Don't Dodge the Heavy Sets

The heaviest sets in the gym teach you what you’re made of. Your technique frays, your breathing shortens, and every fiber of doubt tries to talk you out of the next rep. But if you dodge those sets, if you forever add weight “next time” or cut the range of motion when it gets tough, you never find the limits you’re capable of surpassing.

Like a calendar laid out with intention, the night before a big lift becomes a ritual of mental preparation. Scanning tomorrow’s workout, knowing there’s a 1RM attempt or a set taken to true zero Reps in Reserve, sparks both nerves and excitement. These are the days you celebrate the grind, the day-to-day discipline that built your capacity. The moment the bar bends under load is your chance to prove how far you’ve come. When you finally log that PR in your fitness app, it’s not just a number. It’s evidence of your commitment, and the right to earn a well-deserved deload.

Product work has its heavy sets, too. The planning sessions, the heated debates over priorities, the painstaking designs, all culminate in one make-or-break moment: the release. When the new feature goes live and real users experience your work, it’s the equivalent of stepping onto the platform. The high isn’t just about shipping. It’s the culmination of every rep of preparation, and the point where your investment meets reality.

One of my favorite parts of being in product management is visiting my users. My career has been spent building cybersecurity software, but before that, I was a defender who relied on those very tools to protect my teams. That experience infused me with deep empathy for the difficulty of the job, the importance of effective tools, and a healthy resentment for the snake oil promises that plague our industry.

Every time I step on site at a customer’s Security Operations Center, I get a mini-experience of my old life. For those few hours, I live in their shoes, seeing the threats they face, the urgency they feel, the challenges that keep them awake at night. I love being in the fight with them, brainstorming new ways to integrate with the rest of their stack, and, most of all, witnessing the moment when what we built helps them win. Because when their mission succeeds, it’s proof that every heavy set was worth it. Their mission becomes my mission.

It’s tempting to skip the hard work. To avoid deep discovery with customers. To half-heartedly push a feature to “check the box.” To let organizational friction excuse mediocrity. But every time we dodge the heavy sets, we trade short-term comfort for long-term weakness. We miss the chance to sharpen our instincts, build resilience, and develop the relationships that make real wins possible.

Like hitting a PR at a competition, seeing a user win with our product feels like hitting my personal best as a product manager. Their success is my lift, and the mission we share is the weight worth carrying. Because the mission doesn’t get lighter. Only you get stronger.