a minimalist approach to health & fitness

Chances are you feel confused. Buzzing around the health & fitness world today, we find an excess of conflicting, complicated & generally unhelpful information. Particularly as a professional in this field, I have to quite literally stop myself from lifting my arms to shake people and say, “please stop complicating things.” It’s not that fixating on what almond milk to buy and how many minutes of high intensity interval training we should be doing are inherently bad. In fact, I unquestionably would prefer people to care about their health rather than completely disregard it. (And in fact, I often enjoy obsessing over which almond milk to buy — Califia Farms is my favorite if you must know). Yet, a return to simplicity is in order.

Is it most productive to preoccupy your mind with whether running steadily for 60 minutes is better than doing sprint intervals for 10 minutes if you haven’t even taken the time to get to know your body & build its foundation? The way we are approaching our health & fitness these days is absolutely no different to not training at all and obsessing over whether or not to wear compression socks before ever running a marathon. It’s like wanting to master conjugated verbs in Spanish before you even learn how to say “hola”. Somewhat illogical, no?

The fast pace of our lives is inevitably infiltrating both our mentality and our methodologies — we rush into things, we want to achieve our goals now, and as a result, we end up focusing on the wrong things and not keeping our commitments. In fact, this chronic hurriedness even misleads us into chasing the wrong goals. I’m sorry but if you’re still thinking about the oh so trite six pack, it’s time to get out of Alice’s rabbit hole and realize that it’s not really the six pack you are after. Leave that in Wonderland. Rather, it’s the feeling, the freedom, the confidence that we assume having a six pack will bring us. Maybe so. But typically the goal (feeling better) ends up blurring lines with the process itself (being physically active, eating well, etc.) rather than remaining as the often-superficial end goal (the infamous “bikini body”). Learning to enjoy the energy, strength & confidence that comes from healthy lifestyle practices becomes the goal. It is my understanding that if we take the time to dig a bit deeper, not only are our goals more simple than we think, but just as simple are the methods to achieve those goals.

This return to simplicity requires a return to slowness, to patience, to endurance. It requires taking baby steps, but dedicating time to mastering those baby steps each and every day. It requires not beating yourself up and giving up suddenly & completely when you simply misstepped one time — there will be missteps. It requires understanding that the process becomes the goal.

This minimalist approach to health, fitness & optimal living only requires a willingness to shift one’s mindset and to learn the overarching principles which guide such a lifestyle. To learn more about these principles, sign up now to receive the first sample chapter of Minimalist Fitness: Uncomplicating The Art of Strength. This is my most comprehensive online program which will be available for purchase Spring 2017. But why wait until then to start re-examining and architecting your lifestyle practices? Indulge your curiosity & request your free copy of the first chapter now!