Success in Simplicity | Finding the A-Road
We love making things hard for ourselves.
Whether it’s jazzing up a recipe to impress a date, or giving ourselves 100 different tasks to do in the space of an hour, as a race it seems we are pre-programmed to tend towards the complex options.
But, as is the case with most things in life, effectiveness and efficiency generally lies at the simpler end of the spectrum.
Basic, tried-and-tested solutions that require minimal input for maximal output.
In this post, I am going to explain how to filter out the unnecessary complexity within your fitness journey, and move towards a simpler blueprint for achieving your goals.
When I explain this to my Athletes, I use the extended analogy of a car journey to a given destination.
My aim is for you, after reading below, will find yourself driving the A-Road on the quickest route to your goal; rather than taking the scenic, more complex route that requires more vague decisions to be made and, ultimately, more time spent on the journey…
Planning the Journey
So you find yourself at Home - Point A - ready and willing to make the changes necessary to get to point B.
Which means plotting out your route.
Let’s say you’ve popped your name into the London Marathon Sorting Hat for 2025 as so many have following the inspiring display on show last Sunday (myself included).
Fast forward to June and you get the email - signed along the dotted line, place secured. Sealing the deal.
But you’ve ’nowt the foggiest on how to get from the occasional 5k when the weather is nice, to the Holy Land of 26.2 in the Capital.
So to plan your journey, you search “Marathon Training Plans” into Google.
1,000,000 different links come up, all touting the “Ultimate Marathon Training Programme for Beginners”.
You spend the next 8 months caught in a web of different workouts, types of running session etc - only to find yourself 4 weeks out having taken 10 right hand turns onto the windy country lanes that lead to nowhere.
When you are planning a road trip, we look for the simplest way to get from A to B - usually through the straightforward means of A-Roads and Motorways. Same applies to working towards a fitness goal.
We want to minimise the possibility of making a wrong turn - a map that requires minimal decisions to be made, where you can purely focus on putting in the work and ticking relevant boxes.
As with the above example, a simple way to approach it would be as follows:
Wk 1-8 - 2-3 Runs per week // drill running as a staple of your exercise routine // run:walk intervals if needed // increase weekly mileage by 10-15% week on week // develop intrinsic enjoyment for running // work up to a continuous 10k at end of block.
Wk 9-16 - 2-4 Runs per week // majority of sessions continuous (without walk intervals) // increase weekly mileage by 10-15% week on week // work up to a continuous half marathon at end of block.
Wk 17-24 - 3-4 Runs per week // potential to add speed work/intervals in the mix // trial different types of food (gels, bars, sweets etc) to eat during longer sessions // increase weekly mileage by 10% week on week // work up to 20mi at end of block.
Wk 25-32 - 1-3 Runs per week // spend 5-6 weeks continuing to progress as per previous block // 2-3 weeks tapering down before the event // recovery focused sessions
There would obviously be more detail - I need a job after all - but this would be a basic blueprint for how to build up to a marathon over an 8-month period.
The overarching idea being simple: run more often, run further each week, do it consistently over time.
Nothing fancy. Just honest work from A to B.
Proof’s in the Pudding
There’s a reason why there’s a geezer popping up on a sponsored instagram ad trying to sell you a ‘Groundbreaking New Programme for Fat Loss’ : complexity is sexy.
Innovation appeals to the mind because it appears exciting - a new method that supposedly slashes time or effort inputs for maximal output. An easier alternative to achieving an ambitious outcome.
Same applies to running, strength training - you name it, there's someone out there trying to hack the system and create a marketable sales pitch around a new approach.
The problem? 99% of it is bollocks.
Why? Because the fitness industry is such a saturated market, people try and reinvent the wheel in an attempt to stand out and make it.
Reinventing a wheel needs no reinvention - trying to add exotic ingredients to a sauce that needs nowt more to be added.
Fat loss? Calorie deficit. How this is achieved to be based on individual preferences (lifestyle, choice, work etc.), but either way you’ll lose fat.
Running? Weekly Mileage. Run slightly further week on week, and you’ll get fitter.
Strength? Progressive Overload. Gradually increase weight, reps, quality of technique or sets week on week, and you’ll get stronger.
The Simplest of Foundations in different aspects of fitness are foundations for a reason: tried and tested over time, and those that survive the tests of time are where success can be found.
The quickest, simplest & most effective route to take from A to B.
“The Art of Simplicity is a Puzzle of Complexity”
This quote embodies the idea of simplicity in relation to health and fitness in that the theory behind various goals is utterly straightforward, as mentioned above.
To improve your running fitness, run more often.
To get stronger, stick to a plan and progressively overload your movements.
To lose bodyfat, put yourself in a negative energy balance by eating less than your total expenditure.
As mentioned above, there are basic foundations of physiology that underpin various goals - boiling down to the fact that you apply a new stimulus to the human body, it will adapt accordingly.
That being said, the complexity lies in the wealth factors that come into play when APPLYING the theory to an individual’s life.
This varies from person to person, but usually there are a whole load of psychological, social, emotional and environmental factors that challenge the theoretical application to someone wanting to achieve xyz.
Take this year’s TGPT representative at the London Marathon, Sally, as a prime example.
The potent combination of shift work that often involves extended runs of nights, and a minimum 90-minute commute, posed a pretty hefty challenge in terms routine, structure and fitting all of her sessions - thus adding multiple layers of complexity to the simple plan of increasing endurance through weekly mileage overload.
How did we approach it?
A set of weekly non-negotiables that were to be ticked in one way or another - meaning we had a mileage target for each week, but how that was to be achieved was kept as fluid and adaptable as possible.
This meant that the boxes that needed to be checked were done so, but without the standard rigidity of a regular running programme that outlines specific distances on specific days.
My point is that, although the route from A to B may look simple, don’t overthink it if you run into some barriers along the way when trying to implement it into your own lives.
And every challenge has its solution - the fundamentals of what I do when one of my Athletes comes to me with a goal. Problem-solving.
Dealing with Complexity as a means of finding Simplicity…
The Final Word
The ways to achieve most fitness goals is a hell of a load simpler than many would have you believe - and those who realise this will undoubtedly find the most success when it comes to the end result.
Save the complexity for the inevitable challenges that will come along the way - and use your energy dealing with those rather than some intricate, crazy-looking programme that someone sold you for the price of a small island.
And if YOU need a hand finding YOUR A-Road to cane it on your wildest fitness goals, get at me for the TGPT Spring 2024 Intake.
Peace & Love x
