6 Ways to Simplify your Health & Fitness Plan

Multivitamins. Detoxes. Cleanses. Bodybuilding. CrossFit. Grounding. Keto. Paleo. Marathons. Stretching. Tough Mudders. Hailey Bieber’s Erewhon Smoothie. Acupuncture. Powerlifting. Yoga. Hot Yoga. Green juice. Cupping. Wet Cupping. Meditation. Pilates. Sauna. Steam room. Veganism. Toe spacers. Soundbaths. Hugging trees. Don’t let your knees go past your toes. KneesOverToes. Sun your genitals.

We have endless options (some of them are great but CrossFit sucks and some aren’t). There’s always temptation to get sucked into what’s shiny & new. Instead, stick to the time-tested principles and keep it simple, sexy!

Here are 6 tips to simplify your health & fitness plan and, by default, your life…

[note: I’m using Roman numerals because 1. the formatting gets wonky when I create a numbered list and 2. I’m currently thinking about the Roman Empire]

I. “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” — Pabro Picasso

Rather than adding more, figure out what you can remove. What do you actually enjoy? What are your goals?

Do what you enjoy and what moves you toward your goals. Discard the rest.

II. Figure out your “go-to” meals and eat them as often as possible*

*as often as possible assuming they’re working well for you and you enjoy eating them (see the Before/During/After test for more on this)

Take a page out of Steve Jobs’ book. Measure once and cut a million times by releasing the same exact fucking phone every year wearing the same black turtleneck, blue jeans, & New Balance sneakers every day.

Jobs said, “I have enough decisions to make every day. I don't want to waste time on what I'm going to wear.”

Treat your nutrition the same way. Create a menu of “go-to” meal options that you love and know the nutritional content of.

III. Outsource what you can when you can

Below is an exchange with a friend. He works his ass off in his career, at the gym, and is an incredible friend. Spending more money on pre-mixed shakes makes his life easier and helps him stay consistent with his nutrition plan.

Is there anything you can outsource to make your life easier or better?

IV. Create a “worst case scenario” plan so you don’t “fall off”

What can you do on your worst day? During your worst week? I’m not talking about if you’re sick or if there’s an emergency. I mean when you’re extra busy and life “gets in the way.”

Create a plan that you’ll be disciplined enough to follow on your busiest days & weeks. Can you do 10 sprints in 10 minutes on your busiest day? Can you lift twice during your craziest week? Keep your momentum & habits when life gets busy. Plus, you’ll feel better and less stressed.

V. It’s as much what you don’t do as it is what you do do

This goes hand-in-hand with the above tip. You don’t have to exercise intensely for 2 hours, 6 days a week (this is silly and probably counterproductive for most people).

Let’s use the old Oreo example… it takes approximately 30 minutes on the treadmill to burn off 3 Oreos. Could you just not eat the Oreos instead? I’m not saying to never eat Oreos (and there’s a larger conversation about “burning off” what you’ve eaten and your relationship with food).

The point is… decreasing your negative actions/inputs is as important as increasing your negative actions/inputs.

VI. Quality over Quantity

My training sessions are always better when I do 5 or 6 things with intensity & focus rather than trying to do 10-15 things.

Feel Great

Leave the gym feeling better than when you walked in. Yes, you should be working hard and pushing yourself to improve. But if you find yourself exhausted & sore after every workout you should consider examining what you’re doing and why.

Rock a Nice Little Bod

According to the internet, 95% of people over the age of 30 will never sprint again in their life.

Are you in the 95%? What's stopping you from sprinting?

*Disclaimer: if you haven’t sprinted in a long time you need to work up to it. Message me for help.*

Enjoy Life

Nice Little Body of the Week

Brad Pitt in Fury

In the 2-3 times a day I think about Brad Pitt’s best movie physiques, Fight Club, Troy, & Snatch immediately come to mind (rightfully so). Fury is his most underrated look. But blink and you’ll miss it.

Eargasm of the Week

Blink-182’s new track hits directly in the feels. It’s about relationships/friendships and remembering what’s really important.

“Commenting on his return to the band after departing in 2015, guitarist/singer Tom DeLonge recently said, ‘When [Mark Hoppus] told me he was sick, that was the gnarliest. It was like nothing matters really. For me it was always heavy on my heart that our friendship wasn't mended. All of us have lived through tragedies now that tear apart places in your heart and you've got to mend them back together and figure out how to be a better version of yourself.’” [via loudwire.com]

Thank you for reading.

feel great. rock a nice little bod. enjoy life.

steve