What is Minimalist Fitness (MinFit)?
share on: facebook | twitter | google+ | redditI realized I've been talking about a variety of different concepts, but there is no glue holding it all together into a coherent theme.
This is an ever-changing process, but I created this video to tie everything together as a start. See below the video for a written (and arguably more clear) version:
My strategy was to come up with a slogan of sorts, and then extrapolate from that.
The Minimalist Fitness Slogan:
Predictably moving towards the body you want, when you've got other shit to do!
So, what does that really mean? Let's break down each part:
Predictably moving towards...
Goal-setting has been a large part of this journey for me, and that's why I talk about it A LOT... In almost every video... Not just any goals, but specific, written down, measurable goals that you view and think about often.
The main strategies I apply are a monthly health goal paired with tracking your weight daily. For the past 5 months I have set a target weight to hit, usually 5 pounds less than what I weigh at the beginning of the month. Knowing that number and being excited about succeeding, paired with weighing myself every morning, makes it VERY predictable. I KNOW if I'm going to hit it, and I know immediately if I'm going to veer off course and I can correct it quickly.
This is in contrast to vague goals or no goals at all. Just hoping you'll weigh some amount less and working in the dark until it magically happens is a recipe for failure.
This phrase also speaks to self-improvement as a topic and theme. Moving towards something, expansion, shedding old layers of the self, these are very important to me and go hand-in-hand with fitness and life. Expect to see many videos and posts on self-improvement, some maybe outside the scope of health.
...the body you want,
Key word being YOU. You customize everything to your own individual desires. Everyone is different, so you'll want to figure out what works for you best.
I never wanted to be a jacked hulking greased up bodybuilder. I just wanted to fit into stylish clothes that I don't feel like I'm oozing out of. If you do, you should do more training than I do.
...when you've got other shit to do!
This is wear the minimalist in minimalist fitness finally comes out.
I'm probably not really a minimalist as it is truly defined, but that word has been central in my life and it themes around the style of fitness that has worked best for me.
I've considered myself to have a sensitive bio-feedback system (see HSP for more on that). It's possibly something that 15-20% of all humans have, making for an ability to sense things, smells, tastes, feelings, etc at a stronger frequency than others. The downside being that it makes some experiences very intense and requires more time to recharge.
This has lead to behaviors like making my living environment very simple and clean. Not a lot of visual noise. Having to ask people to turn the volume down (unless I'm alone blasting bass music), and other things that amount to an attempt by me to turn the dimmer down a bit on my experiences to reduce the load on my body.
I'm not sure how related it is, but I also tend to look for efficiencies in things. What is the minimum that can be done or said to accomplish the task with the same amount of polish. Not about laziness, but a matter of optimization. We do so much excess stuff in our life as it is. How can we do less, while still getting more out of life?
Ok Joe so what does that have to do with fitness?
That means that I've applied that same skill to getting the body I want, and I think it's one way of many that you can get the results you want too.
This means eliminating much of the hand-waving that goes on in the fitness industry and replacing it with the essentials.
We focus on diet - where most of our results will come from.
We do things like intermittent fasting to simplify calorie counting, cooking, meal prep. You don't have to, but I only eat one large meal and one small meal a day. It makes shopping easier and saves time.
Another strategy is eating common meals. Track the macronutrients once in all your favorite meals and then eat them over and over again (as long as you love them) so you never have to track again.
Then comes training - bodyweight calisthenics, specifically Progressive Calisthenics, is the core of our training style. No gym, no trainers, no complicated workouts. We do simple workouts at home. Mine only take 20 minutes, three days a week. You can do more or less, or do them all on one day, tailored to your individual goals. Giving you more time to do all that other shit you do like spend time with family and friends, hobbies, passions, side projects, whatever :)
That's Minimalist Fitness. That's MinFit.
Ok, now let's kill it in 2017.