That damn sit and reach. It's the lingering memory from my Presidential Fitness test. Zero pullups and "running" a 13 minute mile? All but forgotten. But sitting on the ground, having my legs held down by classmates, and being told to "reach?"  I felt like I was failing my country because I resembled the Tin Man.

In a sharp contrast to those elementary school days, I've hacked my way to now touch my toes on command.  But rather than blindly touting "Make America Flexible Again!" we need to look at why someone can or can't touch their toes.  After all, just stretching our hamstrings does nothing but make our pelvis more unstable. It also fails to teach the mechanism behind why we can or can't touch our toes - our brain.

Don't just take my word for it, I'm about education!

The process of losing weight carries different ideas for each person.  I think of vegetables, deadlifts, pullups and kettlebell snatches.  You can thank the upcoming Tactical Strength Challenge for that.

But many people think of depriving themselves, as if that's a necessity to lose weight.  I don't mean deprivation as in actively thinking we need to starve ourselves - many of us are too smart for that.

I mean deprivation in less obvious forms.  For example:

• Holding yourself to strict daily caloric limits.
• Needing to run or exercise in order to justify a meal.
• Thinking we can't indulge in a meal and need to be 100% perfect.
• Giving up stress relieving rituals such as a cup of coffee or a nightly glass of wine.
• Demonizing specific foods (fruit, grains, dairy) even if we like them.

Learning about heart rates is not sexy.  I think that's why I avoided it for so long.  If a topic wasn't about getting stronger or giving me abzz, it wasn't at the top of my priority list.  It's myopic but it's true.

I was also confused with the different types of heart rate data - resting heart rate, heart rate variability, working heart rates, anaerobic threshold, etc.  While obtaining this data is easier than it's ever been with various monitors and FitBits, it's only valuable if you know what to do with it.

What changed? I learned why someone's resting heart rate is directly tied to their ability to get stronger and in better shape.  It's true what they say, "When the student is ready, a teacher appears."

Every time I hear a new Flo Rida song I go through the same pattern of emotions.  Initially, it's anger and confusion.  After the 15th time, it becomes strangely endearing.  After the 30th, I need to listen to it every day and sing it under my breath for the next 2+ weeks.

After going through this pattern - without fail - since "Low" came out in 2008, you think I would've learned.  But as I was singing "My House" to an empty apartment this past week, I realized that listening to Flo Rida mirrors my emotions with half kneeling exercises.

And to answer the elephant in the room: yes, I am an exercise and physiology nerd.

I've hit my share of plateaus.  They're frustrating.  They make you question what you know.  In a sense, they provoke the same reactions as seeing Donald Trump run away with the GOP nomination.

On the flip side, my most rewarding workouts have been those where I've busted through to the other side.  I've also learned much more from missing my goals than I have from achieving them. But seeing the forest through the trees is easier said than done.

If you think your program is the reason you're stuck on your squat/deadlift/press, there are plenty of general programs that'll help get you over the hump.  I'd highly suggest 5/3/1 or some Westside Barbell templates.  They might appear different but they're based on a simple principle - more practice, at varying weights, will help you improve.

That said, programming often gets too much credit for breaking plateaus.  In reality, the secret for 99% of us comes down to good coaching and great execution.  Below are three tips to help exactly that.