Effort Isn’t Coached — It’s Prepared
We saw this quote on Instagram this week:
“If your coach has to coach effort, you’re not a player, you’re a problem.”
It caught our attention because, at MWBC, we think about this differently. Not in a way that’s about calling athletes out if they're not trying hard enough (however we might do that occasionally if needed), but in a way that highlights how crucial effort and preparedness are to long-term success in your training.
Why This Quote Matters
We talk all the time at MWBC about effort being the currency. Progress doesn’t happen overnight. It happens through a process, and that process is built on showing up with effort, consistently.
But here’s the important part: you can’t just decide to bring effort into a session without preparing yourself for it. If you’ve skipped meals, had four hours of sleep, or drifted into the gym with no plan, you’ve already limited how much effort you can actually give.
Effort isn’t just about “trying hard.” It’s about being the kind of athlete who prepares themselves to have capacity for effort in the first place.
Who Do I Need to Be?
Instead of obsessing over outcomes, numbers on the bar, competition results, PBs — we ask a different question:
Who do I need to be to get the outcome that I want?
The answer is never “someone who waits for motivation to show up.” It’s always the athlete who treats effort like their responsibility and prepares their environment so they can deliver it, day in and day out.
What Prepared Effort Looks Like Day to Day
Here are the patterns we see in athletes who thrive at MWBC:
Writing out their program ahead of time
They arrive with a plan, not a question mark. Sessions start strong because they know what’s in front of them.Consistent warm-up (not just laying on the foam roller having a yap)
They use warm-up to switch on, not drift. Their routine primes body and mind for performance.Diligent bar sets with intention
Effort doesn’t wait until the top set. Every rep counts, from the empty bar to the heaviest weight.Asking questions if they don’t understand
They don’t waste sessions in confusion. They take ownership of their learning so they can train with clarity.Celebrating their wins
They find motivation in progress, no matter how small, instead of constantly chasing “what’s next” and never feeling good enough.
This isn’t flashy. It’s consistency. And it’s the difference between athletes who spin their wheels and athletes who move forward.
Why This Is the Difference-Maker
Preparedness means you’re optimized to put in more effort when it matters. And when you’re giving effort, you’re doing 100% of what’s in your control.
If you’re not able to bring that, if you’re running on empty, distracted, or unprepared, then the real work is figuring out what levers you need to pull in your personal life to support yourself better. Recovery, nutrition, sleep, structure, these are all part of coaching yourself to be capable of effort.
Because when you arrive prepared, effort stops being something you have to search for. It becomes automatic.
What You Can Do Right Now
Here are two questions to bring into your week:
Before training: What’s one small step I can take this week to make sure I show up prepared to bring 100% effort? (Maybe it’s writing my program out the night before, maybe it’s nailing a pre-training meal, maybe it’s setting a consistent warm-up.)
After training: Did I give the best effort I could today? If the answer is yes, you’ve already succeeded, regardless of what numbers were on the bar.
At MWBC, effort is the baseline. Preparedness is the edge. Coaching is the accelerator.
Our role is to sharpen and refine what you bring. Your role is to prepare yourself so effort is always on the table.
Because when you can consistently bring effort, progress takes care of itself.
—MWBC Team
