I think I am done.
I have tried for years now to make fitness easier. To make it more ‘achievable’. To find innovative ways to fit it into peoples ‘lifestyle’.
To what end?
I ask people to train 2x a week, for a half hour, at their house. Nooone does it. Like literally…almost no one.
And the truth of it all is that this isn’t even the best for your body. This isn’t enough. Your body was, it IS designed to do physical work every. Single. Day.
A lot of it.
We have grown complacent from this non-stop barrage of messaging that we should workout three times a week.
But, like, and then what?
No, seriously. Then what?
The rest of the time we are supposed to sit around, watch Netflix, baking shows, and stuff our mouths with whatever new snack category item Nestle has created for us? It is completely asinine.
Not to get too political but this is literally what large companies and multinational corporations are pushing us to do. Sit around, be happy little consumers, that require medicine, food, and entertainment, all delivered right to us.
I will avoid heading down that rabbit hole for the moment.
Here is the absolute truth.
Physiologically, your body was designed to do work every single day. As such, it works the best when…you guessed it…it does work every single day.
Why then are you being told that three workouts a week are all you need?
It is a mixture of two things.
#1
First: the research is based on the minimum. Go ahead and catch up on the 20 years of research I have read if you want to verify what I am about to say. Most research is looking for the minimal necessary work to have an effect. In fact most research isn’t even searching for a particular effect. Most of the time research is looking at what the outcome of a particular protocol is, not what particular protocol might have the most efficacious outcome.
Adding to that we have to understand that most research in this field is done on already fit populations or cohorts under 30. AND adding to THAT we have to understand that it is really, really, really hard to get people to participate in a research study.
So we are left with a lot of recommendations based on research that tells us what is minimally needed to have an effect based on the very small subset of people that actually finish a study and most likely are not related to your particular demographic.
#2
Second: you’re lazy.
Not the you, as in the person reading this right now, but this statement is more directed at the you as in you as a human. Humans are lazy. We strive to do the minimum necessary for survival. It is actually an evolutionary benefit. It lets us preserve energy and have a better chance at survival.
The problem is that when we evolved this attitude there was no choice but to do a lot of work. Getting food, building and maintaining shelter, and caring for our tribe required a LOT of physical work everyday. This is no longer the case.
Our food gets delivered to the house, most of it we don’t even have to cook. Stairs move on their own, energy, heat, and cooling get pumped into our shelters that require basically no work, everyone these days has a service to shovel the snow and cut the grass, and between school and the internet our tribe mates are pretty well taken care of.
Some studies have found that many urban people go through their days taking less than 200 steps. If you are aghast by that take a look around and think about it. We literally barely have to do anything at all.
Check out this episode of my podcast, where I do a much deeper dive into this topic AND you can hear my charming rant voice!!!!
Click HERE to listen
Also on spotify, itunes, and everywhere else!
Where does this leave us?
It leaves most of us living inside of a biological entity that was designed to move and do stuff that is, in fact, barely moving and basically doing no stuff.
No. Three times a week for thirty minutes is NOT enough to optimize the health and functioning of your body. Period. End of story.
In an effort not to overwhelm people and now in the Age of Anxiety, in an effort not to stress people out and ‘make them feel bad’, the entire fitness machine has dumbed itself down to the base level of easy. What is the minimum.
I am feeling a bit sick and tired of this.
I have also worked with people for two decades trying to get them to do the minimum. Guess what I have found? Those who seek the minimum rarely hit their goals and usually end up on the yo yo cycle fo dieting and eating like shit, or working out for a month here and there and the rest of the time ‘falling off the wagon.’
Who is successful?
The people that strive for the optimum. Those who organize their schedules and thought processes around trying to do more. Who make the time for it. Who begin to treat their bodies as of just as much impor,t as Netflix shows.
Yeah. It is harder.
At first.
But when you start to treat your body the way it was meant to be treated it is amazing what happens.
You start to sleep better. You start to feel better. You have more energy. You have better sex. You are in a better mood. You are better able to handle all the shit life throws at you.
What’s the catch?
You have to prioritize the effort.
Not the result. Not the outcome. Not the goal.
One more time for the kids in the back……
You have to prioritize the effort.
NOT the outcome.
Begin to recognize it is the act of doing the work that is giving you the benefit. It is not the outcome or result that gives you the benefit. And the effort is more than two workouts a week.
Here is the optimal fitness program:
3x/week strength training
5x/week low intensity aerobic training
2x/week mobility work
4x/week walking
Uh-huh. I know. That adds up to more than seven things a week. So you guessed it, often more than one thing per day.
You are throwing your hands up in exasperation already.
–> Cool. Keep doing what you’re doing then. <–
The truth is that there are many, many, many people out there who are far busier than you getting in all of that work despite also having careers, family, and everything else going on in life. In fact, one of the reasons they can do all of this is because they are able to do all of this.
You can cry about it or you can decide to do something about it.
The choice is yours.
Sit around and bitch and moan that you don’t have the time, you don’t have the energy, there is no way YOU can do that, it is impossible.
In 20 years, drop me a line and let me know how your body is doing. Here is my prediction: you will hurt more, you will be able to do less, you will have less energy, you won’t have had sex for years, you will be on at least 4 different medications, you will be under a constant state of anxiety, and all of the things you wish you could do will still be things you wish you could do.
The alternative?
Take this fucking shit seriously.
Understand that this chunk of biomass you are currently inhabiting is the only one you have. There is no way around that. AI and technology isn’t going to sweep in and fix it all for you. You have your body and the quality of your life 10, 20, 30, and 40 years from now will 100% be completely and totally determined by how you treat it.
Netflix, Kelllogs, Facebook, Pfizer, and Nestle give absolutely zero fucks about the quality of your life. In fact, the worse you feel and the less you are able to do for yourself, the more money they make.
You.
You alone.
You have to live in your body.
Take care of it. Or suffer the consequences.
-Coach Taylor