The road less travelled

K I S S

Keep it simple stupid

No I'm not being insulting I'm repeating a 'mnemonic' that I learned when I was trained for my first selling job " life assurance " way back.

It is as valid today as it was all those years ago and it applies to almost everything in life.

Specifically today let's apply it to the business of health and fitness since that's my area of expertise.

When we decide to get healthy and fit and we don't have a clue, we hear something about some program someone is doing and we jump on because we know no better.

In my case it was Body-for-LIFE way back in 99. I got lucky because it's a great foundation program. I followed the program and the eating plan and at the end of 12 weeks was astounded to find that I had come 2nd in South Africa. People started to ask me how I had changed so radically in 12 weeks and what was I eating and so on.

This led me to believe that I was now an expert. Looking back ...what the heck was I thinking. 12 weeks, give me a break.

Now nearly ten years on I do now consider myself somewhat of an expert. The lifestyle really grabbed me and I became a certified BFL success coach and for 8 years now I have succesfully trained hundreds of people. In fact clients of mine came 3rd in the International competition.

What have I learned. There are a LOT of snake oil salesmen out there just waiting to get their grubby paws on your hard earned ammo (or money if you wish).

A cleverly worded website and you are in. 40lbs of fat loss and 60lbs of muscle in 4 weeks.

Rule no 1. If it sounds too good to be true...it generally is.

Rule no 2. Do some research on the guy selling the product. You can google check if he is reputable in 2 minutes

Rule no 3. Not all programmes are right for you.

Rule no 4. Try and figure out what it is that you want to achieve (muscle gain, fat loss etc) first

Rule no 5. The program you buy isn't necessarily going to work for you.

Rule no 6. Don't waste money on bodybuilding magazines. They are generally sales brochures for product companies selling products with unpronouncable names that probably won't work. Ever seen the blurb " You MAY experience fat loss with blah blah snake oil slimming pills.

Fast forward a few months when you have made some gains and are now 'AN EXPERT' you have downloaded a dozen training programmes and twenty eating plans and are completely confused and havn't a clue what to do.

Generally this is where the the towel gets thrown in and ' speed walking ' .....which by the way is murder on the hip flexors, becomes the new flavour of the month.

This is where K I S S comes in. Time to heap all the junk into the bin and head back to the section called.....you guessed it......BASICS.

Bottom line...if you are ingesting less 'clean' calories than you are expending you are losing body fat.....and if you are doing body part training (if you are an aspiring bodybuilder) or 'movement training' (for the average joe who wants to get fit and build some lean muscle) then you are moving forward.

I don't know if everybody knows this but it is extremely hard for men to build muscle and even harder for women.

To build a quality physique flat out takes time and simply cannot be rushed ....uhh unless you plan to stick a needle somewhere on your body containing ' horse steroids' or some such garbage.

So....again, let's get back to basics. The right quantity of Quality food every 3 to 4 hours, lean protein and carbs every time you eat, lot's of water, a program designed to build muscle or lose fat ( you can't do both at the same time) and a gym to do it all in.

That's it. From then on rotate your exercises every four weeks or so (your body adapts very quickly) and in the words of the famous triathlete Mark Allen, "train hard, eat right, drink lot's of water and go like hell."

INTENSITY will get you a lot further than an over complicated training programme and an eating plan that you cannot sustain.

If you REALLY want to get places, focus on the mental aspect of health and fitness...the motivation of training...how to be better in the gym every time, how to think your way around a session, how to focus, how to leave the world and your problems behind the minute you walk through the door.

That's the way to achieve your goals, not some garbage program that was never designed for you in the first place. Even the Pro's would have trouble with some of the plans you see in the magazines.

Step one. Head on over to Carlos DeJesus web site and spend some time on "The Experiment of One". If you don't understand it, stay with it until you do. It's probably the most important thing you can do if you are really serious about your health and fitness.