Surprised... Not Surprised
Another short Saturday post
First, the fitness thing.
I only trained twice this week for a total of 45 minutes - that’s 45 minutes in total gym time for the week. When it comes down to it, there will always be tradeoffs. Whether you have kids, businesses to run, family to attend to, or whatever - we don’t live in a vacuum and there will always be a time when you have to decide between doing one thing or another.
That’s one of the biggest benefits of the frameshift I’ve been experiencing with this new methodology - better tradeoffs.
For example… from a place of logic and reasoning, I truly think I would get slightly better results if I trained even less than I do now. There’s a few reasons I don’t:
I like getting out of the office and going to the gym. The environment is great, I was fortunate to find a gem of a facility nearby.
Simplicity. Splits are weird in that they are like mini New Years Eves - people just assume there is a retest button every Sunday similar to the imaginary reset button each New Years Eve.
These splits make it easier to schedule the rest of your life - since most of your life runs on a 7 day week. I used to do a ten day week; I would deadlift every ten days. The rest of my training was built around those days and it’s really hard to run one part of your life on a ten day week and another on a seven day week.
If I follow all of the rules of my current methodology, the “training week” (three sessions) could be anywhere from 6 to 15 days. If it’s done in seven days, it requires much less cognitive bandwidth to manage.
Progress hasn’t stalled. I’ve had days where I hadn’t felt fully recovered/compensated - but have been stronger on those days.
If there was a reliable to measure it, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was making less progress than I could be. The bullets above just outweigh that possibility, for now.
Anyway, here’s the big shift.
When weeks like this last week happen, it’s a positive. Instead of being bummed about “missing out” on something, I see it a positive thing, because I truly believe I would get slightly better results training less, anyway. Plus, even it took 15 days to get the the “training week” in, it would still fall within the rules/parameters I have set.
This is a version of anti fragility (benefitting from disorder).
First, a set of principles-based rules. For example, I never train two days in a row, that means the shortest training week possible is 6 days. I never want to go 5 days in a row without training, that means the longest training week possible is 15 days.
That a pretty big range of winning.
(This is the “Enough”1 concept from the Guardian Academy)
Second, I want as little friction as possible. Since’ve set the range above, the details are mostly preferences based and pragmatic. For example, most of my world runs on a seven day week so if my training is scheduled on a 7 days week it will require significantly bandwidth to manage.
The ideal situation for me is to get three sessions in over a 7 day period. Not because it’s exactly the right frequency for massive results - but because it’s the most pragmatic for me and my life and it falls within the logic based rules.
And, since I built the system on my personal preferences and it’s contained by a range, when things don’t go exactly as planned it doesn’t necessarily hurt me - it might even help. This is part of the Adaptive Dilemma2 from the Guardian Academy.
This section above is about fitness things - but it’s not just about fitness things.
Surprised But Not Surprised.
I am putting very little effort into growing this publication. Mostly because fitness is not my job and I never want it to be a source of income for me. I have learned that some things are best as hobbies. They say…
“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
There may be some scenarios where that is true. But what I’ve observed over the last fifteen years…
“Turn what you love into a business and you’ll stop loving it”
Feels more accurate, more often.
So this publication takes very little time. It’s (obviously) not heavily edited, if edited at all, and fairly simple in terms of layout. AND YET, the general engagement around it per subscriber is much higher than I would expect.
I even have people approaching me in person during events asking me about fitness stuff now. Note: if you approach me about fitness stuff, I probably won’t have much to say. It’s not because I don’t love you, it’s because you’re looking for a simple answer where one does not exist.
Thoughts
I think high achieving, successful people seeking fitness makes up one of the best markets in the world. Think about it… they’ve achieved everything they set out to do - make money, marry a trophy husband or wife, raise valedictorian children. Even after all that success there is one thing that drives them nuts. One thing they have not been able to figure out…the way they think they look.
I say the way they “think they look” because most of the time, it’s not their body that is the problem, it’s the perception of their body. Add the guilt and shame the industry piles on, and you have a unique, high value problem to solve.
If you can solve this problem for someone, you’re not solving a fitness problem for them.
You’re dealing with someone that has achieved everything they ever dreamed of except this one little thing - they almost have a complete “pie of success” - if they could…just…solve. this. one. little. thing. When there’s only thing missing, that thing no longer represents itself, it represents the completion of something; the Final Form.
You’re not selling fitness. Fitness has a fair market value.
You’re selling them a completed pie; the final form. Which is priceless.
I suspect that’s why there is so much interest in this topic from my audience in particular. I know you. You’re very capable. You can probably figure out just about anything if you really wanted to - except for this.
It’s also why I think, if you’re fitness professional, you’re sitting on a gold mine. But you’re not gonna cash in on it by selling challenges, tactics and tricks. Biology is too good at what it does (survival) for those to work in any meaningful way.
Again, the section above is about fitness, but it’s also not about fitness. I think the best market(s) in the world are people that have figured out everything else -except one thing. It makes the “one thing” priceless to them because it’s not just one thing, it’s the final thing - a complete pie - it’s everything.
I think the fact that I am on this journey lowers walls. Everyone is always trying to position themselves an expert. Honestly, I think that has more to do with them trying to convince themselves of something rather than build authority in the marketplace. The market, by and large, doesn’t care if you’re an expert.
Imagine you’re in an advanced class at Stanford. The professor is well known as being the top expert i the world . He is so smart that you have a hard time relating or even understanding him sometimes. You want to learn, but there is a disconnect - the source is not at all relatable.
The best student in the class is sitting right next to you. She understand the material and is personable, easy to understand and uber-relatable. Not only does she understand what is being presented, she is a few chapters ahead of everyone else.
If you really wanted to make progress would you rather spend your time with the professor or the best student in the class?
An overwhelming number of people would prefer the latter - the personable, sociable, relatable student. She may not be an expert, but she’s a few steps ahead, which is all you need - help with the next few steps.
At this point in time, I have nothing to sell you in the fitness world. I can’t imagine I ever will - although it’s possible and you’d be the first to know. As people realize that, I think it makes them more vulnerable.
I guess what I’m saying is that you don’t have to establish yourself as an expert to help people. In fact, I think you’d help more people (and make more money, if you sell your help) by simply being a sociably, relatable human who is a few chapters ahead.
On the flip side… While I think it’s great to get help from a person a few chapters ahead, it’s important to remain receptive. They are a few chapters ahead but they don’t know how the book ends.
Actionable Insights:
Whatever it is that you want to accomplish, reason from the ground - up to discover the range, what is Enough?
Within that range don’t worry about optimizing for a single outcome. Building pragmatically around your preferences, within the range of enough, will lead to a higher probability of execution, which improves all outcomes.
If you’re a fitness professional, you have such an incredible opportunity ahead of you, but it’s not tactical or tools based. It would require a different strategy than the cookie cutter stuff taught on the inter webs.
Hope that makes sense.
From The Comments
I would guess that 80% of the way I think about mechanics was derived from Ben Pakulski’s stuff. It’s been reinvented through trial and error many times, but his stuff is the original source of how I started to think about movements.
90% or more of my thought process around nutrition comes from Dr. Trevor Kashey. Trevor and I lived together and carpooled to an office we shared together every day for years. So I am heavily bias. Still, objectively, I think he is one of the best in the word.
80-90% of the way I think about volume, intensity and frequency is inspired by Mike Mentzer’s late work. I think his work got better after he retired from lifting and he was able to be more objective about cause and effect.
I have more great stuff from Dan John I need to copy and paste over, stay tuned. That dude has some really great stuff to share. You can read decades of Dan’s stuff right here.
…I also have a tentative plan to bring more health and fitness related stuff to this publication. The truth is, this substack was designed to demonstrate Guardian Academy3 and Bumpers4 principles applied to fitness - it points directly back to both often.
If it grows to the point where the TGA data suggests we should put more resources into it, we will. If not, I’ll continue to add as time allows. Hope you extracted some value from this.
Live To Learn. Give To Earn.
Nic