UCSC: Literature, Semiotics, and the Psychology of Adherence
"Adherence is design. Not willpower."
After the military, I earned my degree in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, then completed graduate coursework in Critical Theory and Semiotics (coursework completed; degree not conferred).
Most people hear that and think, "What does that have to do with fitness?"
A lot, actually.
Because fitness isn't just physiology. It's behavior. It's identity. It's the stories people tell themselves:
Semiotics is basically the study of meaning—how people interpret signals. In fitness products, everything is a signal:
That education taught me how to look at training not just as sets and reps, but as a human system. And the biggest failure point in fitness systems isn't usually intensity. It's confusion. Friction. Overwhelm. Poor expectations.
When I later built businesses and products, I kept returning to that:
That's how people change. Not with perfect motivation—with better design.
What I Learned
- Clarity is a retention strategy.
- People don't quit because they're lazy; they quit because the system is confusing or unrealistic.
- Language shapes behavior—especially for beginners.
- Trust is built through transparency, not hype.
How This Shows Up in the Product
- Plain-English explanations instead of jargon dumps.
- A bias toward "doable next steps" rather than overwhelming program outputs.
- The product is built to reduce cognitive load and make consistency easier.
Related Chapters
Fort Hood: MFT/UFPM for 3rd ASOG (11th ASOS)
Leadership, systems, and safety — running unit fitness programming and reducing injuries across different fitness levels.
San Diego Core Fitness: Building a real training business
Proof of coaching real humans — programs that don't work in real life don't work.