21 Feb Have you considered ‘side-to-side jostle’?
February 21st, 2026
One of the biggest indicators of success is a person’s ability and willingness to get help, insight and assistance where they need it, and fast.
Despite this, too many folks (and yes, my target market, Dads) wait waaaay too long before getting the help that would get them back the energy, physique and mojo that has been slipping away for years.
I was reminded of this in an email exchange earlier this week.
What the hell is ‘side-to-side jostle’?
I’ve been training Paul since 2012 when he first came to me to help him get through the ultramarathon known as the Marathon des Sables. He sailed through this event with flying colours, and at the time I felt confident setting up all his programming having studied Strength and Conditioning for years, and having completed the event myself.
Paul ‘caught the bug’ and has become a bit of a legend… every couple of years he comes to me with a fresh and more complicated and challenging event to attempt, from Ice Ultras to ‘Altitude multi-dayers’. For my part, I do increasingly more research to plan our approach. Last year he announced he was going to row across the Atlantic with a mate.
A coach has got to know his limitations haha. Yep, I’ve decades of experience in event preparation, nutrition coaching and event conditioning… but I don’t know much about ocean rowing at all. Time to reach out to an expert in the field who has been there, done it and helped a load of others across the pond. I’m writing this now with a huge smile on my face because the e-mail exchange we had was fun and genuinely enlightening.
One of the most overlooked factors when it comes to training to row across an ocean the ‘side-to-side jostle’ of the boat.
The ‘jostle’ is huge and you can’t train for this on your rowing machine (despite the hours you have to put in on there). You must do extraordinarily specific, (and hugely creative) progressive work as part of your conditioning for months, (before you even get into a real boat) targeting the specific musculature that will stabilise that vessel and made each individual stroke count for more.
Despite being a Personal Trainer for 25 years and a Strength & Conditioning specialist for the last 15 I can tell you that the exercises and movements that she described (which I’ve now incorporated into Paul’s routine) simply wouldn’t have occurred to me had I not reached out and asked.
I couldn’t ignore the parallels this has with the vast majority of my online clients on the Lean Dad Project. Everyone I work with is competent, successful, and often at the top of their game in whatever they do… but they all have something in common.
They don’t have the time, energy, resources, experience or knowledge to get lean, strong, and healthy for the long-term.
They need somebody in their corner who has done it before for a number of people over a number of years.
Someone who can help identify the key things that will really make a difference to them achieving their goal… and help them focus on those.
The phrase ‘side-to-side jostle’ has been on my mind all week. I would have worked on Paul’s core of course, but would it have been enough to get him across the ocean? To really make a difference when times got rough? Speaking to Lia enabled us to start working, with precision, on the areas that would make our strength and conditioning efforts pay the biggest dividends over the next 22 months.
What’s your ‘side-to-side jostle’? What area of your life are you ‘kind of’, ‘sort of’ making an effort with… but deep down you know that you could really make a huge difference if you got experienced help?
Can you even identify your personal ‘jostle’?
And if you can, do you know the best way to it deal with it and make sure it’s not something that’s holds you back on your quest to… maybe not row across the ocean… but get to where you need to be and stay there.
Reaching out for help to properly address that in which you’re not an expert is a sign of strength. It’ll get you moving, save you a ton of time and can turn something which might seem daunting into a lot of fun.
Ayo Williams
The Lean Dad Project