipping the muscle group on accident, that's not a scale, that's a different workout. Keeping the weight at RX but stretching it to 18 minutes instead of ten, that's a different workout altogether. Smart scaling holds onto the intent. Here's a real example. Let's say the workout has wall balls, but you're working around a shoulder thing. Wall balls light up your shoulders, so we want to back off them a little bit. But the wall ball isn't really there for shoulder development in this workout.

Modifying Around Pain With Purpose

Matt 5:35

It's there to be a full body, breathy, leg burning movement that gets your heart rate up. So you scale to keep the intent just without the shoulder load. A few options could look something like a bear hug on the wall ball, you hug the ball tight to your chest, squats at the same depth, stand up tall, no throw, you'll still get breathing, the legs, the cycle. Could be jumping squats instead of just regular squats. No ball at all, uh same legs, same cycle, same heart rate punch. Could be single arm dumbbell thrusters with your good arm. Different stimulus on your shoulder, but same hip drive, breathing, and full body work. Notice what we did. We didn't dodge the workout, we didn't pick something easy because shoulders were sore. We picked something that still does the same job to your body, with a path around the limitation. That's modifying with purpose. The intent stayed, the path changed. This stuff doesn't happen overnight, it comes with trial and error. You're going to scale wrong, you're going to do an RX workout that wrecks your week, or pick a weight that didn't challenge you at all. That's part of it. The point is to pay attention afterwards. Was that the right call? What would I do differently next time? If you do take one thing away from this episode, take this. Rx is not the goal. The stimulus is the goal. The RX is just one of the many paths to get there. And for a lot of people, on a lot of days, it's not the right path. Talk to your coach,

RX Is Not The Goal

Matt 7:11

know your engine, pick a scale that hits the intent. That's what modifying with purpose actually means. But before we wrap up today, I want to give a huge shout out to Ashley, who was our most recent raffle winner. Congrats again, Ashley, and thanks for supporting the show. And speaking of the show, our next raffle is going to be on June 6th. For as little as

Raffle Winner And Support The Show

Matt 7:35

$3 a month, you can get entered to win a full seat to the Ultimate Boot Camp Challenge, something valued at $199. The link to support the show is right in the show notes, and every single subscription, no matter the amount, helps us keep putting these episodes out. That's it for this one, and until next time, be well, be unstoppable.