> Some activities have smooth progress bars: rowing, knitting, cycling, climbing, bodybuilding, etc.

I am being pedantic here, but bodybuilding/strength training definitely does not have a smooth progress bar. You need to be prepared for there to be weeks, or even months, where you are just not lifting what you were able to before.

The author is talking about progress within one game/set/race not over the long term. In lifting during your first rep you can notice that your stance was slightly too wide and adjust it for the other 4 reps. Just like in rowing if your first paddle is a bit out of sync you can fix it.

The point is those are activities with highly repetitive efforts and you can adjust after each one with feedback.

Golfing is not like this, if you miss your first swing, you can’t micro adjust for the second one, because it’s going to take place under completely different conditions where the feedback you just got does not apply usually.

This is actually true for many forms of physical training, including not just strength training but also endurance training (running, etc.) Plateaus and injuries aside, the basic principle of training is overload followed by recovery, and it's not uncommon during the overload phase to have high levels of fatigue and minimal improvement if not regression.

This is something a lot of casual athletes don't notice because there is a very steep development curve for the untrained, so you just getting better very quickly. Once you have been training for years, gains come much slower.

Rowing (and all other forms of exercise) are definitely non-linear in progression. Most of the time the progression is sub-linear, but rarely you get the other thing too.

From 2013~2023 I would struggle to row 10km in any duration. My typical daily routine would be 2~3km. From 2023+ I can row 10km every single morning 365 days a year without any issues.

Some kind of step-wise change occurred about 2 years ago. It wasn't a gradual or linear event. I vividly recall a day where I just kept going and going without paying attention. I finally look down and there was 14km indicated on the display. At this point I figure I can do 4km less than that every day since it wasn't too bad. 80% of it seems to be psychological. The human body is incredibly adaptive, even over short time frames.

Confidence is probably the most important thing in making progress with things like weight lifting. Definitely in Olympic lifting. I've seen people go from a 135lb to a 225lb clean & jerk in one day with a good coach.

Doubling down here on the analogy - I used to row, and the progress is anything but smooth. There are absolute massive leaps that come from a years worth of training wit very little to show for it in the middle.

I do like his point about taking all the mulligans though!

> strength training definitely does not have a smooth progress bar

Not at intermediate or advanced levels, but for beginners on a well designed program like “starting strength” it typically does.

I mean.... None of those activities have smooth progress bars. It's not pedantic to point out the entire premise is flawed.