Every man who tracks progress eventually crosses a line.
He starts measuring to manage—but ends up chasing the metric itself.

Goodhart’s Law defines that moment:

It happens in fitness, business, and recovery.
The number stops serving your growth and starts controlling it.

I’ve done it myself.
During one A³ testing cycle, I decided I wanted to hit a 10-minute wall sit. Why? No reason—just because “more” seemed better. But past six minutes, the return on effort flatlined. I wasn’t getting stronger; I was just testing pain tolerance. I would’ve been better off doing squats, lunges, and Bulgarian split squats that actually build strength and skeletal muscle mass—metrics that matter when you’re training to become harder to kill.

I’m also prone to chasing a triple crown in Oura—85+ scores in readiness, sleep, and activity. That pursuit tightens my habits, which is good, but it also creates stress around the very data meant to improve recovery. The morning I woke up anxious about my readiness score, I knew I’d lost the plot.

That’s the trap of Goodhart’s Law: when progress becomes performance for the scoreboard, you’re no longer training—you’re performing for validation.

Goodhart’s Law was born in economics, but it applies to every domain of performance:
when you turn a measure into the goal, it ceases to be a good measure.

In military terms, it’s a Pyrrhic victory—you win the battle but lose the war.

In fitness, it looks like this:

Healthy measurement is meant to sharpen awareness. It shows where you are, not who you are.

I see this with men who confuse the scoreboard for the mission. They forget that the mission isn’t perfection—it’s progress with purpose.

I’d rather see a man who’s consistently in the top 10–20% across all key areas—strength, endurance, body composition, recovery—than one who’s elite in a single metric that costs him everything else. The former lives long and performs well. The latter burns out chasing one headline number.

When you understand Goodhart’s Law, you stop worshiping the metric and start respecting the system that produces it.

This law shows up inside Argent Alpha more than you’d think.
A man starts tracking to improve, then slowly shifts into performing for the data instead of for results that matter.

The pull-up trap.
Men rush to hit their first pull-up, skipping mobility or progressions. They “win” the number but lose weeks to injury.

The comparison trap.
They measure themselves against others in testing or the app instead of their own baseline. They stare at the gap instead of the gain. (See HTK #156: Why Some Men Feel Like Failures No Matter How Much They Achieve.)

The wearable trap.
They start trying to game their Oura ring as one example—taking off their ring to avoid getting dinged for too much or too little activity is one example (guilty as charged). And often we think more is better and chase higher step counts, well beyond what is necessary for health and fitness.

These patterns are most common early in a transformation, especially among men returning to training after years off. They remember what they used to do and chase it. That’s nostalgia disguised as discipline.

The psychology behind it is predictable: ego, comparison, and insecurity.
You see what another man is doing, feel behind, and start sprinting toward a number that isn’t even relevant to your season or situation.

The fix is perspective.
Progress after 50 is about direction, not domination.
Forget the glory days. Establish your baseline. Then move forward with precision and consistency.

The key metrics—body fat %, skeletal muscle mass, visceral fat, VO₂ max, and biological age—tell the real story.
If those are trending in the right direction, you’re on the right path.
If you’re at 14% body fat, with solid muscle mass, low visceral fat, and a biological age younger than your chronological one—who cares if your wall sit is eight minutes or your HRV dips a few points?

You don’t need perfect numbers. You need proof of progress.

This week, recalibrate your relationship with data.
You’re not abandoning measurement—you’re putting it back where it belongs.

Step 1: Identify your top three metrics (Alpha 5 score, protein intake, ounces of water, morning routine, etc.).
These are leading indicators. If you’re hitting them consistently, your monthly testing will improve.

Step 2: Ask what each one actually represents. (Energy? Strength? Recovery? Consistency? Discipline?)

Step 3: Notice where the number has become validation instead of awareness.

Step 4: Reframe how you think about these metrics.

Use wearables if they serve you—but they’re not required.
When in doubt, leave them out.

Combine subjective and objective feedback.
Ask yourself simple questions each morning:

You don’t need a sleep score to know if you’re exhausted.

In some cases, we’ve told men to remove their Oura ring or Whoop strap for a few weeks. It’s a reset. When they return, they use the data as information, not judgment.

Replace outcome-based targets with behavior-based standards.

Progressive overload still matters—but obsession kills consistency.
Metrics should direct focus, not dictate identity.

Inside Argent Alpha, we treat two metrics as sacred—the monthly InBody scan and A³ Standards testing.

They’re monthly for a reason: the rhythm keeps us consistent, prevents burnout, and lets us peak when it matters—testing time.

The pattern is predictable:
Men who train steadily, recover intentionally, and track their Alpha 5 always move forward. They may not hit personal records every month, but they’ll see adaptations—the kind that make them leaner, stronger, and healthier.

I use Oura, Cronometer, and our monthly testing rhythm. The data helps me see cause and effect—but it doesn’t run my life.

I used to get bent out of shape when my readiness dropped below 85 on Oura (I still do occasionally). But I’ve learned the difference between altering behavior to hit a number and altering behavior to better live my standards.

Now I focus on the behaviors that create good data. I’ve averaged an 87 sleep score over four years—but that’s not the win. The win is waking up clear, focused, and ready to attack the day because I followed my sleep strategy, not the score.

Metrics reveal patterns and opportunities for adjustment. They don’t define the man.

The most important metric for any man over 50 is body composition—specifically, moving toward 15% body fat. That single target influences nearly every system in your body: blood pressure, lab work, risk of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes, visceral fat, strength, mindset, and confidence. Every measurable indicator of health improves as body fat drops. There are no benefits to being fat, weak, and inflamed.

A man who moves from 28% to 21% body fat is trending the right way. Every metric will likely improve—often dramatically. It’s all about the trendline. Metrics are tools for feedback and course correction, not definitions of who we are.

The goal isn’t to be ruled by data—it’s to use it wisely on the journey to becoming harder to kill.

🎧 The Obsession with Data Tracking
A conversation on how constant tracking can disconnect you from intuition and progress — and how to return to awareness over obsession.
Listen on Apple Podcasts →

🎥 Goodhart’s Law: What You Need to Know
A short, clear explainer on how metrics evolve into targets — and why that shift derails progress in health, business, and life.
Watch on YouTube →

📘 The Emotional Toll of Fitness Tracking Obsession
An honest look at how data-driven habits can slip into anxiety and how to keep numbers in service of purpose, not identity.
Read the article →

We measure to manage—and to improve.

Our systems give feedback so you can stay on track and make adjustments when needed.

R.A.D. builds rhythm and accountability.
InBody scans and A³ testing are monthly checkpoints of capability.
Alpha 5 anchors daily discipline.

The goal isn’t to collect perfect numbers—it’s to build a system that produces resilience, strength, and longevity.

Data matters, but direction matters more.
Metrics show where you stand; mastery comes from what you do next.

When you stop chasing numbers and trust the process, everything tightens—your body, your focus, your trajectory.

That’s how you become harder to kill.

It’s November—and that means it’s time to start planning 2026 at Argent Alpha.

Why now? Because you don’t just live a great year once. You live it four times:

Argent Alpha members get exclusive access to our planning methodology—a system built for men over 50 who want to lead with intention. Some use every tool; others just one or two. But every man who engages the process makes the next year stronger.

Planning is a continuation of the mission—building on the body, mindset, and identity forged inside Argent Alpha. It’s another layer of value that helps make the second half of life the best half.

👉 Join Argent Alpha