I've gone through countless iterations for how I wanted to present my business. One morning, as I mindlessly pushed buttons for my day job, it dawned on me- simple is best!
A philosophy I like and started adapting was "what would this look like if it were easy?" Credits to Jon Goodman whom I heard that from.
With my business name and philosophy discovered, the only thing left to do is to compile my years of knowledge helping people into a tangible, simple to understand format. And here are 6 concepts I have come up with. No doubt this list will grow as I level up and gain experience. For now, lets start with 6:
A balanced diet works for most people. When you have extravagant, out there personalities promoting that their way of eating is superior (liver king with his testicle eating Tennents). Look, you can chow down all the cow nuts you want, but you don't need to. Depending on the individual the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats (macro nutrients) will vary. But we're still consuming all macro nutrients and won't be highly reducing or eliminating any. Unless you have metabolic diseases (celiac) or extenuating health conditions, eat a balanced diet.
2 .Simple, boring exercises are king. When you go on your phone and hop on social media, you'll see some complicated looking exercises that turn you off working out. Has that happened to you before? If so, don't fear citizens, I am here! (My hero academia reference 💁🏽). A big reason some coaches and trainers do this is to catch your attention! What better way to do that than doing something flashy. What would you find more eye catching a person doing one-arm push up, into a c*ck push up and followed by a backflip ? Or someone squatting. Unless that person squatting is squatting with a sh*t tonne of weight, you prolly won't look long. The point is, to make long lasting results,it's just a matter of doing the same old boring exercises, and their variations, forever and ever.
3. Strength training is a priority. Strength training is something everyone should do. If you were to follow any advice, this should be it. If you don't want to change your diet, that's fine. You should still strength train.*FYI: Im using the term strength training to describe anything that puts resistance against your body. You could be using weights or bodyweight. There are many reasons why strength training is important. These include:
Reduces your chances of getting injured
Builds muscle
Makes you strong so you can carry all your groceries in 1 go.
Strength training is individualized to you. There is no exercise you need to do. If the experts all say being able to do a 1 hand push up is the ultimate chest builder, but you cant even do toe push ups, doesnt that make you not wanna start at all?
4.Don't forget cardio. No matter what your goal is, you need to do cardio. Now, the type and duration will vary depending on what you want to achieve. Let's take fat loss as an example. When someone wants to lose fat, they tend to overdo cardio (HIiT everyday, much?) Conversely, someone looking to build muscle or get strong tend to neglect cardio. The answer is for the fat loss person to do less cardio and more strength training. For the muscle/strength person they need to do more cardio. Ain’t no woman wanna be with a guy who looks like Mr Olympia, but nuts faster than Usain Bolt ;)
5. Eat your greens and fruits. You'll have some, those in the carnivore camp, who will tell you to avoid fruits and vegetables like covid 19. They'll use all sorts of mental gymnastics, words and reasoning to make you fear the greens and the fruits. Please, don't listen to them. Vegetables and fruits are high in vitamins, minerals and fibre. Everything your body needs to function optimally.
6. Consistency. Possibly the most important piece of the puzzle- consistency. Anyone can workout hard and eat well for a few months. However, you want health, being healthy to be part of your life, forever. That's why consistency matters. It's the only way. Let’s put tangible numbers to this. Consistency would be 80-90% doing the right things all the time. Let's take nutrition. For this example, say Bob eats 3x day, 7 days a week. In 1 week thats 21 meals. If Bob was aiming for 80-90% consistency, he’ll be aiming for 17-19 meals to be sticking with his nutrition plan. 2-4 meals he might vee from the nutrition plan slightly.
How consistency looks will vary depending on the person and their goals. So don't get discouraged when you see someone's consistency look different than yours. We are all on our own journey. We have our own issues and circumstances. So be consistent and don't compare yourself to others.
The most important thing is to start. What coaches and personal trainers dont tell you is that fitness is a lot of trial and error. What works for one person might not always work for others. Person A has no pain doing a barbell chest press. Person B has excruciating front shoulder pain when doing a barbell chest press. What do you do in that situation? You cant tell person B to just “suck it up”. Person B has to switch to dumbbell chest press with a 45” to neutral grip position and work on fixing their shoulder pain to eventually be able to barbell chest press pain free.
Having someone help you with programming, be a sounding board and help you achieve your goal in all aspects is where a trainer/coach comes in.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my health and fitness philosophies. If you have any questions, feel free to comment down below. If you want to get trained by me, click this link to feel out a form to see if we can work together!