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Purpose and values: who you are actually training for

Training is a means. This topic is about the end: the person you are trying to become, the standards you hold when it is inconvenient, and the difference between your values and the ones you inherited. Most of it was written daily, in one sitting, over several years.

Ask someone why they train and you usually get a body answer. Ask again in six months and you get a different one, about being able to keep up, or being someone their kids copy, or just proving something to themselves.

That second answer is what this writing is about. True north, what you believe, standards, what you are becoming, and the awkward question of what you would still do if nobody ever saw it. If you want the philosophy behind how we coach rather than the coaching itself, this is the topic, and the about page carries the short version.

59 articles in this topic

Questions people ask

Purpose and values, answered.

Who writes the Virtus blog?

The Virtus coaching team, most of it by our director across several years of near-daily writing. Where a post has a named author, it says so.

Why do so many posts have no date?

The original publication dates were lost when the old website was migrated in 2026. Rather than invent dates, those posts are marked as archive and claim no publication date at all.

Do I have to be a member to read these?

No. The whole archive is public and always has been.

The thinking behind the coaching.

This is why Virtus coaches the human before the athlete. Have a look at who we are and how we got here.

About Virtus
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