It has only been the last few years where I have noticed the importance of recovery and diet, and only the last few months where I am confident to say, that if you are trying to achieve the 1% in any fitness domain, 80% of your focus has to be dedicated towards your diet and nutrition, whereas in my view only 20% falls to the rocky cut scene of grinding in the gym, and punching the bag, being metaphorical for whatever exercise domain you live in.

Now these properties, assume that you have the essentials covered being:

• Consistency of working at your discipline (don’t mistake me, working your hardest is needed to achieve a high level of success)

But the allowance for you to push your hardest and reduce the risk of the dreaded injury and halting progress, is disproportionately important when competing at high levels.

I have referred to the mike mentzer style of training. If you want to check out the benefits I have recieved from the training style.

The 80% is built up of a bunch of 1% in your recovery and diet, which from a spectator looking at the final result, goes completely unnoticed.

I am not going to claim that my gym journey lead me to be in the 1%, but here are the things which I did, along with the activities of my friends who have achieved this feat.

DECREASING STRESS

• Sauna and Ice bath

This one was recommended by Andrew Huberman, and is a protocal which I have stuck with for many years. The extreme hot and cold exposures, have shown to kickstart the immune system and improve recovery. Here is some evidence to compliment by blabber.

• Leisure time

Distracting your mind in the form of play is how I like to define lesiure time, and this may seem to provide just a psychological benefit of improving your head space, in my experience participating in my form of leisure time, has carried over immensely to the biological benefits, one being most noticeable is a speedy recovery, as the body relaxes and allow the engineers living inside your body to fix whatever is wrong QUICKER.

DAILY NUTRIENT. AND AVOID CHEMICALS AND TOXINS

• No processed foods.

My friends view their bodies as machines which require the best fuel to operate at their maximal capacity, when filling up at the petrol station they opt for the 198 unleaded over the 192. That means skipping the breakfast cereals and donuts in the morning and reaching for whole food eggs, spinach and chicken, and even sometime participating in intermittent fasting.

• Sun

Get your daily vitamin D. This singular vitamin has proven extremely important for my energy levels throughout the day, I like to situate my ice bath right in the sun, where the light can beam downwards.

• Fruit and Veggies.

A trip down to the grocer is a weekly habit I have developed, but the work does not stop at the checkout, I strongly recommed giving your fresh produce, the best piece of real estate in your fridge. Here are some tactics I use:

1. Displaying at eye level when opening fridge
2. Showcasing a fruit bowl for all to see.

• Water intake

Living in an area, where clorine levels in water is quite high, water filtering is a top priority. I like avoid the consumption of these chemicals throughout all places throughout the home, by having a water filter for the home which has the ability to add healthy nutrients to the water, so you get to kill 2 birds with one stone.

WRAPPING UP

Their are plently more 1% you can find, to implement into your own fitness journeys, however I have not achieved such a feat, so I can only comment on the patterns in my life which align with those who have achieved the 1% in their domain.

All the best for your journey, and keep grinding (but focus some more on the 80%)

The term KISS, which I first learned vicariously through observing Michael Scott teach it to Dwight Schrute in an episode of “The Office.” I erronesously believed that Michael was the originator of the quip, but it is nonetheless applicable in my day to day life.

KEEP IS SIMPLE STUPID.

The reminder of the quip, is most useful when your mind becomes overly occupied with the technical, that you misweigh its importance in comparison to the simple.In my experience I more likely of giving up the task at end, when worrying about being a perfectionist for the small things.

An example of unneccessary overoptimisation, is the role protien in repairing your muscles when undergoing hypertrophy. Here are ways it has been complicated.

• Best time of day to consume protien?
• What is the best protein to consume? (.ie chicken or protein powder)
• How much protein should I consume?
• What is the best mix of protein with fats and carbs?

The list can really go on and on.

The genuine curiosity which faciliates the positing of these questions, is not the problem. Rather the feeling of frustration when not optimising for all vectorts , catastrophising “losing gains” and holding onto a sense of deprivation from the most optimal point, this can drain the will to continue exercising each day.

From my early stages in the gym, I remember feeling extremely annoyed each time my scheduled timer went off 30 minutes after the gym, cueing the consumption of my chocolate protein shake, but I was still commuitng home. The false fact of digesting protien 30 minutes after a workout was engrained in my mind, and if not adhered to the hard work in the gym would begin to dissapear.

Looking back, I was probably more than just stupid.

I learned the problem of optimisation through my economics professor, who stated along the line that “there are infinite possibilites, and only 1 point of maximal optimisation”, the framing that a point of optimisation was near impossible to fully achieve, gave me permission to lose the sense of urgency to achieve this point of aloofnes.

The only thing we can control is taking actions which allow us to converge towards this point.

Other popular areas of optimisation include:

• Best workout split.
• Best diet.
• Best supplements.

And in a world where everyone on social media has a different opinion on what is “most optimal” , a new person looking for some advice, is thrown into a world of ambiguity and confusion, where he more likely to label the exercise journey as “too hard” and give up.

I love the analogy by Dr Mike Isreatel, regarding the optimisation of exercises to build certain muscle groups, to going on different airlines tot your holiday location. They are different, but your arrive at the same destination.

The only thing that differs is the process, with reference to the airline analogy, is how plush the seets are (intensity of your training) or even the speed at which you are flying, which simuktaneously increases the chances of crashing or losing control (injury).

Here is an example of using the KISS philosophy .

losing weight

Burn more caloires, or eat less calories. Leading to calorie deficit (below the amount of calories you need to eat each day to maintain your current weight).

If you want to increase muscle mass.

Couple protien consumption, with applying manageable stressors to muscles (via free wieght, or weight).

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.