The Cost of Moving Too Fast 🏎️

I picked this rule up years ago from a course I attended, and it’s stuck with me ever since:

At the time, it was taught in the context of movement. But the longer I’ve coached, the more I see it show up everywhere.

Let me explain.

In movement, speed can be a great way to hide things.

Picture someone doing a split squat or a Bulgarian split squat—you know, those horrible lunges with your back foot on a bench.

They drop down fast. Bounce straight out of the bottom. Looks strong. Looks athletic.

Now ask them to slow it down. Add a pause at the bottom.

All of a sudden:

Speed didn’t fix anything. But it did a great job of hiding a lack of stability and control.

That’s the movement side. But I’ve noticed the same thing happens outside the gym too.

You see it all the time with food, sleep, and routines. Instead of building fundamentals, people rush to speedy solutions:

Strict diet rules instead of learning how to eat
It’s faster to follow rules than explore your relationship with food.
Skipping to week three of a programme to get ahead
The first weeks look easy anyway.
Cutting out entire food groups “for now”
Faster than learning moderation.
Buying wearables instead of setting boundaries
Data over behaviour.

Speed feels productive. Slowing down feels uncomfortable.

Because slowing down forces you to notice what’s missing:

So people sprint past the basics and hope intensity and momentum will carry them through.

It rarely does.

Slowing down isn’t a setback — it’s exposure.

When you slow things down:

Weak points show up Gaps become obvious Old patterns surface

That’s not failure. That’s information.

Speed can help you move through something. Slowing down helps you understand it.

And long-term health doesn’t come from how fast you can start. It comes from how well you can repeat the boring stuff when life gets busy.

A question to sit with this week:

Where might speed be helping you avoid the work you actually need?

Or said another way…

If you slowed this down by half, what would suddenly become obvious?

P.S. If you enjoyed this week's Thursday Three, please share it with a friend.

Thanks,

Jamie

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