Daily Thought No. 1 – Mastering The Fundamentals

As much as I enjoy writing, the due diligence I wish to do each topic when producing an article, inevitably makes it an arduous task. Currently I have 5 in-progress articles open on my laptop, plus the plethora of others that I have also begun writing in the Notes app on my phone, during the lengthy rest periods I take while training.

Because of this, I’m going to adjust my approach. In attempt to produce more content, more consistently, I am going to write some shorter-form articles, interspersed among the longer ones, based on conversations I have with clients or other coaches. They won’t be as expansive, but they will be relevant to what I do, think about and discuss on a daily basis. Hopefully I can then package them into a snippety, digestible format, which can then help you.

With out of the way, let’s get into it!

THE FUNDAMENTALS ARE FUNDAMENTALLY, FUNDAMENTAL.

It’s ironic.

The best coaches I have worked with or observed, spend BY FAR the majority of their time, simply relating situations and circumstances back to the fundamentals of exercise and nutrition.

Their superior wisdom is predominantly used to remain clear and focused on what the fundamentals are, for any endeavour. Very rarely are their years of accumulated awareness used to generate extrapolations beyond what is already, reasonably well established.

In all honesty, it is not what I first thought a highly regarded coach would spend their day doing. I expected them to be anything but masters of the basics. That was my own inexperience and lack of knowledge talking though.

As would be expected based on the work of Dunning & Kruger, the more experience I gain and the more educated I become, the more I realise there is that I don’t know. But the more I also realise, that it doesn’t even matter.

Now that may sound arrogant, and I’m not advocating for becoming dogmatic and closing your mind-off to learning, but hear me out.

Do I know everything about fat-loss? I’m trying, but the answer is a resounding; not a chance! Biochemistry and endocrinology textbooks are not casual reads.

Do I know of a factor though that is of greater importance for fat-loss than creating an energy deficit? Again, no way!

Now I’m not saying that other factors don’t matter, or discrediting the breadth of knowledge that true experts have. The best practitioners in the world undoubtedly know more than just the basics, but it’s the mastery of the basics that lead them to be where they are now.

So does this mean you too can be an expert, just because you understand Energy-In Vs Energy-Out?

Well… Maybe.

Mastery of energy balance doesn’t simply require you to understand the equation. Mastery requires the understanding of its implications. You have to be cognizant of how all conceivable factors and scenarios influence energy balance and vice-versa.

That’s no basic task, regardless of the equations simplicity.

The practicality of this idea is you can use this way of thinking, to channel your inner-expert. When a novel or complex situation arises, don’t convince yourself that you need to be Albert Einstein or Charles Xavier to workout the solution, quite the opposite in my opinion; dumb it down!

What is the overarching goal and what does that require?

The same thinking applies to all fields, not just this one. The fundamentals are and always will be, fundamental.

For example; “Gary Vee” is popular on social media for being a business expert. What is his primary concern on a daily basis? Giving value.

As I’m sure you know, business is the exchange of goods and services. In order to generate business, you must get someone to value what you have (goods/service) more than what they have (money) and then an exchange can be made, with more exchanges being resultant from giving more value.

It’s fundamental.

So next time you find yourself confused with the intricacies of training and nutrition, remember; dumb it down and think fundamentally.

Programming for strength? Whatever allows you to lift the most weight/express the most force.

Overreaching for hypertrophy? Not if it fatigues you so much that you can’t accumulate volume successfully in the succeeding period.

Best exercise to target X? Find out what action X performs, then load it and progress it, safely.

The list goes on.

Don’t get me wrong, the details do matter; you don’t have to argue with me on that. But they don’t matter in novel or complex situations where you can easily suffer from “paralysis by analysis” or when you haven’t ticked off the fundamentals.