One concept I talk about constantly with my clients that I realize I’ve never blogged about, is friction.
Right now I have a few high level clients that have been really struggling with fat loss. In fact, their biggest problem might be that they “know too much”. They’re getting bogged down in facts and scientificals… that actually don’t matter all that much.
It isn’t that they needed to know more about how it works. They actually needed to know less.
To focus on fewer things at one time.
In fact, the goal is to focus on one thing at a time, AND FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE.
Everything else is just adding friction.
How Are You Adding Friction To Your Nutrition and Workout Program?
Friction is exactly what it sounds like – needless resistance.
Most people are actually making it harder on themselves by adding moving parts, or worrying about things that don’t matter.
I’ll give you an example – until my clients are eating protein at every meal, we don’t worry about anything else. I mean really, we don’t worry about one other single thing other than that.
And these are huge causes of friction – too many choices, too many competing philosophies, too many programs, too many ideas, too many things to juggle.
If the only thing you need to worry is getting protein, does it matter if it’s beef or chicken? Nope. Or cottage cheese? Gasp! Dairy! Don’t care. Or if it’s a protein shake? Nope. What if it’s soy protein. Don’t care about that either.
“But wait!” they shout, “I read that…”
No, we don’t care about that at all. In fact, I think The Count said it best:
Stop Majoring in Minor Things
That’s a quote from business philosopher Jim Rohn, back in the day.
Basically it means that you are spending so much time on the small things, you either never get to, or you are too worn out for when you do get to – the things that actually matter.
Going back to the protein example. I don’t care if you heart that real food is better than protein shakes. Get some protein. I’m sure you’ve, by this point in your career, heard a million different things you could worry about with food. Stop worrying about the small things, and focus on one big thing.
One… big… thing.
Cut Major Friction: Implement This Right Now
Ok, here are a few things that get in people’s ways:
1.) Friction: Too hungry/tired cook dinner. Solution: Prepare dinner ahead of time.
2.) Friction: What to eat for dinner. Solution: Eat the same thing every night.
3.) Friction: What to do at the gym today. Solution: Follow a program.
4.) Friction: Don’t know how to cook. Solution: Buy meals/ingredients that are pre-made.
5.) Friction: Not hungry at breakfast. Solution: Slam a protein shake.
Try the simple solution first. It doesn’t have to be your ultimate end-all long term solution. Just get started on the right path.
Once you get some momentum, you can always adjust later. I think the biggest myth in fat loss is that you have to get it all perfect right now… or ever.
Get started with that next step. You can always optimize it later. But handle that major issue first, in the easiest way possible.
Take The Easy Way Out
I’ve been known to say that willpower and discipline are stupid. This is sort of an over-simplification, but it’s a really workable tool: It’s smarter to make it easy on yourself than it is to hope for superhuman willpower to manifest out of no-where.
Eliminate the friction. Take the easy way out. Get results. You can always make things “perfect” after you’ve gotten all the fat loss results you want.
P.S. If you want more about how to make fat loss easy, check out System Six: Easy Fat Loss, secretly on sale for $24.77 (even though the front page says $47).
by Josh Hillis, RKC, NASM-CPT/PES/CES, ZH-MIS/MREdS
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